Hi All,
Thanks so much for reading my blog. Over the last week, I have had so much fun posting about all the things I discover as a dad who has a daughter in Acro gymnastics.
The great news is that I will continue to post!!!
The new news is that I have moved my blog over to Wordpress and will no longer use Blogger.
I apologize for the inconvenience, but I have been doing some homework on the better blog tools to use and Wordpress is better when it comes to being searched. Blogger and a couple others barely crack the top 10.
So please find my blogging away at my new blog Dad like Acro Gymnastics too! at http://dadheartsacro.wordpress.com
All my original posts are still there along with new content!
Sincerely,
dadheartsacro
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
West Coast Training Center Medals at Spring Round Up
On Saturday, April 6, 2013, West Coast Training Center hosted the Spring Round Up in Livermore, California. Athletes from around the state came to compete at all levels. Participation came from Realis, all the way from Moreno Valley, in Riverside, DEG, IGC, ATA, AAG, Gymbeat, and Edge.
There were a lot of strong performances and the skill was amazing from all athletes. In the end, our West Coast athletes placed in every category competing. Here are the following medal count details.
The WCTC team's next meet will be on April 20-21 down in San Jose, hosted by ATA.
There were a lot of strong performances and the skill was amazing from all athletes. In the end, our West Coast athletes placed in every category competing. Here are the following medal count details.
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
| |
| Level 5 Women's Pair 11 Under |  |  | 111111111111 | |
| Level 6 Women's Group 12-14 | | |||
| Level 7 Women's Group 12-14 | | |||
| Level 8 Women's Group 15-16 | |  | ||
| Level 10 Women's Group 18 Under |  |
The WCTC team's next meet will be on April 20-21 down in San Jose, hosted by ATA.
Daughter and partner take 1st at local competition!
Well, after a day of competition at the West Coast Training Center Spring Round Up, I have to say that I have extra reason to be proud of my little superstar. Building upon their stronger performance from the competition at Edge a few weeks ago, Ashley-Nicole and Ruby amassed what I think is a strong score of 23.25. For those keeping track, like me, that is 4.10 points higher than their last score of 19.15. Way to go PAIR!
As an amateur in scoring, from what I can tell, the pair hit all their skills and more importantly, raised their execution a couple points. In prior meets, the two would be in the 4-5 range for execution, but on Saturday, they received over 7 points in that category.
Check out their winning performance on my Facebook page. Below the winning pair pose for some pics as well as with their coaches, Marie Annonson and Aleks Eydelman.
Congratulations PAIR!
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Meet the Dad, Meet the Athlete
So who is behind @dadheartsacro? Below is a pic of me! Not the best, but something on hand for you to see who is blogging about my daughter and her Acro feats.
And who is that next to me? Why it's my Acro daughter!
And who is that next to me? Why it's my Acro daughter!
Friday, April 5, 2013
Acro Cookies
There here! Acro cookies...okay not really, but they are cookies for the West Coast Training Center Spring Round Up tomorrow (4/6)
Thanks to Karen and her Old Towne Danville Bakery for donating 100 cowboy boot cookies!
Look for them tomorrow, but don't expect them to last long!
Thanks to Karen and her Old Towne Danville Bakery for donating 100 cowboy boot cookies!
Look for them tomorrow, but don't expect them to last long!
The Importance of Having a Good Time
I'll be the first to admit that I am competitive. Who doesn't love winning? Who doesn't love being associated with a winning team? Who doesn't love having or belonging to a team that win a lot? I like to think of the 2010 and 2012 San Francisco Giants...but I digress.
However, when I first brought my daughter to West Coast Training Center, winning was not the first thing on my mind. I wanted to expose my child to an environment where learning a new skill would teach her among other things, discipline, commitment, self-confidence, teamwork, and pride.
None of those attributes could flourish if my baby girl wasn't having a good time. Therefore, it was important to me when selecting a gym, that I watched to see how the teachers interacted with the children. I looked at the team and asked, "are the girls smiling?" I wanted to make sure that my daughter would in essence be having a good time.
As much as I had delusions of grandeur that my girl could one day be an elite athlete and possibly represent the United States in the Olympic Games of 2020, I needed to suppress my competitive reflexes and focus on how happy she was with tumbling. When she joined the team for the 2013 competition season, nothing really changed (more to come on that subtle hint). Every class that she has ever been to; every practice that she has attended; and every meet (2) she has been to; the only question I ever ask her is, "did you have a good time?"
The answer is always a resounding, "yes!" Even on days where it got a little hard, the answer still comes back positive. In fact, yesterday during practice, my baby girl was stretched a little too far by Coach Marie. Watching from the upstairs window, I could see that something was wrong as tears were welling up in her eyes. My first reaction was to run down and console her and see if she was okay, but I resisted that temptation, I'm more of a tough love dad. By the end of the practice, she and her partner were in the car and I asked my usual question, "Did you have fun today?" The answer of course was yes. What followed were some details about the practice including getting over-stretched. However, it didn't monopolize her thoughts during practice which I think was key.
Bottom line, my philosophy is that learning occurs best when you are having fun. Besides, if it's no fun, then it's not really worth doing and pursuing, right?
However, when I first brought my daughter to West Coast Training Center, winning was not the first thing on my mind. I wanted to expose my child to an environment where learning a new skill would teach her among other things, discipline, commitment, self-confidence, teamwork, and pride.
None of those attributes could flourish if my baby girl wasn't having a good time. Therefore, it was important to me when selecting a gym, that I watched to see how the teachers interacted with the children. I looked at the team and asked, "are the girls smiling?" I wanted to make sure that my daughter would in essence be having a good time.
As much as I had delusions of grandeur that my girl could one day be an elite athlete and possibly represent the United States in the Olympic Games of 2020, I needed to suppress my competitive reflexes and focus on how happy she was with tumbling. When she joined the team for the 2013 competition season, nothing really changed (more to come on that subtle hint). Every class that she has ever been to; every practice that she has attended; and every meet (2) she has been to; the only question I ever ask her is, "did you have a good time?"
The answer is always a resounding, "yes!" Even on days where it got a little hard, the answer still comes back positive. In fact, yesterday during practice, my baby girl was stretched a little too far by Coach Marie. Watching from the upstairs window, I could see that something was wrong as tears were welling up in her eyes. My first reaction was to run down and console her and see if she was okay, but I resisted that temptation, I'm more of a tough love dad. By the end of the practice, she and her partner were in the car and I asked my usual question, "Did you have fun today?" The answer of course was yes. What followed were some details about the practice including getting over-stretched. However, it didn't monopolize her thoughts during practice which I think was key.
Bottom line, my philosophy is that learning occurs best when you are having fun. Besides, if it's no fun, then it's not really worth doing and pursuing, right?
Thursday, April 4, 2013
I'm a little star struck
So I've only started my blog for all of 2 1/2 days now and this afternoon, I actually got a message from Twitter that the Acro Foundation is now following me on Twitter! Little 'ol me!
In the world of social media, it's a big deal to get followed, especially by prominent figures and organization. According to Friend or Follow, Justin Bieber has the most followers at 37M+, but only follows ~123k. That is less than 4 tenths of ONE percent. Lady Gaga comes in 2nd with almost 36M and follows just over 136k (still not 4 tenths of ONE percent). By the way, anything socially good, doesn't even crack the top 100.
About the Acro Foundation: This was the brain child of Kristen Allen who competed under West Coast Training Center. Kristen to her credit has previously launched the Acrobatic Gymnastics Foundation (aka Kristen Allen Foundation). To my knowledge one of the main reasons for starting all of these organizations was to promote Acro around the world.
Thanks Acro Foundation!
In the world of social media, it's a big deal to get followed, especially by prominent figures and organization. According to Friend or Follow, Justin Bieber has the most followers at 37M+, but only follows ~123k. That is less than 4 tenths of ONE percent. Lady Gaga comes in 2nd with almost 36M and follows just over 136k (still not 4 tenths of ONE percent). By the way, anything socially good, doesn't even crack the top 100.
About the Acro Foundation: This was the brain child of Kristen Allen who competed under West Coast Training Center. Kristen to her credit has previously launched the Acrobatic Gymnastics Foundation (aka Kristen Allen Foundation). To my knowledge one of the main reasons for starting all of these organizations was to promote Acro around the world.
Thanks Acro Foundation!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)