Gymnastics, "for realz"

It has been exactly a year since our big move to Anaheim Hills. We have already become accustomed  to our comfortable suburban life.
Sara has settled into a familiar routine at her school, has gotten to know more kids from the neighborhood and from the complex.

But this post is not about that, it is about Gymnastics. In July we enrolled Sari into Kips gymnastics, just to give it a try. The class was once a week, and Sara was entertained by it sufficiently to continue going. She was learning, getting some exercise, in the location and time that was convenient for our schedule. All was good, but, after a while, in September, i started to feel that Kips was more about phys ed, and less about actual gymnastics. I spoke to the school director and he suggested a different coach, which seemed to help, for the first month or so....We had to make a decision: wait until she is 7 to put her in Kips team, or go somewhere else. So, one fine day i took her to Yorba Linda Gymnastics Academy, which is a school ran by two Russian Olympian brothers. The brothers were out of town, so the girl i spoke to suggested i start with trying out Girls1 class. I watched painfully how for an hour her group-mates were fumbling with trying to perform the most basic moves that Sara could do months ago. After the class i spoke to the coach, she expressed reservations about Sara's readiness for Girls2, but suggested i speak to the head coach when he comes back. The following week, the head coach took Sara out to the floor to test her skills, he said, definite Girls2, and then added,  "she is very strong, i think she will be good going competitive. Would you like to put her on the team?" I know it was all about Sara's arm strengths: she had done enough monkey bars to develop her arms enough for good bunch of pullups, -- all very valuable for gymnastics! It was all very exciting, but being on the team was a big commitment, 4 days a week, 2 hours a day. When i told Carlos about this, he got very excited. I had expressed my concerns about timing, about homework, about having enough time to cook and work, but we decided to give it a try and see how it goes. Ever since then we had been arranging our homework, our cooking and working around her gymnastics schedule. Sara's coach, coach Gulia, is a Russian lady with a heavy accent and a very Russian style of coaching: demanding, strong, and loud. I think as a byproduct of this, Sara has reached a better understanding of me and my style of  communication. I also think the discipline of gymnastics is invaluable in teaching Sara the value of listening, of complying, of hard work, and personal excellence. I had been so pleased seeing her practice a move, learn it, perfect it, and show it off. Every time i see an improvement, i feel an immense sense of pride, and joy. Cheers to new successes!