Today’s meet was full of highs and lows. Cailee did really well on Bars and Floor. She got a 9.5 on Bars, and a 9.625 on Floor (The highest score ever for a Faulkner’s Silver Gymnast), she had a solid beam routine (talk about consistency here) with a 9.3 but then came her Vault. This is something she’s struggled with (always) and she got an 8.7. She’s just not getting enough block in her shoulders and to be honest, I’m not sure that’s even something she really understands – and its not easy to see or teach – I typically have to watch her vault and I go – “hmm that looked good” and then I have to wait for the score to really know if it truly was.
This year, Cailee has apparently made it her own personal goal to be in the top three AA and nothing else is good enough. She hasn’t said that out loud in so many words, but her reaction to a performance that does not garner her a 1, 2 or 3 place is written all over her face. Worst still, she won’t let you tell her how she finished (we can typically follow along online) – she wants to hear it during the awards presentation. So while, I deparately want to prepare her for the results – so she’s not hearing it for the first time publicaly, good or bad – she won’t let me. I am so proud of her though, as much as I know some results are not what she wants she never really pouts during the awards, but the flood of tears comes soon after she is off the stage (and as her mommy – I can see her expression changing with each result they call out) – It’s one of those things you want to fix but can’t.
This time, her AA score was 37.125 which is a really great score, but only good enough for 4th place AA. So no matter the fact that she got first on floor and first on bars, 4th AA was very disappointing for her.
One day soon, I hope she realizes that, at this point, consistency, improving her skills and scores is far more important than the place – but I’m sure today, it wouldn’t have mattered to her if she had a 32 and got 1st – that would have been far better than a 37+ and 4th.
It just breaks my heart to see her upset and down on herself, considering how well she really did do – but after playing with a little pizza dough (see previous post), getting her favorite Starbucks drink, and spending time with friends – she was back to her normal self and looking forward to the next meet.
Leave a Comment