Last year, as a Bronze gymnast, Cailee had a really good year. She had solid performances all year long – generally placing in the top 3-5 overall, even getting first in the All Around at the Lucky Charm invitational in Charlotte, however, at the NC State Meet, despite having solid scores in the 9s – she narrowly missed qualifying for the Regional championship. She was beyond upset. She just didn’t get it – all that work and it didn’t get her what she most desired. Luckily she didn’t give up. All this year, she was spurred on by that feeling of disappointment and desire to turn it around. But I also knew that if she didn’t have a different outcome this year – it would be a hard thing to come back from. Once again, she’s had a solid year – scoring 37+ AA in nearly every meet – she needed a 36.5 to qualify – but judges are known to be tougher at the State meet so there was no quarantee. She asked me multiple times leading into the meet – do you think I’ll qualify? It meant so much to her and it hurt just to think about the letdown if things didn’t go her way – as much as I knew and believed that didn’t make her as a gymnast – I knew it would break her heart after so much hard work.
This year she competed by herself and was focused. Her first event was floor – she started pretty far in on the floor and from where I sat – it looked like she went out of bounds – my heart was in my throat – she’d never even gotten close to doing that before – thankfully – she didn’t – I couldn’t believe it – but after pulling out a great floor routinue, there was no turning back. She finished her vault, bars and beam with solid performances. It was cute, she mouthed to me after her bar routine, just before beam, what do I need? I had no idea what she was saying so I just beamed, waved and gave her lots of thumbs ups, and even though all she needed was an 8.3 – she rocked it with a 9.4. She ended up 5th in the AA with a 37.4, placing 6th in vault, floor, bars and 8th in beam. This meet was also super sweet because my parents were able to come – this was the first they’d seen Cailee in action (other than by video) and me, as a nervous wreak. I think it actually helped Cailee – she was focused more than ever to put her best foot forward. At the end of the day (literally, because it was late when we got to leave) I would have been proud of her no matter the outcome because I know how hard she’s worked, but it was awesome to see her rewarded for her hardwork – if you call extending the season for one more meet, a reward – at least it’s in Florida.
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