Friday 1 February 2019

It was my last run through in the gym, then Kelly did my hair. We then had at 4 hour drive to Telford. Luckily the snow was only on the fields and sides of the roads.

Saturday 2 February 2019

I woke up in our hotel and felt good. I know I’m ready for this comp. I received some lovely messages from my family and friends to wish me good luck, including from Mike at Falcons☺ Hope I can go out there and DO IT! We drove to Lilleshall National Sports Centre, and I saw some friends, and met Kelly. It was good to be back!

It felt like it was a gym session not a comp because it was in a proper gym not a sports hall, and all the spectators including Mum, Dad, Jack and Bella were sat up high in the seating area, out of my eyes! There weren’t any big TV screens for scores, names on and whether to GO or STOP either! It was a better place to do my routines. We registered at 11.15am, started our warm up at 12pm, started competing at 2.15pm and finished and had the presentations at 5pm. It was a long comp. I needed some sweets to keep me going along the way! 😂

I was given the number 1 to wear on my leotard, as my name was first on the list. I made a lovely new friend Evie from Birmingham. She was in my rotation. We chatted lots and hugged after our routines on each piece. It was good to chat and stay calm.

My rotations went like this. Dad filmed my routines. Thanks Dad!

Bars – This was really good and I surprised myself on how well it went.

 

 

 

Beam – I had to try really hard to stay on the beam a few times, but I did! I went clean. It was good.

 

 

 

Floor – I really enjoyed my floor. ☺ The floor was quite close to the walls and bars though. 

 

 

 

Range and Conditioning – Now, this really went well! Mum and Dad said it was very beautiful, strong and flexible.

 

 

 

Vault – I was feeling that if I could just go clean, I might be in with a chance of getting a big combined score for my comp. I attacked it and I went clean. ☺

 

 

I had a clean competition, no falls. I am so happy with myself.

Oh my days, I came 3rd All Around. I was presented with the Bronze Medal. A proper British Gymnastics Bronze 🥉just for my individual performance. It’s so cool! I got a total combined score of 63.15. The pass mark is 55, so I feel I did smash it. I am very happy and proud. Compulsory 1 is the highest national competition level for my age, and very technical and really hard! Thank you so much, Kelly.

 

 

I now know that I came

3rd on Bars, score 13.2

3rd on Beam, score 12.8

4th on Floor, score 12.2

And 1st for Range & Conditioning! Score 12.85. I am the National Champion! 💪 🎉

My vault score was 12.1

Here is the link to the official results.

https://www.british-gymnastics.org/event/9233/womens-artistic-national-compulsory-level-1-2019

 

I’ve now qualified for the British Championships Espoir Category! It’s at the Echo Arena in Liverpool from 14 – 17 March. It’s a really big deal 😂 My comp will be on Thursday 14 March. I can’t believe it. I am so excited. (But first I get to go to Florida for our Falcons trip and Presidential Classic comp. Yay! I see this as my reward to myself for this weekend ☺)

I think that with perseverance, determination, believing in myself, spending lots of time in the gym, hard work, listening to my coach and my body and mind really helped me to achieve my goal this weekend.

Sometimes I do feel anxious or nervous, but I felt good this time. I really wanted to pass and I did, but also came 3rd! When I did my Compulsory 2 last May, I didn’t think I would have been ready to even be there, but I was and passed and came 26th then. I’ve now moved up to 3rd for this level. ☺ Yay! 👍

Every one of my friends that passed with me on Saturday achieved something really amazing too!

I got to celebrate with my family this weekend, and went swimming to relax.

It’s back to training on Monday, and more work to do. 💪

Thanks for reading and watching and for supporting me along my journey.

Fliss. ☺