Moving to the Big Gym

Brenna is about to age out of the pre-school gymnastics class she has been taking for the past 1.5 years. Lately she has been showing the signs of boredom, so we decided to move her up to the next level. This is a pretty big deal, since Level 1 takes place in the "big gym" with all the other gymnasts. Her pre-school class was held in a smaller room with pint-sized equipment and no distractions from other activities.

Yesterday was her first Level 1 class with a new teacher, Gia, and new class mates. She immediately struck up a friendship with Kaylee, the older sister of one of Brenna's pre-school classmates. Kaylee took her under her wing, showed her where they meet at the beginning of class (Mommy didn't even have to go with her), and helped her do some of the harder activities when Gia was helping other students.

The structure of the Level 1 class is a bit different from the pre-school class. In the pre-school class, they go from one activity to another in a circuit. In Level 1, they spend 15 minutes on an apparatus and then cycle over to another one. This really gives them an opportunity to work on a particular skill for a decent length of time. Last night they worked on the beam, the floor (back rolls, cart wheels and hand stands), the bars and the vault.

Brenna had a blast and proclaimed herself ready to be in the "big gym" for good. Gia said she did great and could tell that she had learned a lot from Megan, her pre-school teacher. Thanks to Megan for being so patient. I don't know how she does it!