Ava loves going to gymnastics every Saturday. We have been really impressed with the program she is enrolled in. She has learned a lot in a very short time! The coaches cram a lot into 50 minutes, and everything has a purpose, even walking in a single file line behind your coach to the next piece of equipment, just like you see them doing at the Olympics between their rotations. It is very disciplined and very structured. Granted, trying to teach 10 4 year olds gymnastics is like hearding cats at times (and very entertaining to watch as a parent!), but the coaches really do a great job. A typical class goes like this:Warm ups, which usually includes a song with actions (The Bean Bag Dance, Hokey Pokey, etc), running in a circle, hopping, skipping and stretching.
Then they move on to the different pieces of equipment. Ava got to demonstrate the bar on this day. They are teaching them how to swing while keeping form and how to drop off the bar and do a "stick" and "finish". I am sure if you have ever watched gymnastics, you understand the importance of a stuck landing. Let me tell you, they drill it into them early.
After the bar it was on to the balance beam. This day they had them walk forward on half of the beam, and then turn around and walk backwards to the end, turn back around, jump off, stick and finish. You can see bears painted on the wall above Ava. The afore mentioned finish involves raising your hands in the air, waving at the bears, and saying "Hello bears!" Very cute.
I didn't have pictures of all of the different things they did on this day, but they also used a springboard, and trampoline. We finished the class off with doing handstands against the wall. Very impressive!
Finally, the kids get a stamp on their hands and hi-five the coaches on the way out. It really is a fun hour every Saturday morning! I don't think I will be making my reservations for the 2020 Olympics quite yet, however. :)
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