Jan. 11, 2005
Going into our first meet, I had no idea what to expect. In club, you ride to the meet with your parents; you can eat where you want, when you want; and do whatever you want the day of the meet.
In college, I got to ride five hours to Iowa with my coaches and teammates on the rock star bus (yeah... it has three rooms... and seven TVs). We eat as a team where and when the coaches wanted us to -- the good part is the food is ready for us even before we get to the restaurant - and we have specific team activities for the day of the meet. Basically, we do everything as a team; forty-eight hours of non-stop contact with the coaches and my best friends.
Our trip started off at noon on Thursday, about half of us watched movies in the back of the bus, while the other half played Catch Phrase in the front. While we're on the topic, I would just like to add that my team of Alisha, Paul, Rob and Katie dominated that game.
We got into Iowa around 5:00 p.m., and settled into our hotel rooms for a while before going to Macaroni Grill for dinner. After dinner, we had a meeting in the coaches' room and were given the rest of the night to do what we wanted. Some of the girls went in the hot tub and watched movies; Alisha and I went to bed. Hey, we can't help it if we need ten hours of sleep a night!
The next morning we woke up early for breakfast and "team activities" a.k.a. more Catch Phrase. After lunch, we had about an hour and a half to get ready -- sixteen girls all putting on make up, face tattoos and curling their hair in one room -- it was chaotic!
When we got on the bus to head to the meet around 3:00 p.m., we got pumped up watching the highlight video from last year. Kira also showed us a video she had put together of highlights from our workouts and from our Black and Gold Intra-squad meet in December to psych us up. It was so good that we watched it three more times before the end of the trip!
Overall, our meet was okay. We weren't the team we were in workouts all week, or even in our practice intra-squad a few days prior, but we didn't let it all go. We had a rough start on bars and had to count a fall, but we regrouped pretty well for vault. Floor went well -- we had a few short landings, but we got all the big stuff right. I think we were all most proud of our beam performance. We went six for six, hitting good routines. I think we definitely saw the first meet jitters come out, but by the end of the night, we had a lot to be proud of.
I have to say my first meet experience was pretty good. I went four for four, which is always good, but more importantly I think I gained confidence on a lot of new skills. During beam warm-up I told my teammates and Kira that I was strangely calm -- something I've definitely never felt at a meet before. I think that calmness came from all the practice intra-squads and pressure situations in the gym and from the support of my teammates.
I think it was easier once I tried to keep my mind on the ideas our coaches stress in the gym everyday. We talk a lot about confidence -- confidence is a choice. We also emphasize controlling the moment and not letting the moment control you, being aggressive on every skill and living in the moment focusing on what you need to do right then. It's hard to concentrate on a series when you're thinking about your dismount, or to hit a routine when you're worried about how badly your warm up went. In my routines, I just tried to go out and focus on that very moment and know that it is not important what I did five minutes ago in warm-up or two days ago in the gym. I remind myself, "this one is the only one that counts, and it can be as good as I want it to be."
For the upper classmen, this first meet was just one like all the rest, while for the freshman it was a completely new and exciting experience. If you ever talk to me, I'll probably tell you that competing is not my favorite thing because I usually get so worked up. But I think I may be starting to come around. This weekend was even kind of fun (but shhh... don't tell anyone.)
We're all really excited about this season and look to accomplish great things from all the hard work we've been doing day in and day out in the gym. Our first home meet is on January 21 at 7:00 p.m. -- you all better be there!
That's it for now... GO TIGERS!
~ Ashley