Ches. Gymnastics

This week my niece has been showing me a lot of her gymnastic moves! She is seven yrs old and has been doing gymnastics since she was about 2 or 3. But these last couple of weeks she has been vastly improving and with the improvement has come being more daring. In the past week she has almost perfected a back hand spring (which I had always known to be a back flip flop :)) She has also become daring enough to do a back walkover. I really don't know a lot about the little things in gymnastics but I do know a little and it just amazes me how much she has improved in such a short time. I suppose I shouldn't be to surprised though she does work out in a gym for 3 nights 3 hours each. She has even gotten to do her first competition this year. She traveled to Chicago, Twin Cities and Des Moines. It is also fun that no matter where she is it becomes her gym! She does flips on the trampoline (when its warm enough), flips around her swing set, flips on her bed and at her brothers wrestling when they are all done wresting the mats are hers. She even scares her gym teachers when they get to put down mats to tumble on. Not only has gymnastics helped her coordination but it has also helped her socially. She has become more willing to talk and just go play with other kids. She has even gotten to have her first sleep over with a friend that wasn't part of her mom's daycare (which are kids that she has pretty much grown up with). The friend was a part of her gymnastics group that she traveled with and stayed at the same hotels as when she went to competitions. Gymnastics has been such a great thing for my niece! Which confirms my thinking that it is really good for kids to get involved in activities no matter what it is either sports, girl scouts or anything else. In my experiences either myself or my nieces and nephew it has always been sports. I think sports is a great thing. It teaches kids things like team work and good sportsmanship. These qualities can care over into adulthood not only in sports but in careers. It also helps with there social skills, quick thinking and coordination. Back to Chesny, it makes me so proud to watch her develop and grow not only as a gymnast but as a young person too! I am looking forward to watching her compete more as she grows. Also I'm looking forward to seeing her perfect more and more difficult skills that I wish I could do but will never be able to do!:)