At school we're doing a 3-4 week session on gymnastics. Well if you've been reading my blog for a little while, you'll know that I'm pretty good at gymnastics. Well, at school the gym teachers want all of us fifth-graders to be able to do the following by the end of the session: do a cartwheel, stand on our head, do a bridge, and jump pretty high on the springboard (this is by far the most popular activity), and do a little jumpy thing on the balance beam. I can already do all those things. The gym teachers are nice about it. They let me and this other girl, Amy, practice harder stuff. We practice other types of tumbling, do cartwheels on the beam, and do squat-ons on a pile of mats. We also do harder stretches and practice handstands. Sophie does best on cartwheels and springboard. She has a lot of strength and is fearless (she can push off for a cartwheel hard enough for five cartwheels). Allie does her best on headstands and beam. She does ballet (she has toe shoes-- wow!), and has an extraordinary sense of balance.
Here at home, I got out my old gymnastics mat. I rolled it out in the basement. I'm trying to learn how to do a handspring. You have to kick up very hard. I think I'll go and practice some more.
