Gymnastics

Nora and Ella finished up their gymnastics class this last week. Ella had been taking gymnastics for a while when she talked Nora into taking classes with her. It was a long drive for me to get Nora to class once a week but it was worth it for her to take classes with her best friend. I have been really impressed with what Nora has learned and how she has overcome many of her confidence issues. She has always been terrified of being upside down or flipping backwards. Gymnastics has helped her overcome much of that. The class she is in has the kids doing a lot of the moves you see advanced gymnastics doing but with the help of props. For example the balance beam is lower and close to the wall so the kids and reach out and use the wall as support. To practice back flips they roll over backwards on a foam barrel. Or to practice cartwheels they have a mat that shows where their feet and hands should go.

Classes normally take place in a separate room just for the youngest gymnasts but once in a while they venture out into the big gym to practice on the big equipment. In this picture Nora is practicing on the big balance beam with the help of her teacher Mrs. Dorthy. She didn't quite have the nerve to stand up on it and walk so she was allowed to crawl. Ella was not only willing to walk on the beam but to do a somersault with assistance!


Practicing back flips.

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I'm not sure what she learned here, but it sure looked like fun!

After class was over we met up with Maggie and Katie who are friends of ours that are taking gymnastics at the same time but in a different class. Ice cream was the perfect ending to the last gymnastics class.

The girls proudly displaying their ribbons for completing their classes.

Ice Cream!