Well I am really behind on these Chalk Talks, I might have to hire an independent writer to take over.  I wonder if Dave Barry is ready to come out of retirement?

Chalk Talk Briefs (in an effort to save everyone’s time)

Session 1

The boys did pretty well considering it was a Friday evening meet and there was a girls meet going on at the same time, including the Optional Girls from our gym.  Actually, I had to go over and spot Erin’s Double Back on Floor because Aki was unable to make the meet due to pneumonia.  This was pretty exciting since I had never spotted her before, and on the first one, I launched her too high and had to wait for her to come down, you see optional girls are lighter than optional boys, and I think Erin had a little extra adrenalin running through her veins (actually I think she was scared too stiff, which makes you get an even bigger bounce from the floor).  However, we survived and were able to work together better on the second one, and she nailed it in the meet!  Way to go E!

Uniforms: Pro Tips Continuation

1. Drawstring Violations have almost disappeared.  So of course we will move on to something new!

2. Always put your stuff in your bags! Peter Wilson could not find his form pants after doing floor exercise, so we did the walk about to locate them; luckily we found them over by the High Bar where he had last needed them.  So I decided to create a new rule and try it out on Peter.  The rule: If you leave your form pants behind you have to wear them on your head as you walk back to the Team.  Peters response, “Are you kidding me?”  Nope.  So I put the form pants on Peters head and off he marched with his new Blue Dreadlocks all the way back to the Team. (pic).  I am just trying this out, so if you see your son with the Blue Dreadlocks at a meet, you will know what is going on.  Hopefully this won’t backfire and turn into a new fashion trend like those “Live Strong bracelets”.

3. Next victim, Mason lost his warm-up pants and unfortunately (or fortunately for Mason) we were unable to find them on the floor anywhere, so I asked the boys to please check their bags to see if anyone had them.

4. In the process of looking for them I discovered that there were lots of clean white socks (great job Parents!) and there were several boys that did not have their names on there uniforms!  I don’t know if this is some kind of cruel joke from the Parents or merely just an oversight (probably a little of each, you know who you are).  Parents please put your son’s names on there uniforms!  Please!

Turns out Mason’s warm-up pants were in Peter Wilson’s Bag, I think he would have cleaned up the entire gym if his bag was a little bigger!  I guess my Blue Dreadlock trick was working a little too well.

Chuckle of the Session:

Peter Wilson was in the middle of his ring routine when a fly happened to land on his forehead. Peter tried twitching and wrinkling his forehead to no avail, and soon realized that this fly was along for the ride!  Peter upon dismounting the rings immediately swatted at the fly, forgetting to work on sticking his landing and saluting the Judge stated, “I could not stick my landing, I had a fly on my foooreehead!” Oh well, at least he was focused on something!  Oh well it won’t last long. J  I was relieved to see that his eyes were not permanently stuck in the top of his skull from trying to stare down that fly throughout his routine!  Oh, and he asked me if he could go and tell his parents sitting in the bleachers, to which of course I had to allow, this kind of comedy should be shared immediately.  Afterward I was trying to figure out how we could better train for these types of scenarios but decided to just let it fly!

Well, the meet ended and we had to wait for the girls to finish up there floor routines and a most amazing thing happened.  All of the boys were laying on the edge of the floor motionless, yes, I said motionless, with their eyes glued on the action. The only time someone even moved was when Peter came over to ask me, “How do you know their names?”  as I was cheering them on!  I still don’t think he knows that those girls were from our gym. Motionless! Wow it was amazing! This just doesn’t happen. Have I stumbled on a way to get these boys to focus? I might have to hire the girls team to come help out at all the meets!

Results (top 3)

Chance was not his normal “animal machine” self, I thought he might not pull it off, however he did and by the skin of his teeth (.05).  I think there are other gymnasts who are on a mission to beat the legend! Better step your game up a notch! 1^st on FX, PH, tied for 3^rd on PB and 1^st in AA.

Kyle also seemed a little off his game, although it didn’t stop him from doing an Irish Jig on the awards stand (or was that a pee pee dance?), he did end up tying for 3^rd on Vault, great job Kyle O’Hausmann!

The team got 2^nd place, way to go guys!  The competition is getting tougher as the season moves along. Better pick up the slack if you want on top of the podium again.

Special Thanks to Peter Dilley for bringing popcorn for everyone…oh, excuse me, how did Klye O’Hausmann put it? “Wow red hot kettlekorn!”  This was far more exciting then the awards ceremony.

 

Sessions 2 & 3

Jack Olsen who we discovered has armpit hair (pic) finished 3^rd on V, and HB!

Adam Puchi who claims he had a hair cut (pic 1 & pic 2) you decide…got 3^rd on SR.

Michael Altenhofen: 2^nd on PB and 3^rd on HB.

Ivan Hunter who might have scored higher on Still Rings if he hadn’t suffered a toe cramp in the middle of his back lever crying out loud “my toes, my toes”  and cracking up the Judge finished 2^nd on PB.

Pro-Tip: If you practice pointing your toes in the gym instead of waiting for the meets your feet won’t be so surprised at what you are asking them to do.

Kyle Koehler: 2^nd on HB

Geno Holmquist reduced his total fall count from the previous meet and scored a 9.7 on Vault to receive 2^nd!

Drew “The Factor” Collins got 2^nd on PH! Wow! And tied for 3^rd on V.