It ended up being relatively small. Lots of team performances. And for Gracie, she only had competitors in a few of her events. If you are are trying out new routines, this isn't always a bad thing because you can work the kinks out, get judge feedback, and the wins don't count towards advancement in your level. However, the flip side is you work hard to see how you stack up against others. Earning those wins is important and a point of pride.
The day started with the groups and show twirls. Gracie was 43rd of 61. Needless to say, she spent over 2 1/2 hours sitting on old wood bleachers watching people twirl. When her name was finally called, she took the floor and gave an average performance. Not her best. Not her worst. But as she has getting ready to launch a new show twirl, she wanted this last performance of the old one to go great.
But it didn't.
Her marching and strutting went pretty well, although she competed against a girl who got a PERFECT score, so needless to say Gracie came in second to her.
Somewhere in there, we had some tears.
We made a quick costume change and discovered they had moved on to the X-Struts without the scheduled break. She had to perform it three times in a row for each of the three judges. The first one was rough. In the second, she froze for a moment (10 second in her mind--more like 2 in reality) where she forgot her routine. The contest runner offered a her a short break before her third time, which she thankfully took. The third one went off without a hitch.
But we had more tears. Honestly, a lot of tears.
Then on to her solo. In her first performance, she dropped it 7 times. I've never seen her drop 7 times. Ever.
More tears. I couldn't say anything right. But it turns out saying nothing was also wrong.
The other solos went better, but none were perfect.
Her last events were 2-baton solo, which she considers her worst event. The first time out she had a no-drop routine with no deductions.
Praise God, y'all.
Finally, the last competition took her floor. Gracie collected her awards and by 5 pm, we were in the car headed back home. I waited until we hit the Tennessee state line before I asked if we could talk about what happened that day. It was dark by now and she finally said, "I think I'm just complicated."
I couldn't help but laugh. I love that she had such a simple explanation. We talked about what had gone well. And what didn't. We talked about how she could better respond when things didn't go her way. I have a feeling this will not be the last time we talk about it.
Hormones, the stress of competition, the anxiety of waiting to perform, the frustration of not performing well . . . they can combine to create the perfect storm.
Or maybe it's just a "complicated" storm. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment