Monday Practice — We will have team practice as scheduled on Monday and Tuesday night, despite our usual policy of closing when Milwaukee Public Schools or Wauwatosa Public Schools are closed. It might be a little cold in the gym, so gymnasts can wear leggings/pants and long sleeved shirts as necessary.

Shawn Johnson on Thursday — We received an increase on our allotment of tickets for Shawn Johnson on Thursday at Marquette and now we feel that we can accommodate everyone. For those of you who have already requested tickets, we can handle all of your needs. For the rest of you, we will now distribute tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.  Please pick up tickets at the gym prior to Thursday. We encourage everyone to come for this rare chance to see and possibly meet an Olympic champion gymnast. A reminder, that there will be no team practice for any boys’ or girls’ Levels, including fast track, so that gymnasts may attend this one-of-a-kind, free event. Gymnasts, please wear Wildcard attire at the event as this is a team event. Recreation classes will be held.

Other Practice Changes for the Week — This is also a reminder that Saturdays’ practice will be a little different than normal. Girls’ Level 3/4 and 4 will practice on Saturday from 9 a.m.-noon to make up for the Jan. 15 practice that was cancelled due to a lack of team coaches. Girls Level 2 and Girls’ Level 3 will have their practice moved to 12:45-approximately 3 p.m. as their practice will be the mock meet. Gymnasts in Level 3/4 should plan for a quick lunch between practice and the mock meet. If a gymnast needs to leave a bit early from practice to get lunch, that is understandable.

Girls’ Xcel Silver will have their practice extended until 3 p.m. to take part in the mock meet. Please bring a snack for the middle of this time frame.

Optional gymnasts, we will need volunteers to judge the meet and write ribbons (and might need at least one more to help coach a group).

Meet Additions — We are offering the Level 8 and 9 gymnasts one more opportunity to compete at Gymsport in Weston on Sunday, Feb. 23 at no additional cost (in exchange for the cost of the Cancun meet which was included in meet fees, for those who competed in Cancun, consider this a thank-you gift). This is an AAU meet. Please let us know your interest. We would like to take the whole team.  This is intended to build confidence and give gymnasts an opportunity to sharpen up routines before the State meet.

We will also open this up to any Level 6 and any Xcel Platinum or Xcel Diamond gymnasts who wish to compete at this meet as well for $50. Meet fees are due by Thursday as the entry deadline is Friday.

Also any Xcel Silver gymnasts can add a meet at Gymtastics in Watertown on March 15 or 16 for $50.  Any Xcel gymnast (silver, platinum or diamond) can add Carousel in Plover on April 5 for $50. Compulsory gymnasts are competing at each of these meets. The deadline is Saturday to  let us know interest and to pay for these meets.

Additionally, the first off-season meet fees are due on Feb. 1 for any compulsory level gymnast wishing to compete at these meets (note the winter Level 2s are registered for these meets). We have only received a few entries for these meets, but we know there is plenty of interest. (Please note the earlier entry deadline for the April 5 meet due to an earlier entry deadline from the host gym). The schedule is:

March 2 — Wildcard Cruise Classic (Brookfield)
March 15-16 — St. Patricks’ Day Invitational (Watertown)
April 5 — Splish Splash Invitational (Plover)

The cost for each meet is: $34 for Level 3, $37 for Level 4 and 5.

Success Wall Additions — This weekend was a very busy weekend for Wildcard with three different teams competing at two meets: Boys’, Girls’ Optional and Girls’ Xcel. It was the first ever meet for three of our Xcel Silver level girls — Amari D., Marcella R., and McKayla M. — so that is success in itself for them. While they were close to qualifying for the success wall, we did have two of the Xcel Silver girls qualify for the wall in addition to a handful of boys. The following are the success wall additions:

Boys’ Level 5:Max Br.: 9.900 on floor, 9.500 on horizontal bar
Diego G: 9.500 on floor
Ian Y.: 10.300 on floor, 9.800 on rings, 9.600 on horizontal bar

Boys’ Level 6
Bryce W: 9.500 on floor

Girls Level 9
Hallie F: First place on beam

Girls’ Xcel Silver
Anna P. — 9.150 on vault, 9.200 on bars
Katherine R. — 9.200 on vault

Girls; Xcel Platinum
India D. — 1st on vault, 1st on bars, 9.200 on floor (1st)

Girls’ Xcel Diamond
Ashley W. — 1st on vault, 9.700 on floor (1st)

Let’s keep working so we can get more pictures on the Success Wall for the upcoming meets!

For all of Wildcard Gymnastics team information, sign up for e-mail reports at Wildcard’s team blog, wildcard-team.com. For more information, including team information, like Wildcard Gymnastics on Facebook or follow Wildcard Gymnastics on Twitter @wildcardnews. For all the meet results, including previous meet results, season highs, awards, 9.0s and all meet statistics, go to the Wildcard Gymnastics web site, wildcard-gymnastics.com, and click on the team tab.