Fudge has arrived!

Posted on December 19, 2013 by wildcardgymnastics

The fudge has arrived. We’ll have that sorted this afternoon so you can pick it up. Please note that if you need these for Christmas the gym will be open tonight 4:30-8:30 pm, Friday 4:30 – 8:00 pm, Saturday 9 am – 1pm and Monday 4:30-7:30 pm. There was also a box that arrived from GTM Sportswear. If you ordered items from GTM those are bagged in identical bags as the pasta- in case they are gifts. You may pick up the items in the dance room.

Thanks for all your help with fundraising! We appreciate it! If you are still missing items and haven’t told us yet, please let us know. Thanks again!

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Fund-raising orders (minus fudge) are in

Posted on December 17, 2013 by wildcardgymnastics

All fund-raising orders are in and have been sorted. They are in the party room. Please double check your order upon picking it up. There are just a few pasta items missing and a dozen or so coffee items.

We still have not received the fudge. We expect that Thursday.

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Fund-raising

Posted on December 16, 2013 by wildcardgymnastics

According to our Fed Ex tracking, the pasta will be here tomorrow instead of today. It was shipped Fed Ex Ground, which doesn’t operate on Mondays, despite the estimated delivery date being listed today. Pasta will be here tomorrow.

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Level 2 State Success, Fund-raising Orders, Off-Season Meets, Doggie Office

Posted on December 16, 2013 by wildcardgymnastics

First we want to thank every gymnast, parent and passer-by who put in an enormous amount of effort to make the Level 2 State Championships a big success. We received a number of compliments and this will help our gym and its reputation (along with the success we have had at the two state meets this year). Thank you to everyone who helped out. We will need this amount of help—and more—in March for the Level 6-10 State Championship meet, the most important meet in the state for the year.

Girls’ Level 2 State Success Wall Additions — With nearly the whole team being added to the success wall last week, the Level 2s had a tough task to match the success of the 3s, 4s and 5s. They did their share. To get on the success wall for state, the Level 2s had to win a gold or silver medal, win an event or earn a 9.0 on an event (other than vault which would need a 9.5 or higher).

Angela B. — Gold Medal All-Around, 9.000 on bars, 9.150 on floor
Chasity D. — Gold Medal All-Around, 9.575 on bars (1st), 9.200 on floor (1st)
Morgan H. — Silver Medal All-Around
Ayanna L. — Gold Medal All-Around, 9.350 on bars
Mariyah L. — Gold Medal All-Around, 9.235 on bars, 9.075 on floor
Emma M. — Silver Medal All-Around, 1st on vault, 9.050 on bars
Anya M. — Silver Medal All-Around, 9.100 on bars, 9.050 on beam, 9.075 on floor
Elie R. — Silver Medal All-Around, 9.000 on beam (1st), 9.000 on floor
Annika W. — Silver Medal All-Around

Also, the boys’ Level 4-5s had their first meet of the season and we congratulate them on their first meet of the season.

Fund-raising Orders in on Monday — All coffee and cookie orders came in on Friday and according to Fed Ex tracking, our pasta orders will be in on Monday. We will need all of your help sorting and mostly picking up orders. Unless there is an issue with Fed Ex on Monday, we will have all the orders in.

Friday and Saturday’s Girls’ Team Practice — Due to the meet on Friday and the holidays coming up, only the Level 8s and 9s will practice Friday night. The Level 2s will not practice on Saturday, but the Xcel Silver girls will practice. The new Level 5s have their meet on Friday night and can come to practice every day this week in order to prepare.

New Routines— For Level 3s and Level 4s, we will be scheduling a clinic for learning next level routines over the Holiday Break. It will be a two-hour clinic and we will let you know when we finalize the date.

For the new Level 6s competing this season, we will be choreographing routines over the Holiday Break. There will be a $30 charge for the choreography of floor routines. We will have a schedule out soon.

If your gymnast can’t arrange for times over the holiday break due to travel, we can accommodate with a private lesson.

Off-Season Meet Schedule — The off-season meet schedule will include three regular-season meets for our gymnasts and two post-season. These AAU meets are not mandatory. Gymnasts can select and pay for these these meets a la carte. The only level that these are mandatory are for the Level 2 Purple (formerly Gold Bugs II). Many of our gymnasts will be competing the next level. We will inform everyone of level changes by the end of the week. The following is the off-season meet schedule and meet fees:

March 2 — Wildcard Cruise Classic (Brookfield) — $25 for Level 2, $34 for Level 3, $37 for Level 4 and 5 due by Feb. 1 — Any gymnast who didn’t qualify for Level 3, 4 & 5 state gets free entry fee to the meet. New Level 6s will compete this meet as part of their USAG meet fees.

March 15-16 — Shamrock Invitational (Watertown) — $25 for Level 2, $34 for Level 3, $37 for Level 4 and 5 due by Feb. 1

April 5 — Carousel Invitational (Plover) — $25 for Level 2, $34 for Level 3, $37 for Level 4 and 5 due by March 1

June 11-15 — AAU Age Group Nationals (Disney Resort, Fla.) — we expect it to be $85 due by May 1

July 28-30 — AAU Junior Olympics (Des Moines, Iowa) — we expect it to be $85 due by May 15

We will not be doing an AAU District meet this year due to the fact that it will be over many of our gymnasts’ spring break. We have received a waiver for qualification to the AAU National Championship events.

Additionally, we will likely be bidding on hosting the AAU Wisconsin District meet in 2015 and 2016. We will need help bidding on this as it’s a very corrupt and crooked process. We will have a day trip to Menomonie, Wis., the day of the vote. More information will come on this as we get closer.

Doggie Office — Please do not park in the Doggie Office parking lot for gymnastics purposes. We also know that many of you patronize Doggie Office and we have provided them quite a bit of business. They were very threatening to us for a one or two people who parked in their lot during the Level 2 State Championships. We ask that you either say something about the fact that you are affiliated with Wildcard Gymnastics and are bringing your pet there simply because of proximity and have other choices. We are going to call Central Bark just a few blocks away to see if they will give Wildcard customers who switch a discount on similar services.

The guy from Antrim Manufacturing across the street was also a jerk about parking, but I don’t think any of you do business with them (if you do, please find an alternative). As of now, First Supply to the north has allowed us to park there after 5 p.m. and Saturdays after 1 p.m. You may continue to do that until we find out otherwise.

First Meet — We wish the best of luck to the new girls’ Level 5s, Level 8s and Level 9 and boys’ Level 6s and Level 7 as they have their first meet this week at the Hawaiian Pineapple Classic in Schaumburg, Ill. Because of the meet on Friday and no practice for most levels on Friday, Thursday will be our purple-wearing day. Wear exhibition leos or other purple leos on Thursday of this week.

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Reminder: Only Girls’ Level 2s, 5s, Optionals and Boys on Friday

Posted on December 12, 2013 by wildcardgymnastics

This is a reminder that there is no practice for girls’ Level 3, 4 and 5 this Friday as we will be set-up for the Level 2 State Championships and there will be minimal equipment available.

Level 2s will have practice from 4:30-7:20 p.m. At 7:30 p.m., we will take them to Noodles for a team dinner. Orders are due today from Level 2s and are either $6 (without meat) or $8.50 (with meat). Orders include flatbread and a drink. Parents should pick up their child

Optionals and Level 5s competing next Friday (the Level 4s who are trying to move up to Level 6) will have structured practice from 4:30-7:30 p.m. and then can have open workout from 7:30-8:30 p.m.

Boys are here from 5-8 p.m. in preparation for their first meet this Saturday and next Friday and Sunday.

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State Medal Correction

Posted on December 10, 2013 by wildcardgymnastics

Looks like we left off two state medalists (bringing our total to 51 and 24 of 27 gymnasts medaled). Our apologies.

Level 4
Nora L . — 12th place on beam
Jenna W. — 9th place on beam, 13th place on floor

Also, we neglected to state that we still need volunteers to help with gym tear down on Thursday night, 7-9 p.m. and with gym set up on Saturday from 7 p.m.-9 p.m.

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State Medalists, Level 2 Spirit Week, Level 2 State Needs

Posted on December 10, 2013 by wildcardgymnastics

First off, we want to wish all of our Level 3, 4 and 5 gymnasts congratulations on a very good season. We had 27 competitors compete at state with a club-record 51 medals taken home (our previous high was 21). Here is a list of all of our medalists, all who will make the success wall:

Level 3:
Aniyah B. — 4th place vault (9.650)
BeckyDee D. — 5th place beam (9.000), 4th place floor
Emily G. — 7th place vault, 6th place beam, 7th place floor (9.025)
Adriana H. — 12th place vault, 14th place beam
Nadia J. — 11th place vault, 11th place bars, 11th place floor
Ella J. — 5th place bars (9.525), 11th place beam (9.050)
Aaliyah K. — 12th place vault, 11th place bars, 15th place beam, 8th place floor, 9th place All-Around
Nora L. — 12th place beam
Norah T. — 6th place vault, 10th place beam, 8th place floor, 8th place All-Around
Taylor T. — 12th place vault, 3rd place beam, 10th place floor, 8th place All-Around
Ryann W. — 12th place beam
Jenna W. — 9th place beam, 13th place floor

Level 4:
Sofia B. — 3rd place vault, 9th place bars, 11th place beam, 6th place All-Around
Hattie B. — 14th place bars, 13th place beam, 14th place floor
Madeline C. — 10th place beam
Ava C. — 9th place beam
Bradyn F. — 10th place bars, 7th place floor
Delaney H. — 1st place vault, 3rd place bars, 5th place beam, 5th place floor, 1st place All-Around — STATE CHAMPION
Camille P. — 10th bars

Level 5
Izzie L. — 8th place beam
Elie L. — 6th place vault
Miley L. — 10th place vault, 11th place floor
Jordan M. –7th place bars
Eden R. — 2nd place vault, 4th place bars, 2nd place beam, 2nd place floor, 3rd place All-Around

Every member of the Level 4 team had at least one medal and the team was 0.025 away from earning a medal as a team!

Level 2 Spirit Week — With Level 2 state this week, this is again spirit week, but just on the days that Level 2s practice. This is the schedule for spirit week for this week:

Tuesday: Pajama day
Thursday: Tie Dye
Friday: Formal and purple

Remember, Level 2s, to get your Noodles orders in for Friday night. We will take the gymnasts to Noodles to eat at 7:30 p.m. and you should pick them up at 8:30 p.m. from the restaurant. Remember, Friday night’s practice is just for Level 2s, new Level 5s and Level 8s and 9s.

Level 2 State Needs — With Level 2 State just around the corner, there are still a few needs left in the way of volunteering. At this point, we still need admissions workers and front desk and leotard sales workers. We seem to be covered with workers on the floor. Thank you.

However, we still have some needs for concessions and the judges and coaches rooms. Instead of asking for everyone to bring items in, we are going to rely on volunteers since we just asked everyone for donations.

We need the following items:

Concessions: Hot dog buns, hamburger buns, seasoned ground beef, diced tomatoes, sour cream, butter, already baked potatoes, salsa, baked goods

Judges and coaches’ rooms AM: bagels, fruit plates, yogurts

Judges and coaches’ room noon: Salad and dressing, soups, cold cuts, sliced cheese, bread, mayonnaise, chips and dip, veggie plate, desserts

Judges and coaches room PM: Mini snack foods (hous d’ooeuvre, finger, appetizer-style foods)

We will have 8 judges and as many as 40 coaches. A sign-up sheet will be up at the gym on Tuesday.

New selection of leotards — For the state meet, we received a large selection of leotards from SylviaP, the company who we got our long-sleeved competition leos from. They are available for sale now if you want to get them for holiday presents prior to being purchased by our guests from other clubs. These are super-high quality leotards (and thus cost more).

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Getting Into the Zone – Toughness Training Homework

Posted on December 9, 2013 by wildcardgymnastics

In light of this past weekend’s awesome Level 3-5 performances at State and our Level 2s competing at their State Championships this coming weekend, here is a great article on “Getting into the Zone”.  

Please share this with your gymnast!  We are looking forward to an even more successful weekend with the Level 2s and our Boys’ Team who will also be competing this weekend. 

 

Getting into the Zone!

 

In order to achieve success, gymnasts need to find a way to feel so confident in their own abilities and that they enter “the zone”.   The zone is a well-known temporary performance state that athletes may enter into where they perform instinctively and without conscious thought processes.  It allows athletes to perform at their best. The brain thinks about the action and the body performs it exactly as the brain thought about it. 

 

It is difficult to get in the zone in gymnastics because the competition time is so short. In other sports, like football or basketball, the length of the game allows athletes to initially play normally and then get into the zone after a period of time.

First, being in the zone requires a previous mastery of the skills in the routine. A gymnast cannot operate in the zone if they have not done the skills correctly previously.

For gymnasts, the rest depends on control of their focus. Being in the zone means being totally focused only on what you are doing at that very moment. Focus and concentration must be intense enough to blank out all distractions. Distractions may be mental, like worrying about a skill coming up in your routine, thinking about what the coach or someone will think about your routine or being affected by physical distractions like crowd noise or loud music.

Secondly, being in the zone requires a particular type of confidence that does not allow any fear of falling or failure to come into play and not being intimidated by other gymnasts, judges or coaches.

Being in the zone means being so immersed in the skills and routine that a gymnast loses track of time, where they are, and the relative importance of the meet.

You can improve your chances of getting into the zone by practicing your focus and concentration and attempting to get in the zone in practice. All of the elements including focus, being in the present moment, complete concentration on the skills and routine can allow a gymnast to increase their odds of getting in the zone and therefore of getting into the zone in meets.

Here are some steps for increasing your chances of getting in the zone.

      1.  Focus only on one skill at a time and don’t think forward or backward in the routine.

      2.  Focus on metal and verbal (silent self-talk) cues.

      3. Avoid focus on any distractions.

      4. Avoid focus on worry that you won’t perform correctly.

      5. Focus on all skills or shapes as you want them to be.

      6.  Be confident. Act confident, aggressive and decisive and avoid feelings of fear.

      7. Commit completely to performing all skills, with no hesitation.

      8. Be completely in the moment.

      9. Control the pace of your thinking processes to exactly match the pace of the routine.

      10. When doing floor, allow the music to control the movement of your body.

      11.  On the other events, control the pace of your thoughts and body to the natural rhythm of the skills.

      12.  Allow no other thoughts between the thought of the skill you are dong and doing that skill.

      13.  Allow yourself no thoughts about what kind of scores or criticism or praise that you will receive after the routine.

      14.  Practice!  Practice with distractions and train yourself to force them from your mind.

 

It is important to not try to force yourself into the zone. Being in the zone means doing without trying. If you try to force it, you are likely to end up performing poorly. If you get into the process of what you’re doing, and let the results take care of themselves, then you have an excellent chance of getting into the zone.

And being in the zone can allow you that rare but wonderful feeling of performing perfectly if only for one tumbling pass or one vault. Good luck on entering the gymnastics zone.

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Boys’ Pre-Holiday Practice Schedule

Posted on December 5, 2013 by wildcardgymnastics

With December being a very busy month, the practice schedule for the boys’ team is a bit different from what is usual. Here are the changes for the next few weeks:

Saturday, Dec. 7 — Level 3 and Level 4-7 practice as scheduled
Monday, Dec. 9 — Holiday Party, 4:30-6:30, NO PRACTICE
Wednesday, Dec. 11 — Level 4-7 practice as scheduled
Thursday, Dec. 12 — Level 4-7 practice as scheduled (with Candace)
Friday, Dec. 13 — Level 4-7 practice (to make up for Monday, Dec. 9), 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 14 — Level 4-5 meet in Racine, Level 3, Level 6-7 NO PRACTICE
(Wildcard Gymnastics will be hosting Girls’ Level 2 State Meet on Dec. 14)
Monday, Dec. 16 — Level 4-7 practice as scheduled, Level 3 make up for Saturday, Dec. 14
Wednesday, Dec. 18 — Level 4-7 practice as scheduled
Thursday, Dec. 19 — Level 4-7 practice as scheduled
Friday, Dec. 20 — Level 6 meet in Schaumburg, Ill. (with Blain)
Saturday, Dec. 21 — Level 3, Level 4, 5, 7 practice as scheduled (no Level 6)
Sunday, Dec. 22 — Level 7 meet in Schaumburg, Ill.

As of this point, there is no practice schedule out yet for the holiday break. That will be posted when we have it available.

Names were drawn for the Holiday party last night. If your child wasn’t at practice, names were picked on their behalf. If you don’t plan on being at the Holiday party, please let Blain or Candace know so we may re-assign your name to another gymnast.

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Visualization Homework, Lv. 3-5 Team Dinner, Holiday Party, Fund-Raiser, New Optional Meet Times

Posted on December 3, 2013 by wildcardgymnastics

Parents, sorry for the multiple messages this week. Lots to cover this week.

VISUALIZATION HOMEWORK — With the state championship meet this week for the Level 3-5s and on the horizon for the Level2s, this homework is very appropriate. Please print and discuss with your gymnasts.

This week’s focus is going to be focusing on the power of visualization.  Visualization or mental imagery has been proven to be very effective in strengthening confidence, coordination, muscle memory and even in overall performance.  If done correctly, the brain can even believe that the body is actually performing and it can be used as a “virtual practice”.   This week, the more visualization you do, the stronger you are going to feel for the State meet (or your first competition).

Click here for the complete homework assignment.

LEVEL 3-5 TEAM DINNER — We are on for Noodles for Friday night’s team dinner! Practice will conclude at 7:30 p.m. for all levels (at which the Level 2s are done for the night, Level 8-10 can stay until 8:30 p.m., but we can’t guarantee a coach will be available). There is Open Gym on Friday, but no Level 3-5s are allowed to stay, unlike other weeks in which they may stay if they aren’t competing first thing on Friday.

So we want to conclude the week with a good team bonding exercise and a nice meal at Noodles on 124th and Capitol. We will transport the gymnasts to the restaurant. Pick up is by 8:30 p.m. at Noodles. We need to pre-order for a group this size. Gymnasts will have six choices of entree. Flatbread and drink are included in the price. If your gymnasts want cookies or a crisped rice treat, they must pay for those separately at the restaurant.

We need to have orders by Thursday. There will be a sign-up sheet on the wall. Payment is due by Thursday as well. The cost per gymnast is $6 without meat and $8.50 with meat. The choices are:

Small Wisconsin Mac & Cheese ($6)| With BBQ Pork ($8.50)
Small Spaghetti & Meatballs ($6) | With Meatballs ($8.50)
Small Pesto Cavatappi ($6) | With Chicken ($8.50)

We will not make substitutions, so order appropriately. The Pesto Cavatappi has mushrooms.

Those gymnasts who didn’t qualify for state are welcome and expected to attend. They are just as much part of the team and we hope to see them cheering on their teammates at the state meet as well. Remember, Friday is formal day, so dress your best!

Parents, we respectfully ask that you not attend this dinner as we are concerned that if every parent shows up, we will put the restaurant well over capacity.

We will do the exact same thing with the Level 2 girls next Friday and expect to do the same with the boys, optional girls and Xcel when its their state meets, although the optional dinner may be scheduled on a different day as we will be busy preparing to host the state meet.

HOLIDAY PARTY — The Holiday Party is schedule for Monday, Dec. 9 from 4:30–6:30 p.m. at the gym. Hopefully, we will be celebrating lots of medals from the weekend before! We will do a gift exchange in the usual way. Level 8-9 girls have already picked names for the gift exchange and the gift limit for that group is $15-20. Level 4-5 girls are exchanging in their own group and should have already picked names as well. The limit for that group is also $15-20. Boys Level 4-7 will be picking names on Wednesday with the same gift limit of $15-20. Girls who haven’t picked a name yet should see Bella Gordon.

All other Levels: girls fast track, girls Level 2 winter, girls Level 2 fall, girls Level 3, boys’ Level 3, and Xcel will be doing a blind exchange. Gymnasts should buy an age appropriate gift for the exchange in the range of $10-$15. We will do a musical chairs type exchange for these groups. Games will be played and there will be snacks, pizza and soda.

Boys, Level 8 and 9 girls and girls competing Level 5 in Schaumburg will be expected to practice from 6:30-8:30 p.m. (boys might end at 8 p.m., Candace will make that decision).

FUND-RAISER — The orders for the fund-raiser are in and we thank everyone who participated. If you haven’t participated, you will be receiving an e-mail from us with options to participate. If you have fund-raising orders you haven’t turned in, please do so, but at this point, we can’t guarantee a pre-Christmas delivery.

HAWAIIAN PINEAPPLE MEET UPDATE — We have actual times for the Hawaiian Pineapple Classic in Schaumburg, Ill., on Dec. 20-21. The updated times can be found here. In short, the boys’  Level 6s are Friday at 11 a.m., the girls’ trying to qualify out of Level 5 are competing Friday at 6 p.m.,  the girls’ Level 8s are Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The girls’ Level 9s are Saturday at 6 p.m., and the boys’ Level 7s are on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS — A reminder that we have the individual photos ready. If you would like them, they are only $10 (less than the sitting fee at any photography studio) and you have the rights to do with them what you wish. Unfortunately, I can’t share the photos as the upload process would take too long and we have no way to watermark them.

TWINSIES DAY TODAY — Spirit week day 2. Twinsies day!

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