Real gymnastics

Last night we went to a gymnastics meet at the University of Utah. It was our first time but apparently it's the place to be on Friday nights in the winter! The Utes always have a nationally ranked gymnastics team (they're #5 this year) and always attract sell-out crowds to the arena where the basketball team also plays on campus. Last night they were competing in their final meet against #1 Florida. Utah lost by a fraction of a point, but it was really fun to watch and Luke did a great job sitting and/or standing on his seat and taking in all of the action.

I could really, really appreciate how difficult the routines were, particularly on the bars and beam, since I was once a clumsy, terribly unskilled gymnast myself! I soo wish that we had my old gymnastics video accessible in today's technology, because they would be fun to share here. Some of my moves, and those of my friends/ teammates brought endless entertainment and doubled-over laughter to my friends in high school and watching them was a frequent weekend night ritual at our house. Favorites include me flying out of the camera view on a bars dismount, followed by a thud and an deep "ooooooooh" from the crowd... a similar incident from moi on the beam... an incident when one of my friends got stuck hanging upside down on the bars for a good awkward 15 seconds, then rescued herself only to get into the same predicament... and then a real winner - one of my more-gawky-than-me teammates falling on our coach while going over the vault. These incidents all took place during a competition, by the way. It wasn't exactly an Olympics prep gymnastics school, but it sure was a fun part of my childhood.

So, anyway, we enjoyed our first Utes gymnastics meet. And since one of Keith's colleagues is the sister of the team's coach and we got great seats, I'm sure we'll be back again next season.