back handsprings

So my newest activity in life is tumbling. at the beginning of next year, I plan on trying out for my school's varsity cheerleading team, because I refuse to accept JV as an option. I've been tumbling since december and it's going surprisingly well. since I am an athlete already, it hasn't been hard for me to get into shape or anything.

starting with dance- I'm not so good at this part. the moves are hard to memorize and difficult to execute. it has taken me two months to get one dance down. granted, I only have 30 minute lessons once a week. the dance I'm working on is really fun and happy and spunky, which is easy for me to portray because it's kind of my personality. my coach is doing a good job of teaching it to me I think. trying to put it to music now, which is confusing, but fun.

okay, so the cheering part is the part I need to work on most. my motions are sharp but I have trouble remembering them. and I can't really seem to get my voice to do what I want it to. "go big blue and gold, go big BLUE" is the cheer, and it's kind of repetitive and silly.

jumps are crazy. I didn't know I could do that with my body <-- haha, that's what she said. anyway, I have my toe touch almost table-top, my pike is good, but the rest of my jumps suck. and I try so hard, but it's really insanely difficult to throw oneself into the air and still manage to be thinking about things like where your hands go when you land. the double toe-touch was probably created by the devil, as was the 'around the world' (is that what it's called? like a toe touch to a pike all in one jump). how am I expected to be able to do these things?

tumbling is the best part by FAR. my round-offs are very fun and my coach says they're greaaat. I have my back handspring by myself on the floor, and am working on double back handsprings on the trampoline and handstand-snapdown backhandsprings on the floor. hopefully by mid-may I'll be able to start round-off backhandsprings and my goal is back tucks by tryouts in August. I LOVE tumbling and think it is so much fun and wish I could spend my whole lesson tumbling. right now I want to be doing 2 or 3 lessons a week, but according to my parents we have 0 dollars to spend on anything. so I get one lesson. for 30 minutes. and when I'm at home I usually work out everyday, because I want to get better fast and be a flyer next year on the varsity team.

for the end of this post I'm just going to say I'll probably post again today, as I'm procrastinating on my chemistry and government homework. again.