Gymnastics
Mary Xakellis January Grade 3
I love the pushing, the blocking, the spinning, the bending, the running, and the jumping. If gymnastics was any easier, they would call it football. I love gymnastics. Gymnastics is fun. Vault is hard, and beam is slow. Bars have a routine, but floor is the most fun.
Vault is hard. A gymnasts needs to use a springboard and vault over a horse. As a gymnast, I can put my hands on the horse and push off hard and fast. When I push off the horse, I am trying to continue through my handspring by bringing my legs over my head. Ultimately, I want to get onto the other side of the horse and land on my feet. I have to run very fast. I have to hit the springboard hard to get enough spring. Keeping my body straight is very important in vault.
Beam is slow. A beam is about twelve-feet long. It is about four-inches wide. It is about threeand-a-half feet off the ground. It is usually brown. The object is to stay on beam and do all your moves. For example, high kick on toe is when I kick one of my legs in front of me and keep that leg straight. Then I needle. Needling is when I bend forward and kick one of my legs back. I do my cartwheel on high beam. It’s not hard to me; I practice it a lot. I do my tall crown. A tall crown is when I put my middle finger and thumb together on both hands above your head and keep my arms straight.
Bars have a routine. The first bar is about four-and-a-half feet off the ground. It’s about oneinch thick and five-feet long. The second bar is almost the same except it’s about nine feet off the ground. First I jump to the bar. Next I grab the bar, slide my legs up the bar, and pull up fast. After that, I roll over the bar. I hold onto the bar, bend my knees, let go with my hands, and stand up on the bar. Standing up slowly is kind of scary because I am high up in the air, and there is only a small bar holding me up. Then, I remember that if I fall, I can just jump down on a special mat on the ground. Floor is fun. Floor is springs and then a layer of squishy one-inch thick mat, then carpet. Floor is graceful when I am slow and ballet-like. Floor is fast when I run and flip my body over. I pound on the ground when I jump forward and back. All the floor moves are active when I flip, run, jump, and pound. Everything is fun. If I didn’t do gymnastics, I wouldn’t be who I am. I wouldn’t love the sport I do. I wouldn’t be able to do all the skills I can do now. I wouldn’t be writing this paragraph.
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