While every state is different, my state will wrap up its competitive season for gymnastics this weekend when the Level 4s have their state championships. As a coach, it is my favorite competition of the year. It is  exhausting, rewarding, fantastic and stressful all wrapped in one. We have a large team and the Level 4 meet is a huge one, so I will be coaching what essentially comes out to be 6 meets back to back. Instead of having all of our girls in one session, at the state meet they are broken into sessions by age. This is fun because we get to focus on 3-4 of our own gymnasts at a time.

All of my gymnasts have worked so hard this year. For many of them, it was their first experience competing and they have transformed from little girls who take gymnastics class into gymnasts. They’ve had their ups and downs but they never give up. For most of them, this will be their last competition at this level - a graduation of sorts - as they get ready to start the next chapter in their gymnastics journey at the next level.

Normally this weekend is also bittersweet for me. For the past few years I have coached the Level 4s, but this year I am going to move up with this particular group which is just so exciting. The girls are fantastic and it is partially thanks to the fact that they all have great parents, too.

So, I’ll see you all next week. Have a great weekend and wish us luck - it’s going to be fun.