gymnastics | Jen Bendewish │Running Down a Dream

On Friday, March 10, 2023, Jossalyn competed in the Charity Challenge Cup in Wesley Chapel, Florida. She competed in Session 3 (3:00pm) and started on Bars.

Her Charity Challenge Cup Meet Scores:

Vault: 8.950 – 5th
Bars: 9.250 – 3rd (tie)
Beam: 8.325 – 10th
Floor: 9.000 – 7th (tie)
All Around: 35.525 – 8th place (age group)

Meet Week Preparation

Jossalyn had a typical meet week experience during the practices leading up to the meet. She had an off day, a couple of okay days and one great day. She felt a little off on bars during Wednesday practice and she decided to come in to practice on Thursday just to work bars.

Travel Day and Meet Day

We had full Friday that included travel, competition and more. The morning started with parent teacher conferences for both Madalyn at Jossalyn, all before 8:00am. After that, we headed back home to get the car packed, braid Jossalyn’s hair, and get Gwen off to daycare. We were on the road about 9:45am. The drive was smooth, and we arrived in the Wesley Chapel area about 1:00pm. We stopped at Publix to pick up lunch and snacks. Then, we drove south to shop at Uptown Cheapskate – Tampa, a very cute, upscale used clothing store for teens and 20-somethings. Madalyn enjoyed it the most and while she shopped Jossalyn used a dressing room to change into her competition leotard and warm-ups. Madalyn found a very cute top and then we headed to the Wiregrass Sports Complex for the meet.

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Florida USAG Level 6 State Meet Recap

On March 31, 2023, Jossalyn wrapped up her first season as an optional level gymnast. Her age group was in the second session (3:00pm) of the day and she started on vault. Here are her stats:

Level 6 State Meet Scores:

Vault: 9.325 – 7T
Bars: 9.100 – 7
Beam: 9.250 – 10
Floor: 9.025 – 13
AA: 36.700 – 10th

Meet Week Preparation

The week leading up to the meet is always weird. I have learned that Joss wants to have a good practice every day, but also wants to have an “off” practice to get the nerves out. While she wants an “off” practice, she doesn’t actually want to go through that practice because it challenges her confidence in her skills. Luckily, or unluckily, Monday was a little off and Tuesday was good. After learning from the previous meet that getting in an extra practice the day before a meet does not always help her, she opted to focus on making Wednesday the last day of practice so she could have Thursday to build the anticipation. Instead of Thursday practice, we focused on family time, board games, homework, and packing.

Travel Day and Meet Day

Travel day and meet day happened to be the same day. I don’t usually like to travel and have Joss compete in the same day, but sometimes it just has to work out that way. Friday morning, big sister and baby sister were off to school by 7:30am. After that, I braided hair, packed up the car and we were on our way by 8:45am. We arrived in Wesley Chapel just after 12:30pm and decided to have lunch at Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen. Cheddar’s is known to be quick and has several menu items Joss likes. While we ate lunch we brought a board game, Upwords, and played one round to try and keep Joss distracted. After lunch, Joss changed into her competition leotard and warmups and with it came a big smile, indicating she was super excited and ready to compete. After she changed, we headed over to the Wiregrass Sports Complex for the meet.

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