Turning Point – Rocky Mountain Open 2012

See above for my routine at the 2012 RMO competition at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. There was a little confusion at the beginning because I arrived late during warmups and I don’t think Kip had a chance to create a number for me in the scoring system. The Judges were looking at the list of names they were given and I wasn’t there. You can see Kip in the blue shirt (he’s the head coach for the Air Force team) come over and talk to me – he asked if I had someone to lift me up.

I was rotating with the team from the US Olympic Training Center so I turned and looked at their coaches to see if they would do it. Andre was nice enough to come over and help with that – Andre and Vitalle are the two coaches from the USOTC, they had 6 national team members with them at the meet. Then when my swing got out of control near the end of the routine Scott Barclay came over and gave me a still so I could finish. Scott is the head coach of the team from Arizona State but I graduated over 10 years ago so he was on another event with his current team.

Last year I traveled with Scott and the ASU team and had a great time, almost like I was back in school again. But this year my wife came with me and I felt more like an “independent” competitor (as those of us are called who are not on a team). I really enjoyed rotating with the national team members, Andre and Vitalle are very nice and the guys on the team were friendly as well. I learned more about the current rules from them, for example now there are F and G skills – the E and Super E weren’t even made up until I was in college so that was a surprise to me. 🙂

I was also encouraged when I learned from one of the national team members that not all of them do every event, but most do at least 3. I’m not eager to do floor, vault, or high bar again (at least competitively) so that was a relief to me. But my anticlimactic performance at the competition really caused me to want to get back to the basics in my training.

The next day, my wife and I went to the Olympic Training Center (which is also in Colorado Springs, just a few miles from the Air Force Academy) and took a look around. I had never been there so it was very exciting for me to see. There were no tours on Sunday but we were able to peek in at a Taekwondo tournament, walk through the hall of fame, and take many pictures (like the one to the right). During 2011 I had fun learning a few new tricks, and in 2012 I will have fun conditioning to become very solid in my basic swing and strength moves. They stopped including the OTC guys in the awards this year because they swept the meet last year, so my goal for next year is to win on Rings and place on P-Bars and Pommel Horse.

About Robert

I competed in gymnastics for 16 years through college at Arizona State University. After 10 years and 5 (now 6) children, I have returned to gymnastics as a competitor. I am a lifetime gymnast. :)
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