First Camp of the New Year!
Just returned from the first national team camp of the new year and I’m excited to say that the US team is looking very good! This time around, the focus of the camp was more on routines as most of us are going to be competing at the Winter Cup Challenge in a couple of weeks. Although some of us were slightly banged up, we are all trying our very best to get/stay healthy as this is of course a very very important year! As they say, staying healthy enough to compete is half the battle.
I’ve gotta say that the highlight of the camp (at least for me) was being able to train with my long-time friend/old teammate and 2008 US National Champion, David Sender! Dave recently announced his plans of coming back and although he isn’t currently on the US National Team, he was invited to come and train with us. Training with him brought me back to old times when we used to train together at Stanford. Good times indeed!
Anyway, I’m back home and gearing up for Winter Cup. I’ll be competing this weekend at the Stanford Open as a preparation for Winter Cup. If anybody is around that night (Saturday at 7pm), please come on by! Ping me for more details. Thanks!
Gym @ OTC - This is where our national team camps and various national clinics take place.
The back gym.
Another shot of the back gym.
Packed and Ready to Go
Off to national team camp once again! I’ll be there until the weekend. This time the main focus will be on preparation for Winter Cup in a couple of weeks. Looked up the weather out in Colorado Springs and although temp will drop at night, surprisingly it’ll be around the same as the Bay Area during the day. Hopefully we’ll get the nice rooms like last time!
All Packed!
All Things Gymnastics!
With all the judging, private coaching and training for Winter Cup coming up in a few weeks, my life has recently been all about gymnastics. Whenever this happens, I sometimes get a bit flustered, but surprisingly I’m still feeling pretty fresh! I think having the few days off for New Years and allowing my mind and body to recharge really did me some good!
Over the weekend, I went out to judge another local junior meet. As always it was awesome to see how much the boys have improved since the previous season. Really shows how hard they’ve worked over the summer! Although I won’t be able to judge as much this season because it’ll be a busy year, I’m looking forward to seeing them at a few more meets.
Judging Horse!
As for my own training, things have been progressing well. I’ve been focusing on putting in the numbers and going through the grind in order to peak at the Winter Cup Challenge in a couple of weeks. I also leave for another National Team Camp in Colorado next week. Things are slowly coming along. Not perfect yet but check out my ring routine from a couple of weeks ago!
Thanks for checking in!
inTurn!
Thanks to Turn Apparel for the shout out and having me be one of their inTurns! If you want some great gymnastics apparel/grips, check out their site here. You can also check out all of the current inTurns here!
inTurn!
Great Year – Ready for 2012!
Wow, I can’t believe that this year is nearly over! I know that in some places, they’ve already welcomed the new year but we have a little more of 2011 left in California.
I wanted to say a how grateful I am for all of the support I’ve received in 2011. It was a year of many ups and downs but I’m lucky that I had so many great people around me. Next year is an important year with the Olympics but I’m planning on taking it day by day. Here’s to a very healthy and happy 2012 to everyone! Thanks for the continued support!
Season Begins
Can’t believe the judging season has already started back up again. I know I won’t be judging quite as much because this will be a busy and important year but I’ll try and get some meets in if my schedule allows me to do so. A couple of weeks ago, I went off to Petaluma to judge the season opener. Hard to believe I used to compete at this same meet! Man, time flies!
Season Opener!
One of the coolest surprises of the meet was that one of the kids had a “Sho” patch on his gym bag. Thanks for the support little man!!!
It's a "Sho" patch! Thanks for the support!
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Hope everyone is enjoying some time with family and friends!
Merry Xmas everyone!
I went back home and took a couple of days to recharge. Definitely needed this. Got lots of good food in me so I should be good to go. Super happy that NBA is back on too!
Great food the last couple of days. It's just what I needed 
Winter Training Camp
Recently I feel like I’ve been starting off all of my blog posts with an apology. Sadly, this one will be no different. Sorry for the lack of updates!
A lot has happened over the past few weeks but I’ve been slightly busier than usual and have had little time to report! Training and work has kept me busy and the fact that this is a short month due to the holidays had made things a bit more hectic. Not to mention, I’ve also been feeling a bit under the weather so I’ve been trying to put in some extra sleep/recovery time whenever possible.
Aside from this minor cold I’ve been trying to get over, things have been going pretty well. I recently came back from another National Team Camp in Colorado Springs. It was another super productive camp and it was great seeing the rest of the national team members. We had some strong training sessions and as a group/individual, we made plans for the upcoming year which is obviously the most important year in this quadrennium. While some of the guys were working new skills to add into their routines, others were starting back up with routines again to prepare for meets that are coming up in January.
All was good at camp except for the fact that it was freezing temperature. The high it got up to during our whole time there was only 8 degrees, and for a California guy like me, that’s no good. I really can’t believe I lived there for two years. I don’t know how I dealt with the cold and the dry and crackly skin. I went through an entire bottle of lotion and 2 chapsticks, and I was only there for 4 days!
Walking to the gym. Lots of slush, snow, and ice.
For those of you that’ve never visited the Olympic Training Center, I snapped a few shots of the dorm room where we stay when we go there to train. Generally we stay in a room with another roommate or two and have only a double bed, but this time we got lucky and got our own rooms with a queen-size bed! It’s also constantly temp controlled and there’s wi-fi which is a necessity in this day in age. Check out the pics below!
A TV with cable and DVD player
Ample closet space
Super comfy queen size bed
and a sink all in your own room!
Over the past few years, the rooms have definitely gone through significant changes. When I was a young kid coming to the Jr National Team Camps, we literally only had a bed in our rooms. It’s definitely a bit different today!
Medal Recall
Had to send back my medal from Pan Ams the other day. I thought there was something strange about it when the color looked a bit faded, but apparently a lot of athletes saw the same issue. It’s definitely very nice of the USOC for taking care of all the costs associated with sending it and getting it re-coated.
Sending the medal off
Wonder if all of the organizations are doing this recall or if this is only done through the USOC? Also wondering why all of this happened and they didn’t use the right material to coat it in the first place…
