Just finished judging the Region 1 Championships over the weekend, and I’ve gotta say that that was by far the longest weekend of judging for me.  It was definitely tough to be focused on every single deduction on 800+ routines, but it was well worth it.  Not only was it fun seeing some great routines (especially the optionals session) but it was nice seeing the kids continuing to work hard and getting better!  I’ve been judging for about 7 years now and it’s been fun seeing the kids improve over the years (especially the ones from out of state since I generally only judge in Northern California).  Just seeing that made everything worth it!  Plus, as I always say, I want to do my part to give back to the gymnastics community, and this is the least I can do.  With regionals over, I won’t be judging again until next season (unfortunately I won’t be at JO Nationals).  That said, I wish all of the athletes luck in their summer training!

Wanted to give a quick shout out to the parents of these gymnasts.  Each one should give themselves a pat on the back!  It’s not easy to take time off of work and travel long and far to bring their kids to these meets.  Behind every athlete is a ton of support from family, coaches and friends.  Can’t forget about the coaches either.  Some of them were there for every single session starting from Thursday – Sunday.  I understand that their job is to be there for the athletes but I wanted to point it out that it’s definitely a lot of work keeping the athletes safe.  Big thanks to the coaches!