Hope everyone had a fun and safe fourth!  Had a fun and eventful weekend myself, but before I go on let me do a quick rewind about a week or so.  A post has been long over due so I’m trying to condense most of what happened last week into this one!  Don’t know what kept me busy all this time (probably extra assignments from work) but my apologies for not writing in a while.

Ok, rewinding back to last weekend. Trekked north about two hours, passed some hills, more hills, some fields, the great capital of California, and finally to a town called Auburn.  The local club, Auburn Gymnastics, called me up to help their kids as a feature clinician!  It was a scorching hot day, but I had a blast nonetheless because I got to work with some great kids that were excited about the sport of gymnastics!

Me, Coach Dylan, and the gymnasts at Auburn Gymnastics!

Wanted to give a quick shout out to the coaches and parents and say thanks for hosting me.  Again, I’m amazed with the dedication of the staff and the parents of all gymnasts (in particular the ones that live away from central gymnastics locations).    I managed to keep myself busy during the two hour drive by surfing through all the radio stations, but these parents do it every weekend to take their kids to meets during competition season.  Success does not only come around because of  the gymnasts’ hard work, but it’s also due to the hard work of everybody around!  It’s an obvious statement, but it’s something that we tend to forget every once in a while.

Anyway, I’m glad that I’m having the opportunity to work with a ton of different kids.  It’s fun seeing the variety of training programs that coaches have in place for them.  Hopefully they keep up the good work.  Looking forward to seeing them next season!

Now, back to the fourth of July weekend.  It was pretty eventful to say the least.  First off, I took part in a parade and sat on a float alongside my coach to promote our gym, Champions Academy.  The best part was being able to see my coach’s Olympic and world championship medals.  It wasn’t my first time seeing them but I get super excited every single time.  So there we were sitting on a float, a former Olympian, and next to him, an aspiring one!

After the parade, I went to an amusement park to check out my childhood friend, Sergei, perform in a show there.  I’ve known Sergei for a long time as we used to compete against each other since we were young kids all the way through college.  Super great gymnast but retired soon after graduating from his university.  Coincidentally, he got a summer gig to work as an acrobat at a show close to where I’m living.  The show was exciting as it was a hybrid of gymnastics, rollerblading, bmx biking, among other extreme sports!

Sergei and his crew performing

At night, went and saw some beautiful fireworks and celebrated Indepdence Day.  Place was packed and took about a half an hour just to get back onto the freeway but it was well worth it.  Summer is always a great time.  Lots of activities, and as always, a ton of training for the athletes!

I'm a terrible "firework picture-taker" but the real thing (especially the finale) was awesome!