Intrasquad Competition

Yesterday Sweet's gymnastics club hosted an intrasquad meet so the gymnasts could get an idea of what the judges are looking for.  They had the opportunity to have some constructive critisim from the people who are actually going to judge them this season.  Sweet was so excited to actually be able to compete since she chose not to last year.  Over all she did well.  She had an 8.7 average with a total of  34.8 total score.  This would have been higher but the judge asked her to start from a different corner for her floor routine and it totally messed her up.

Vault 9.3

Bars 9.0

Beam 9.1

Floor 7.4


Congratulations Sweet!  It was so great to see you put your talent to work.  Daddy and I wish you the best of luck this season.  We are so proud of all your hard work and dedication!  Here's to a GREAT season of fun!

University of Iowa Gymnastics

We think this is pretty cool. Sweet went to the Women's Gymnastics camp at the University of Iowa last summer. The head coach, Larissa Libby, worked with Sweet on her back handsprings on the beam all week.

We got a postcard telling us camp sign ups are beginning. I went to the website and what do I see. The fatured picture is Coach Libby working with Sweet on the beam. Pretty cool!

You can see her picture here: http://www.iowasportscamps.com/sports/gymnastics-girls/

This has psyched Sweet up for another great year at camp! :-)

Level Six, First Place Floor Routine

Gymnastics competition is over. It went pretty well. Chip received first place and Sweet received second. Long story there. Here is her first place floor routine.

Food, Fitness and Fun

The picklets were fortunate in being able to attend the Food, Fitness and Fun event that Shawn Johnson was speaking at. We worked at a Sokol booth for the day.

See the map up on the wall? The picklets looked up all the locations in the world that Sokols are located, put pins in each location and hot glued them in. They then printed out the names of the locations and taped them on the map. Great geography project!

There was a Grand Procession in which local gymnasts led Shawn Johnson around the stage two times. She stopped for me take her picture but sadly my camera wasn't cooperating with me.

Shawn gave a speech about eating healthy, staying in shape and having fun while doing it.
I don't think she wrote it herself but she spoke very well and was admittedly very nervous.

After the speech she sat with a local reporter and answered questions. Then she took questions from some local gymnasts who were on the stage with her.

One of the questions from a gymnast was, "What was your hardest trick to get?" Shawn answered the kip which is something Sweet has been working on for almost a year. Sweet said, "Did you hear that? She said her kip!"

In all the event was a lot of fun. Though no one got to "meet" the Shawn Johnson (or get her autograph), they did get a ton of freebies, get to hang with some friends and got to have their picture taken by a celebrity...

...or two. :-)


(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Gymnastics Compitition

This past weekend was the kids' gymnastics competition. It was so much fun! And the kids, all of them, did terrifically. Everyone tried their hardest and that makes them winners all around.

Highlights of the day include:

Chip doing his floor routine

Dill working the rings

The level 9 boy from another unit...wow!

Chip getting 1st place

Dill getting 1st place

Sweet on the floor

Sweet on the beam

Sweet on the bars

Petite doing a backflip

Sweet getting 2nd place


(c) 2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
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NCAA Gymnastics

We were fortunate enough to attend the NCAA Gymnastics tournament that was held at the University of Iowa on Saturday. A group of us from Sokol got together and had a great time.

There were six colleges participating. Minnesota, Iowa, Iowa State, UCLA, Florida and Denver.


Iowa State had some rockin' floor routines.


Iowa didn't do very good but I got some decent shots.






Coach Chow (Shawn Johnson's coach) was in the house. Chip talked him into taking a picture with the Sokol gymnasts. Sweet, Petite and their compadres.


This was an excellent field trip. It gave the picklets an idea of how good they could become if they work very hard.

(c) 2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
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Glide Kip

Sweet has been working on her glide kip. For those not knowing the gymnastics lingo:

The kip is a basic element performed on uneven bars, high bar, and parallel bars.

In a kip, the gymnast:

1. Jumps to the bar
2. Swings his legs forward (called the glide)
3. Brings his legs up to the bar
4. Lifts his body up to the bar

It is an intermediate gymnastics move that is very difficult to learn much less master. Sweet has been working on this since last April.

Can I tell you how proud we are that Sweet, tonight March 30, 2009, got her kip. It was not pretty. It was not perfect. Hell, it wasn't even nice looking. But all the gymnasts and all the parents stopped what they were doing to watch cheered her on making her feel on top of the world. The hug from her coach didn't hurt much either!

(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
All Rights Reserved

Sokol on the News

A local news station was looking for "good news" stories to air. My MIL emailed the station and told them about Sokol being up and running in their new building. The TV station contacted us and did a story. The reporter did a really nice story that last almost 2 minutes. Below is the broadcast that I taped from the TV using my camera in video mode. The audio is terrible but it shows the gym and the gymnasts. Sweet was interviewed and Chip did a pull up on the rings.



© 2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
All Rights Reserved

Sokol's New Gym

We have finally moved into our new gym! The gymnasts were so happy to be at their own place.

Working on their own floor was such a blast. In the middle is Sweet doing a back extension.

Cool helping Dill with a handstand on the handstand trainer.

Sweet rebounding from a round-off.

A cookie one of the coaches brought in to help in the celebration.


© 2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
All Rights Reserved

Meeting a Hero

Sweet was given a generous gift this week by her grandma. Tickets to the "Meet and Greet" with Shawn Johnson. To say she was elated would be an understatement. When she told her friend Petite about going she got an evil idea. "Could she buy Petite a ticket and have her go with us?" Cool got on the puter and found that tickets were still available. Sweet purchased the ticket for Petite (with her own money) and it was a go!

I picked Petite up from school early and we headed to Iowa City. The doors opened at 4:15. We parked at 3:30...I was worried about traffic and wanted to get there early. It is in my blood. On the way down the girls decided to make a poster for Shawn. This was snapped driving down the interstate. They were busy at work.

The girls finished the poster in the van while waiting for 4:00. We walked up to the building which is part of the U of I campus and headed in the door. We took the elevator up to the 4th floor and stood in line. There were photographers and reporters all around. The girls stood there with their sign and was spotted by a reporter. Oh, what a great interview it was!She asked them if they thought Shawn holding the meet and greet for flood relief was good. They then told the reporter that they thought it was great because their gym flooded just like Shawn's. They showed her pictures they brought along to show Shawn.She spent a good 15 minutes interviewing them. They were psyched! As the interview was winding down, lo and behold, Shawn walked by. She is the one on the right in the Uggs.
We finally got into the banquet hall where the shin dig was being held. What a classy set up they had. Coat racks to hold the winter coats that were definitely needed outdoors. Classical music to listen to and a buffet with the best finger foods imaginable. Wouldn't it have been nice to have a picture of it to show you? There was fruit (strawberries, pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew and grapes), veggies (red and yellow peppers, broccoli, two different kinds of squash, carrots and celery), 5 different kinds of cheese, crackers, 3 different kinds of finger sandwiches, mini eggrolls, meat balls, 5 different kinds of cookies and many different kinds of dessert bars along with coffee, tea, water and lemonade. There were tables with white table cloths to sit at and waiters and waitresses with tuxedo shirts and ties walking around collecting trash. It was amazing!

While we were waiting for our group number to be called, someone from the university asked if they could take the girls picture. They obliged.
When our group number was called the girls couldn't stand still. It was hilarious to watch them. Sweet was fidgety and bounced while Petite kept looking around the person in front of her to catch a glimpse of Shawn.They walked up to their hero, their role model and had the time of their life. For 30 seconds to a minute they were her main focus. They handed her the poster they made and the scrapbook of pictures of their gym in hopes she will look at it.They got autographs and pictures taken. Oh, what a feeling!The funniest part of the whole experience was the photographers. Evidently word had gotten around about the girls story and when they finally got up to Shawn every reporter in that room was clicking. I had never heard so many cameras. Of course I didn't get a picture of that monterage either. We were then surrounded by reporters asking names, ages and hometowns. It was unreal, terrific but unreal! They loved every minute of it!

Worried that Shawn might not look at the pictures the girls decided to take matters into their own hands. They both walked up to Shawn's mom and asked that she make sure Shawn looks at the pictures because they are important. Her mom promised she would. What a mom!

After leaving I took the girls to Cici's pizza to celebrate their night. I told the girls the reporter told me her whole report was going to be about them. I have never seen faces with smiles that big. (The report on the 10 o'clock news was not disappointing either. The reporter compared Shawn to Sweet and Petite as being Iowa girls who were all affected by the floods of 2008 by having their gym flooded. It couldn't have been better.)

So asking the girls the best part of their day was a no brainer. Meeting Shawn Johnson of course. Asking the worst part of their day made me laugh. "The Uggs!" they said. "They were so ugly!" Big ole smile on this mama's face! Happy to have been able to participate in this dream come true.

©Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines 2008

Fund Raising

This summer our gym was flooded out when downtown Cedar Rapids flooded. Since then there have been meetings, committees and more meetings to talk about where to hold gymnastics, how to make money and to find a new building. The kids have really wanted to help but the older members of our unit didn't think the kids were either capable or able to help in any way, shape or form. It is really sad to see the kids put on the back burner when they are our future. So Sweet, her friend Petite and Dill decided to take business into their own hands.

As each are Sokol gymnasts they put on their uniforms, grabbed a coffee can and went door to door asking for donations. Over a month's period they collected $660.44!

They presented the money to the unit a couple weeks ago and received a standing ovation.

Dill and Sweet counting their take. (notice the tattoo on her forhead)
Sweet and her friend Petite counting all the money before presenting it to the unit.
Cool practicing his "accounting" skills. The three kids walked to the front of the unit meeting with what was thought to be a "coffee can full of pennies"* and walked out with, hopefully, a new found respect. It was enough to make ones heart smile and eyes fill with tears.
*quoted from national director

© 2008 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines