Always nice when the nationals of anything come to Hartford. But this week it was the U.S. National Gymnastics which had special appeal, especially if you like to watch people fly on trampolines, flip around in floor exercises and nail their dismounts.
But while all the big ticket items were taking place downtown at the XL Center that was getting all the coverage, another aspect of the games were happening at the University of Hartford.
This was the rhythmic gymnastic competition, the underling in U.S. gymnastics world. (The other gymnastics with the horse and the rings and the uneven bars are technically known as “artistic gymnastics”). These are the ones with the ribbons.
We know it well since the youngest daughter was involved in them for several years. She and a friend got involved in what was otherwise a wholly Russian operation, a Russian teacher (and assistants), Russian kids and their Russian speaking parents. It’s a big deal over there, and they have the champions in the sport exclusively in Russia and Eastern Europe.
There aren’t many competing leagues in Connecticut, so we’d be traveling to Boston, New York and New Jersey for competitions. And Nora did very well in the various divisions – ball, hoop, floor, rope. She even did clubs at the end. But she never did ribbon oddly enough.
Anyway, the mix of dance and sport was a good one for her, and the routines were judged on artistic achievement as well as technical skills. To someone who had never seen it, it was impressive she could kick a hoop in the air, do a summersault, then get up and catch it.
Of course, in rising among the ranks, there were plenty of runway balls and hoops along the way.
It was a little reassuring that there was still a little of that in the seniors’ national finals. Mostly, though, they had great precision, unbelievable flexibility and uncanny knack for controlling those things (still, it was a surprise that the competitors brought two hoops or balls to the mat just in case one got so far away, they’d grab the spare).
The Nationals at the college gym were not so different from the junior regional competitions we’d go to – with an audience mostly made up of parents still supporting this sport so universally ignored in the Western world.
Like competitive dancing, some of the rivalries played themselves out with the costumes the competitors wore – they held their own with skate dancers.
The music they performed to was a little more varied – less of the “Under the Sea” variations I’d hear a million times at the juniors and much more Euro-disco. But always, the Hungarian Dance.
Being the Nationals meant there were more ads – they’d mention Cover Girl between announcing athletes – and there was a big crackdown on using laptops in the stands (could they circumvent the judges scoring somehow?).
But it was just as well that the network TV cameras weren’t there; that added pressure only would have made a few more balls and hoops fly off the mat.