High Bar

1st Half of my routine...notice the awesome catch on the def! Uh huh, that's right!

My legs fly apart, but that is a little detail that will be fixed as I come closer to Beijing. Sometimes you just need to do a bunch and get confident with your release time. When I know I am going to catch before I even let go then I am able to focus more on my form.





This is the last half of my high bar routine. It's easy for me. I am trying to make every part as smooth and clean as possible. I am not going to have the highest start value on highbar, but I just want to be able to do a clean and consistent routine for the team. I want to be a guaranteed hit so that my teammates like Nathan, who have a way higher start value, can relax a bit and focus on nailing there routines...rather than just staying on so the team doesn't have to count a fall.



High bar is a tricky event. I would say that it is the event that plays the biggest mind games on a gymnast. You have to control the bar and not let it control you. But when it all comes down to it, it really is just a giant piece of steel that is 15 feet above the ground. The potential for disaster is so huge!!!

One of the things that I have a hard time getting my head around is how it can feel so simple and easy one day, but then feel impossible the very next one. Sometimes I can jump up and hit a routine without any warm up, but other days I have to take 5 turns just to feel like I am on planet Earth. As competition time comes closer, the good days outweigh the bad ones, but when one of those bad days occurs it is so frustrating!!!! Sometimes I just do simple elements because I know that I would probably smash my face on the bar if I tried a Def! The only thing is, the more you avoid your problem, the worse it gets. You eventually have to find a way to turn the bad days into good ones...and I'm still working on finding that solution. I've found something that has worked pretty well though. I try to apply this motto:

"I'm gonna smile through the bad days!".


Smiling can instantly change your mood. It's pretty hard to be angry and frustrated when you appear to be happy!

K.