... Nationals and Commonwealth Games

I am off to Commonwealth Games in 3 short days. I am leaving on the 3rd for a training camp in Halifax and then we travel to Great Britain on the 13th. I am so excited! I think that this is going to be a really successful competition for us and I think we have an awesome team.

I had a very positive Nationals. I am very pleased with my performance. I was a little bit worried going into the last week of preparation because I was really tired and I was doubting myself a lot. Kelly, Uldi and I talked and we decided to do the bare minimum for a week and then just bust it up when it came time to compete. This strategy worked perfectly. I was calm, cool and confident when it came time for me to do my routines in front of the judges. I hit 12 for 12 and smiled the whole way through! Well, that is a lie actually...I was a little bit mad when I landed my first floor pass on the second day completely off of the floor! That killed my heels. I didn't dwell on that though because my goal going in was to stay focused and positive. I ended the second day on highbar and I had a pretty good routine. I made all of my connections and I was so happy to be done. I actually ended up winning highbar so that was great! I placed third all-around and I guaranteed myself a spot on the team to CWG. That felt really nice to have actually qualified for the team and not just have been placed on it. It also felt good because it once again proved that my decision not to attend worlds last year was a beneficial one. We had a fun team competition the day after we finished all-around and Alberta won! I love the format of this competition. Basically there are 12 people on a team and 5 compete on each event with all scores counting. The team can be around the event that the guy is competing on and cheer as loud as they want. The crowd gets into it and it is just awesome. It is a really memorable way to close the competition.

I just returned home from California. I was in Santa Barbara from June 16-27th at a summer camp called GymJam <http://www.gymjam.com>. The camp is run by Chris and Cindy Waller, two of the best people in the world! It was a great experience. I went in 2000 and I think that this time was even better. I trained really well while I was there and I feel really good about my gymnastics heading into Commonwealths. Uldi was there too so it worked out perfect. Tasha Schwikert, Sean Townsend, Mohini Bhardwaj, Jamie Dantzcher, Jaycie Phelps, Kip Simons and Amanda Borden were also guest coaches/athletes and it was really nice to hang out with all of them. They are all really great people. I had such a great time and it put me into the perfect mind set. When I was leaving Chris gave me some advice. He said, "When things are going good, have fun. When things are rough, enjoy the struggle." I will sure try!

Well, I will try and update quite often from Commonwealths. Hopefully I can get on the computer often because I would love to let all of you know how all of the training and everything else is going. Wish me luck, wish all of Canada luck and have a hot and healthy summer!

Kyle ;o)

National Championships