Conquistador Classic 2025

Timewarp Story from January 26, 2025

It was colder in Florida when we woke up for Jillian’s meet than it was driving up to Atlanta two weeks ago! I actually had to de-ice the windshield of Kimberly’s car so Louis could do the food bank. Jaquline laughed as ice chunks flew off our van. I didn’t have to de-ice the windshield in the 32° weather in Atlanta covered in snow… but it was 28° at our house January 25th!

First Florida meet of the season had some exciting bits.

Grandma Joanne came with us and stayed for both Jillian’s meet, which was supposed to start at 1210pm, but it was delayed a little to about 1230pm, until after Kimberly’s floor at almost 9pm!

Lucas, who showed up with Louis just before Kimberly’s 630pm scheduled start, was wowed and we thought his eyes would pop out of his head watching the floor tumbling and beam series. Kimberly’s group is Xcel Diamond, one of her teammates is Xcel Sapphire, and this session included 8s, 9s, and 10s as well. I was so glad we all got to see that. The energy at a higher level meet is always so friendly. The girls and I always cheer at a good pass no matter the skill level and we’ll call, “you got this” or “come on, you can do it” when someone falls off beam or bars. At lower level meets I’ve been asked, “why are you cheering for her, she’s not your team.” But at the higher level meets I’ve attended, the whole room applauds any tumbling pass that lands, and some that don’t, everyone encourages girls to get back up, everyone cheers all the others. No one gets silence. (Unless it’s temporary stunned silence or the nerve-wracking chill that happens after a fall as the audience holds their breath until the gymnast gets back up.)

Louis kept hollering “10!” after a successful twisting flipping floor pass. Lucas leaned over when one girl kept falling and goes, “I don’t know her name to say she’s got it” *girl’s mom says name* Lucas, Thea, Raegan, and Jillian shout encouragements with her name as that whole section cheered when she got back up.

Kimberly was a bit under the weather and had considered not even going. She said her goal was to encourage her teammates even if she felt so off that she scratched on events (she’s never done that). It was her personal best beam and she didn’t fall off! She tied her personal best vault (best was states, last year) and placed! She hasn’t made a higher score than a teammate since Silver (which I didn’t know until she mentioned it – I don’t keep memory of scores, they do. I ask, “did you have fun?”) Kimberly was very happy she went. It was teased that she and her Diamond teammate should attend every meet sick. They did not really think that was funny at the time; Kimberly laughed about it later.

Jillian had fun. She said she really gets sad when her team is split. Especially when there is a larger team who doesn’t get split. She said the best part of a meet is the team getting to be together and cheer for each other. She is very social and being away from her friends always makes her sad. She said it’s hard to focus on your event when your teammates are going at the same time on another event. My advice last meet was to try to focus on encouraging those who get to stay with her. I always try to find teaching moments; life does not always go as you expect it. I try to help her use that challenge to find a way to search for the positive in any situation.

She still smiled. This year, even in her mock meet, she has been split every time. Her attitude toward being split was less shown this meet, at least from my perspective. She kept looking over and trying to keep track of her teammates though. That was tough for us too! We like to cheer on our team. I think we divided and conquered so to speak… Grandma Tina and Jaquline would be yelling “you got this” to one side and Grandma Joanne, Kimberly, and I would be hollering the other way. Thea managed to yell everyone’s name. I laughed listening to Jaquline and Kimberly critique every routine.

Jaquline lined up with her nervous teammates. This was the first meet for all except two. At 15 years old and 5ft 8+, Jaquline the Confident is a hair short of the tallest on her team. She beamed and encouraged and loved her first competition! One of her teammates had her first competition on her birthday, so Jaquline had baked the whole team blueberry muffins as an after-meet birthday celebration. The Silver teammates snacked on those at awards while waiting for the ceremony to start. Our Silvers are eight years old to Jaquline’s fifteen; almost one in every age division! Overall, it was a fun-filled, exciting first meet for most of our joyful Silvers.

So… some photos for fun!