Meet time, again!

Wow, has this year ever gone fast!! The Kimpo meet was the first meet Rowan ever went to in Korea, we had been here only a few weeks at that point last year. Its a huge meet, with TV and Olympians and international teams from Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Japan, etc. But fun, too, especially this year when we knew more about what would go on.

This year Mark couldn't go, but we brought McKenna, one of the girls friends from the neighborhood. Of course we had to be there at the crack of dawn, I think Rowan is yawning in this photo. I discovered my camera problems were actually lens problems, and I am without my beloved 1.4 lens, so the photos here are pretty crappy. At some point I need to get the lens in to get it fixed, but who knows how to do that from here, I haven't had time to figure it out. But I guess crappy photos are better than none!
This year they had quite the gala, with Korean drummers and fan dancers, a ballroom dancing show, and sports aerobics. Korea's group rhythmic gymnastics team also did their routines, which was totally cool. A random hoop from the back rolled through their ribbon routine though, and amazingly enough, a girl caught it in her knees (while catching and twirling her own ribbon) and tossed it off the floor with her foot, while doing her part of the group routine the whole time. I sure wish I had it on video- those girls are wicked coordinated!! Except for her annoyed facial expression and the gasps from the crowd, you would have thought that random hoop was part of the routine!

At the march in, all the delegations from each country walk in and line up behind a sign, ie "Thailand" or "Japan". The largest group is Korea, of course, they divide them into elementary, middle, high and college school groups. No, Rowan doesn't get her own "USA" sign, she marches in with the Korean Elementary School group. She sure does stick out though, even though she tries so hard not to. They do the (Korean, of course) national anthem, and she puts her hand on her heart like everyone else around her... and she raises her hand for the "athletes oath" someone reads at the opening, even though I know she has no idea what she is swearing too because it is in Korean and super fast, even I have no idea whats in it!

She brought her "cute", which is hard to explain except when it is missing! Its like her pizazz or her expressiveness, I just call it her "cute" because her old coach used to yell "Make it cute". Korean gymnasts are more perfect, but do not have much "cute". Rowan is not perfect, but she has oodles of cute. I thought her hoop was best, but the coach said freehands was. I know nothing of the scores or anything, I just have to wait until the coach says how she does. Since the coach said "just okay", I thought well- no cool Korean medals I guess. She took the winter off (no heat in the gym!), and has only started back with the new coach since June, so not unexpected.

But, I was wrong! At every other meet, they just hand the medals for the school age category to the coaches, and only top 3 get anything. But for some reason, they handed them out this time, so that was fun. Its different than in the US, they bring everyone out who is getting a medal, and announce all the places and scores for every apparatus and category (school year, 3rd for Rowan). Then everyone getting a gold lines up and gets it from a coach with all the golds, and there is a line for silver and bronze. Rowan got a bronze in hoop and a gold in freehands (see, the coach was right!) so that was neat.

Here is the building in Kimpo where the meet is held, its a huge auditorium.

Some very far away and not good photos of the "big girls", ie Shin SooJi and Son EunJae, and the international girls from other countries, warming up. We watched them only a bit because we needed to leave, Rowan wanted to cheer for the girls she trains with. Her new coach has 3 other girls, all in the FIG category. Rowan will move to that category next year, her coach says. I am afraid to ask about it, those girls train every day! I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I don't even know if a non-citizen can be in that category.

Last but not least, rubber girls does some warming up. I will have to take some pictures of her stretching sometime, she has gotten a lot more flexible, especially her legs. She is no where near as flexible as the Korean girls though, I am convinced they either are just naturally flexible or the coaches pull on them from young ages very hard! Maybe both?

Now just one more meet in Chingju!