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May 22, 2006
Straddlebacks, Glide Kips, Layouts, and Back-handsprings Galore
Time for a self-indulgent, nostalgic post about my childhood. I spent roughly 15 hours a week doing gymnastics in elementary school. I loved the sport with a passion, even though my motivation and coordination didn't quite live up to my Mary Lou Retton aspirations. I was scared to death of jumping backwards (over a bar, onto a beam, etc.), so I didn't take naturally to higher-level competitive routines. Still, I could do an impressive series of flips and spinning things (albeit with less-than-perfect form), and I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn as much as I did. I can still walk around on my hands and am occasionally overtaken by the urge to do cartwheels on sidewalks, on the beach, or in the office late at night. Here's a polaroid (the only one I could find at the moment) of me on the beam -- I'm the one on the left in the more-tasteful-but-less-80s-gym-chic leotard.
Here's another fuzzy polaroid. So, when Derek sent me a link to the trailer for Stick It, I squealed like a nine-year-old winning all-arounds at a regional meet. It's an entire movie about gymnastics -- good gymnastics, instead of stupid boring plot lines with the occasional routine done by a double. The movie has preteen-team dynamics, the horrors of conditioning (we didn't do skin-the-cats, like they do in the movie, but we did something else on the bars -- "around the clocks" maybe, and endless rounds of painfully slow abdominal strength drills), and every little detail about the sport that a former gymnast would appreciate. There are references to rips (and rips getting rips), horrible judges, absurd choreography (our choreographer would always say, "with pizazz!!"), bad leotards, etc. The actors in this movie are clearly gymnasts -- they know the pre-vault running style, how to "present" to the judges, and how to properly pick a leotard wedgie.
We finally saw it on Friday and I feel like I'm ten again and I want to see it at least 20 times more, if only to see the routines again. It's wonderful to see perfectly-executed moves that you tried like hell to do but could never quite figure out. I should mention that the theater we saw it in was filled with preteen (and possibly adult) gymnasts -- there was a good deal of cheering and shouted encouragement during routines. It was somewhat like a sporting event, actually, which was fine because it meant I wasn't the only one there going nuts about how COOL Haley was and how omigod AWESOME her dismount was. I think Derek was amused.
I'm terrifically biased, but I have to say the plot wasn't exactly as predictable as you might expect, and while the movie has some iffy acting (I'll take bad acting over bad gymnastics any day), it's fun (and funny) and offers the best look I've seen at a sport filled primarily with pre-pubescent girls doing death-defying stunts.
The movie put me so much in my ten-year-old mindset that I did a front flip off the diving board in Jersey yesterday. It only took me about ten aborted tries (I'm such a wuss) and an embarrassingly precise belly flop. I was feeling pretty good about it until someone showed me a picture (I've GOT to go the gym a few more times before putting that bathing suit on again. Better yet, I should just get a granny skirt or a wetsuit).
Posted by csageday at May 22, 2006 11:23 PM
Comments
Dude! The movie sounds awesome! And I have to say, I seriously doubt that you look anything less than fab in your swimsuit.
I never could get over the "butt-directly-over-head" fear, so I have never really even done a cartwheel, though I really really wish I could.
Ahhh, 1990....
Posted by: Amber at May 23, 2006 10:51 AM