TOP Nationals 2006

Morgan, Katrina, and Jaycie participated in TOP National testing in Texas in late September.  They would like to thank everyone at the gym for their support and great surprise party with well-wishes prior to the trip!

Jody's gymnasts visit the Walk of Fame.

The trip was a great experience for the girls!  The girls moods ranged from very excited to highly anxious, and just about everything in between.

Skills and Physical Abilities testing took place on two separate days.  Morgan qualified for the National Team B Camp and will be attending with Deshawn in December!

Only the coaches and gymnasts were permitted inside the gym.  A parent's meeting was held for a little over two hours while the girls were in the gym.  Gary Warren gave a presentation on the history and motivation behind the TOP program.  The USAG Director of the Women's Program led the meeting with several stories and helpful information about raising a gymnast.  A Booklet of about 100 pages entitled, "Parents Seminar" was provided for each Club that attended.  It contains much of the same information given at the session, and a copy is available at the Gym for anyone who would like to review it.  The emphasis of the meeting was on how to be a supportive parent and help ensure that your daughter is enjoying the journey of involvement in the sport.

The USAG National Leadership created the TOP program as a way to help local clubs achieve excellence in their coaching.  This was one of the messages from the parent's meeting.  During National Team Camps, coaches from local clubs are trained in the latest and most advanced techniques for gymnastics coaching.

When a coach is able to attend these training sessions, the entire team benefits from training received by the coach.  This is why 7-8 year old qualifiers do not actually attend the camp in Texas, but rather qualify their coach to attend.  The 9-11 year olds who qualify to camp are only able to attend if a coach accompanies them.  Jody's Gym Zone is one of 89 different USAG clubs in Indiana.  This past year, only eight girls from Indiana qualified to Nationals, three of them from JGZ.  Fortunately, Morgan qualified for the National Team B Camp, so Deshawn will also be able to attend!

Portions of the TOP physical conditioning program is used for all JGZ team members and has helped gymnasts on all four competitive events.

Fundraising for TOP Nationals - Help Needed from All

JGZ goal is to continue sending gymnasts to Nationals and qualifying our club for coach training at the National Team Camps.  To assist with these costs, the Booster Club has approved continued fundraising after the individual fundraising goals are met.  This money will be kept in a general fund to pay for coach's costs and be split evenly among all gymnasts for National expenses.  For example, the total cost for an individual gymnast to attend National Testing and B Camp will be around $2000.  As a club, we want to make certain that if a gymnast qualifies to Nationals, funding will be available to help send her and a coach!  So, please continue to help raise funds after the individual goals are met.