Level 5 gymnast

This season of gymnastics has been a little bit scary for McKenzie. Level four is a very hard level in its own right, and it's not uncommon for girls to repeat level four. However with McKenzie's goals she really needed to spend just one year in level four before moving up to level five. With covid she only had three meets this season instead of six, and she didn't have enough opportunities to get the score she needed in a meet. However I was really grateful for her coach for never losing faith in her, and letting her train and practice with the level fives knowing that's where she needed to be. Her coach set up a move-up meet for McKenzie and four other girls who were showing extraordinary promise but never had a chance to score in a meet. There was a lot of pressure riding on this meet. If McKenzie got above a 34 she could move up to level 5. If she did not get a 34 she'd have to stay down at the level four for another year. I'm not exactly sure what she would have done if that happened, since most of her friends are up in level 5. It was the first meet that I was able to attend in person all year. Because there were just five gymnasts, the parents just sat on the gym blocks watching nice and up close. In order to get a 34, McKenzie needed an 8.5 on each apparatus. Her vault was fine at 8.4. That's where she needed to be. Her bars were low at 7.9, and I didn't think she would be able to make up that difference on the last two apparatuses. So I was feeling rather stressed. But then she blew her beam out of the park. She scored a 9.4. I was so proud of her and starting to get a little giddy. Her final exercise was floor, where she scored an 8.7. She scored a 34.4 and earned that level 5 spot. There was a moment when I was afraid I did my math wrong and I thought she didn't make it, but luckily it was just my math and not her skill. You can see as she's walking off the mat how surprised, shocked, and excited she was. Level 5 has some fun skills that she cannot wait to get started.