Well the road to Germany has started.

We have been training hard already since the start of the new season and it's all steam ahead for the road to national comps and Germany. This season I am in 3 teams (Junior Level 3, International U17 Level 3, and an International stunt group). I have also been selected to be a junior coach, which involves helping the main coach with a team of 6-8 year olds that compete nationally. Lots of our junior coaches go on to be assistant coaches and then fully-fledged coaches. I want to do this one day, so having this great opportunity now helps me improve as an athlete and a potential coach in the future, so that I can inspire younger people to be like me. I was inspired by people like me when I was young, and it's awesome to have the same opportunity.

On 25^th November we had our pre-season showcase. This is where every team from our gym shows our parents and spectators what we have been working on so far. Not all of our teams take part in competitions, and because we are not all in the gym at the same time this gives everyone the chance to see all of the teams, and maybe inspire some athletes to move to a competition team.

I was a little nervous before the showcase, as this season I have been working hard on getting my round off, flick, tuck on the floor for 2 of my routines and have never before performed it in front of people other than my team and coaches. At the start of the season, it wasn't going that well and I felt like I couldn't do it. Though I have dug deep and just told myself that I can do it, believe and it will happen. The last couple of weeks in training it has been going great and I was feeling positive about it, with only a few wobbles in self-confidence. Before the audience come in, all the teams did warm up of the routine and it was fine. It came to the routine, and I DID IT, NAILED IT!! I heard the biggest cheer from behind me and it was only after I watched the video back I realised that it was my friends in other teams and my mum who were jumping up and down and shouting YES!! It was such a boost and the rest of the routine went well. When it came to my stunt group routine, we have had a couple of injuries in the last few weeks with 2 of the group getting injured. However, we all pulled together and went full out and were so pleased with how it went. It's great to have our showcase at the start of the season, so we know what to improve on before the first comp of the season in January. It gives us a real boost if it's gone well and makes the team stronger.

I loved watching the older teams perform as I look up to so many of them. I was also super proud of the team that I help to coach as they did so well.

So, that's showcase ticked off……….now back to the gym to perfect those routines before BCA in January and the continuing road to Germany……5, 6, 7, 8!!!