Ben's Almost To 13

Ben is almost 13!

We have a TEENAGER in our home!

Eeek?

Augh?

Oh My?

I don't think so! I think we will have a pretty good TEENAGER.

Benjamin has been working with a handful of 7th and 8th graders over at Griffin Middle School. They meet once a week for an hour and are studying the Medieval Times Period. Ben was asked to be part of an Academic Pentathlon Team to represent our Middle School. The Academic Pentathlon is a five-event competition. Students compete as individuals and as a team in a series of five academic tests including math, literature, social science, science and essay. I'm not sure of all the logistics on when and where they will compete... we'll keep y'all posted! :)

A few months back Ben competed in the All Region Band Competition (on trombone). He was among over 2,000 students (7th and 8th) to enter the first round. He passed the 1st round into the 2nd round. (He was one of only two 7th graders from our Middle School to make it into the 2nd round.) He went back for the 2nd round where he was asked to sight-read various trombone music. And... he Made The All Region Symphonic Band (2nd highest of 3 band levels). He was the only 7th grader to make it this round.

The All Region Band will practice on January 8th in the morning/afternoon. In the evening all parents and friends will be able to hear the performance. We are definitely looking forward to this!

Gymnastic Season Begins

Nastia Liukin (the 2008 Olympic All-Around Champion) lives in Plano (a suburb near us). Her Dad, Valeri, hosts a yearly invitational in his Frisco gym. In years past, Nick has never participated in this invite because his Level and Age Group seemed to have fallen on a Sunday.


This year Nick's age group (8 & 9) and Level (6) competed on Friday night. It was FUN to be competing in our hometown of Frisco at a world-premier gymnasium (WOGA). There was excitement in the air! Teams from all over the world were competing! And how did Nick do...


Here are the stats from what I can remember:


8th in the All-Around (85.6). 1st through 7th were from out-of-state/country.


4th in the pommel horse (14.2).


2nd in the rings with a 15.2 - a 15.3 took 1st.


All of his other scores were very presentable (13.6 on p-bars, 14.2 on vault, 14.0 on floor, 14.4 on high bar), for those are all figured into his All-Around score. The Team, Eagle Gymnastics, received 7th overall.


As we can see, the gymnasts are "thinning" and it's much much harder to bring home those 1st, 2nd and 3rd place medals as in years past. But Nick is one dedicated gymnast and this is only the BEGINNING of his season for 2010-2011. Go Nick!

(The "bobble" you will see during the handstand cost him 3/10 of a point.)