9/12/11 - Club Gymnastics Reunion

Tweet

On Saturday, we had a reunion for our old club gymnastics coach, Mary Linnemeyer. I reconnected with Mary a few months ago (she lives in Jax) and thought it would be great for all of us to get together. We met in St. Pete at Harvey's 4th Street Grill. There ended up being about 16 girls that came throughout the meeting and about a dozen parents. It was great catching up with everyone. The first picture is Mary with all of the former gymnasts that were there at the beginning of the meeting (around 11:00am).

We also took a picture with the parents and Mary. With as much traveling and time spent with Mary, many of the parents became quite close to her. Oh yeah, Mary is wearing a black shirt, black pants, and has long hair.

As many of the girls and parents will attest, she looks exactly the same as she did 10+ years ago when she coached us. Below is a picture of Breck and I. We were on optional team at the same time.

Below is a group of some of us. I was the oldest one at LaFleur's (it's now called Tampa Bay Turners) and was in a lower level than many of the girls younger than me. I started gymnastics really late and only competed for 5 years (1990 - Level 5; 1991 - Level 6; 1992 - Level 6; 1993 - Level 8 (93/94 was a double season for me), 1994 - Level 9) and then I graduated. Many of the girls in the picture below were in Level 10 for almost as many years as I competed total. Anyway, it was great getting to see everyone. Two of the girls below went you University of Illinois and competed, two went to UF (myself and Krissy - in the gator outfit), and Breck went to Nebraska for a year.

My mom went for part of the time too which was fun. This is a good picture of both of us even though she hates her picture being taken.

Here is one more group shot at the table I was sitting at.

In the picture below is Tiffany, me, and Kelli. We all came from a different gym back in 1991 and were together for a while.

This picture is awesome. Below is myself, Mary, and Kelli. I'll have to post another picture (once I find it) of all of us about 15 yrs ago. Kelli and I were great friends and really competitive. In the year that we competed a double season (August - December for Level 6 and Jan - May for Level 8), we won the awards Optional "Re" and "Pete." One of us would learn a new optional skill and then the other would quickly follow!

And finally, here is a picture of Mary and I. We butted heads because we were both hard-headed but Mary was a good, tough coach. She did make her gymnasts the best they could be. Because I started gymnastics so late, I had lots of learning left so I thankfully got to walk-on to the University of Florida team which I never thought would happen. Level 9's don't go to UF, even to walk-on.

Brad kept the boys by himself from Friday afternoon to Saturday night, which is when I returned. I'll post some pictures of the boys tonight or tomorrow. Eli turns 2 in just a couple days. Where has the time gone??