My son the gymnast

[Ranger12 46]

Ryan's gymnastics club held an exhibition at one of the local high schools tonight. This was only his second time in front of a crowd. He did pretty good, and was the only one of the boys that is able to do the rings, which takes a lot of strength. Needless to say, I am proud of him and really proud on how dedicated he is to doing this. Most kids his age would not spend 8 hours a week which includes 3 hours every Saturday morning. Yes, I am bragging about my boy.

[AUesquire 1]

Very cool. I tore a rotator cuff just watching that. You know, if he sticks with it, he'll always be around extremely flexible girls in small leotards. That has to be an added benefit.

Just sayin'

[Ranger12 46]

The day he starts noticing those girls in their leotards will probably be the day his workouts start to suffer because of all the distractions.

Yeah, when he was hanging there in a reverse iron cross or whatever it is called, that made me cringe also. Having a pull up bar installed in the house has helped him be able to pull off things like that.

[WAR-MATT 2]

Good stuff Ranger.

Very cool. I tore a rotator cuff just watching that. You know, if he sticks with it, he'll always be around extremely flexible girls in small leotards. That has to be an added benefit.

You said what everyone was thinking.

[AUesquire 1]

Exactly why Women's gymnastics in the Olympics has always been one of the most watched events.

And there goes little Nadia Rotchacockoff for her final tumbling run.....

Man, how does she do that?

[jumbo 0]

Very cool Ranger! did you show him those moves?

[otterinbham 0]

Extremely cool. I never understood why men's gymnastics never got the same hype as women's. To do that stuff, you have to be STRONG. And agile. And possessed of a great sense of balance.

[Grider 1]

I never understood why men's gymnastics never got the same hype as women's.

Cause the women don't sit there with their tongues hangin' out usually. Or they are too busy watching the figure skating.

[Ranger12 46]

Very cool Ranger! did you show him those moves?

That is all on him. I know nothing about that stuff.

He is out a gymnastics camp this week up in TN. There are a bunch of Olympians there from the last couple of Olympics working with them. It cost $700 to go to it, but he raised every bit of the money he needed to go by selling cookie dough, so we only had to send extra spending.

This is the first time he has ever been away from either parent for more then a sleepover. When my ex-wife took him to it Sunday afternoon, it finally hit him that he was going to be without either one of us for the next week. I tried to prepare him for being homesick and all of that, but I guess it did not sink in until the moment of truth arrived and he wanted to go back home as soon as he got there. Fortunately my ex was able to talk him into staying and gave him a calling card to let him know he could call home any time.

Well, she expected him to call Sunday night and he did not. She called me a little worried that the counselors might not have let him and he may be all upset about that. Then about an hour later she calls me back and said he just called and said he was having too much fun and forget to call. I told her I think him needed to call home is more for mommy's sake then his and it looks like her little boy is taking that first step to becoming a little man. She did not like that one bit.

[AUesquire 1]

Take every opportinity you can get.

[Ranger12 46]

Oh, trust me, I do.

He called again this afternoon and said he was very sore. I would be too if I was having 6 hours of workouts everyday, plus 3 hours of "recreational time" on top of that in which they can hit the lake, play other sports, get some extra practice in, or just relax. My son says he is spending about half of that 3 hours of free time just relaxing.

The cool thing is that this is something he wants to do. He played baseball and basketball for a couple of years and he did okay with that. His sisters started taking gymnastics and while he was waiting and watching them, he became interested. He was afraid to tell me at first because he thought I would be mad that it was not baseball, football, or basketball. I told him I want him to play the sport the he wants to play, not what I want him to play. I am happy with what I was able to accomplish in my athletic pursuits, especially in baseball, so I do not care if my son even plays a sport at all, that is all up to him. Too many parents push their kids to play something because they feel like they have to live through them, usually because they feel like a failure at whatever sport they played, if they ever played any sports at all. I see it all the time when I coach and umpire. You don't have to be an expert to coach. Sure it is nice for the team to have somebody that knows what they are doing, but it is also nice for the team to just have somebody that is out there for the boys/girls and not out there to be seen or to live through those kids.

That is one thing this gymnastics thing has over youth league sports. In gymnastics, you don't have to worry about all the youth league politics bs you get with most leagues. In gymnastics, it is all on you to perform and it does not matter who your mommy or daddy is.

[JDHog 0]

Nice. I used to date a gymnast.

[AUChizad 0]

Nice. I used to date a gymnast.

What was his name?

[otterinbham 0]

Nice. I used to date a gymnast.

What was his name?

Man. You walked right into that one.

[Ranger12 46]

I was going to be nice and let that easy one slide, but I knew I could count on somebody else, especially either AWK, Sani, or Chad to chime in.

[AUChizad 0]

That's the only reason I said it.

I couldn't just let it hang in the wind like that.

[AWK 0]

Nice. I used to date a gymnast.

What was his name?

Man. You walked right into that one.

I think yall missed the joke on that one.