"The Commander"

Many of you over the past couple of weeks have asked about my car since i purchased it only a few day before leaving for Indiana, not many of you had the chance to see it... So here are some pictures i took the other day while testing out my new camera. FYI its very very dirty in these pics but oh well, its a trail rated jeep right?

Halloween Haunt Meet

What a terrific turn out this week at the Halloween Haunt meet down in Lafayette, IN! The weekend started out with a laugh-able morning as we all got up, checked out of our hotel rooms, and were on the road headed to the meet an hour earlier than needed!! Thanks very much to some very understanding parents and very patient gymnasts we took it in stride and decided to enjoy a leisurely breakfast as a group at a local breakfast joint right in between the hotel and gym. Once we finally arrived and began to compete I was extremely excited to start off with such a bang!!! Floor was our first event and not one of the girls scored below 8, with one of our little stars, Ziggy, scoring an amazing 9.225!!!!!!!!! With such a solid start and the girls feeling good I was pleased to move to our next and best event vault where as I anticipated we did extremely well scoring two 9.0's and a career best 8.8 for Allison Mundell ( aka money) ! Next was bars where we had some shining starts but didn't quite compete as I know we are capable so I have plenty of things to work with them on in the coming weeks... Lastly we went to beam which seems to be our weakest event and although some of the girls did wonderfully, others just cant quite seem to put it all together up there under the pressure of a meet. I am however very happy to report that this past Wednesday we had a GREAT beam workout as a team and if we continue to stay focused at practice and make progress like Wednesday I know they will be ready for the next meet! Although I know they can do better than they have what makes me the happiest is seeing how happy they all are being involved in this amazing sport and the GREAT attitudes those girls posses!!! It brightens your day just being around them! Good luck next meet girls and keep working hard!...

Also I put a few pictures in, the first one is of the whole group (at least those at the meet) the second one is Allison (money) on the left and Ashley on the right,the one below it is Sarah (Ziggy) on the left and Erika (Bob) on the right!

My Level 4's

Although not all the girls were in attendance 14 of them competed in our first meet of the year at Horizon gymnastics in Valparaiso, Indiana. Here is a few pictures that one of the other coaches (Kelly Freel level 5&6 coach) took of my level 4's
There is one of the whole group... Another of the girls on the award podium (from left to right bob(Erika) little bear (Amanda) Ziggy (Sarah) and Spark Plug (Natalie))... and the last picture is of Little Bear (Amanda B.) looking adorable in her competition Leo!

Fall Golf in Indiana

Today I played the first serious round of golf since my ankle injury and wow what a treat, the leaves are changing and for the first time ever changes in nature are illustrating the seasons change not calendar day's! As for my round of golf it was one of the best I can remember... I was very even tempered all day, I didn't miss many shot's in bad places, I putted like a champ, I made up and downs when needed and felt as confident in myself as I ever have! The course is a very very narrow setup and over 7300 yards from the back tees that proves quite the challenge for most golfers. It was rated in the top 10 most difficult public courses in America for 2003 and 2004!!! (no surprise to me just look at those narrow tree-lined fairways:) Another thing I must mention is how much I appreciate Moogie(my brother) and J's (my good friend/roommate at home) birthday gift last year, an I-pod nano! I honestly have not had a session of practice or played a round of golf without listening to it the entire time since I got it, it helps me have a very short memory on the golf course and practice tee and I have found it EXTREMELY beneficial to my mental game so Thanks Guys!! I also figure that when I make it to the PGA tour Apple will be giving me a nice contract as the only player to compete while rocking out to the ipod proudly displaying the white headphones!(*fingers crossed*)

Lets see what else is new, well I got yet another job to earn a little extra money over winter as a waiter at Chili's here in town. So far it's really great as I get to interact with a whole lot of interesting people, I am always around food (one of my favorite things ever) and the money is surprisingly pretty good! Another one of the up sides is the schedule flexibility that allows me to continue to practice and play golf every day as I prepare for competition next year! I guess that's it for now but keep the posts coming and always feel free to email and call
-Steve