grandmas

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Gymnastics time warp

It was obvious after a while that the floor judge at the gymnastics meet we were attending was going to take his time.
Everybody was finished with the other events and piled up to do floor while he figured, erased and figured some more.
He was a trial.
Now I know it's important to be careful.
One shouldn't rush.
I know it can't be easy to judge any gymnastics competition.
There are SO many things to look at from the ways the toes point to the complexity of the tricks involved.
My daughter, who is a gymnastics coach and often a judge, has sometimes tried to point out to me the difference between so-so and really well done and all I can really understand is that a flawless routine takes years of hard work, a bit of luck and serious focus.
So nobody wants a judge to hurry and make a mistake.
But this guy was meticulous to a fault.
He really thought things through, at a snail's pace.
He didn't seem to notice that there were 30 or so kids waiting to do their routines, peaking and cooling off while they waited.
He didn't pay any mind to the events co-ordinator standing and waiting next to his table, obviously itching to move things along.
He didn't let anybody push him and I suppose that's a good thing.
It was just really hard to wait and watch everybody else wait too.
He can be forgiven though because he gave my grandsons the good scores they so richly deserved and you knew it wasn't a casual decision.
Both boys placed in the top three of Levels 8 and 9!
Maybe the turtle judge is the one to send to the Olympics.

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