Female Speaker: Yesterday, we established that one, I will never be an Olympic gymnast. Two, that if I were I would be expected to do a pirouette as if. And three, the girls at NorthWind Gymnastics kick butt. Today, my friend Kara Williamson is back to explain how the floor and beam routines are viewed from the judges eyes.
Bridget Snapp: Kara, our volunteer is Ms. Jessica.
Jessica Moon: I am Jessica Moon. I am 13-years-old and I am doing my floor routine.
Female Speaker: Jessica is starting off her floor routine with some really cute dance moves . Judges love seeing personality and it's one of the things that we really enjoy. That's why this is a fan favorite event. One-and-a-half turn, into the corner, she is getting ready for her first pass. Here she has round off with that handspring layout, very pretty. Back handspring into a back block over. Cute little turnover twist there on the floor. Here Jessica is switch leap straight into a ring leap. Getting ready for her second pass. Here you see she stepped out of this for competition, the judges would have deducted for that.
Her second pass is a front handspring to the front layout, forward passes have become compulsory in this routine how. And just staying around out to a straddle, doing mixing, the tumbling with the dance. And now for her last pass. Run off backhand spring, back tuck into an illusion down to a split and a beautiful finish.
Female Speaker: Jessica did a great floor routine for us just there. She had some great dance moves.
Female Speaker: Great dancer, yeah. She is fabulous.
Bridget Snapp: And in these floor routines, how much of the skill is dancing? I mean are they also taking dance classes, are they learning that?
Kara Williamson: I mean a lot of gymnasts do take ballet but when you are coordinator allows to do what a lot of these girls at NorthWind are doing, typically dance comes pretty naturally to you. There can be definitely be ballet classes that are taken on the side. I mean a lot of people don't realize that a lot of the leaps and dance elements that are done in floor routines are extremely difficult and you will see the dance difficulty get just as high as some of the tumbling elements. And when you are looking especially at an Olympic level, these girls are doing extremely high level dance skills that certainly you or I couldn't do but definitely even girls who are at a level 9 or 10 in club are going to have to work a lot harder to get to the point where they can execute them.
Bridget Snapp: Absolutely. And as you said before, floor exercise is fan favorite.
Kara Williamson: It is fan favorite and for a reason.
Bridget Snapp: Well, I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see Jessica in the next round of Olympic.
Kara Williamson: We just might, we just might.
Bridget Snapp: Well, another superstar to look out for is Madison. She is going to do the beam for us.
Kara Williamson: Now, this is also, with half up on the beam. She is going into a back walkover, very pretty form, right into the backhand spring. She has a little wobble there that would of course get a couple of tens deducted.
Bridget Snapp: But she did stay on.
Kara Williamson: She did stay on and that is the main point. Here is the switch leap, little bit of a form break there. And you know really beam is all about fighting for those landings and making sure you stay on the beam.
Another full turn which is a pretty compulsory move. She does two in a row, the last one with a quarter turn, slight form racing the knees but otherwise very pretty. Here she is getting ready for her dismount. She then back spring step out into a back tuck. Slight half of the landing otherwise beautiful routine.
Bridget Snapp: So some very impressive balance beams routines from the girls at NorthWind gymnastics.
Kara Williamson: Definitely, very impressive.
Bridget Snapp: Very proud of them. And as they progress and as they move up towards the Olympic level what are some of the more difficult elements they will be adding? And how will this be looked at from the judge's point of view?
Kara Williamson: You are going to definitely find more complex tumbling series, Shawn Johnson who is probably the top Olympic contender for the US does a really difficult backhand spring, back layout step out, back layout landing on two-feet which stands on the entire length of the beam. I am sure they will show it in the covered, she runs with probably an inch of space left on the beams and is known for doing it flawlessly without any problems at all.
Also, Vanessa Eugene (ph) who is I believe was one of the top three on balance beam at the world does a really beautiful front layout step out which is a front walkover without any hands but she lands on one foot and the foot that's in front she actually swings back into a really pretty scale which is a dance position.
So there is going to be some really exciting beam routines at the Olympics, lots of twists and turns, really amazing jumps, a lot of skills that require the gymnast take their eyes off of the beam which is very scary and makes it even harder to land. But there is a lot of it and that's what makes them so great.
Bridget Snapp: Well, we cannot wait to tune in and we cannot thank you enough for filling us in on the judges point of view.
Kara Williamson: Glad to be here.
Bridget Snapp: Thank you so much.
Kara Williamson: Thank you.
Bridget Snapp: And thank you for watching the edition of Club House Gas.
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