7th semiannual headstand contest

Nov 20, 2011

How long can you stand upside down on your head? Me? Not anywhere close to as long as I once could. Yesterday we held the Seventh Semi-Annual Headstand Contest at my gymnastics classes and once again, my students amazed me. Each time I hold this contest, they find some inner reserve of strength and balance and stay up for far longer than they ever have before. I am so proud of each of them!

In the 5-to-6-year-old class, Paige stayed up for five whole minutes and looked rock solid the entire time. This little Paige is one of the babies I have been blessed to help enter this world and it brings me joy every time I see her do hard things. She started out her life on earth by being life-flighted to Primary Children’s Medical Center because of a heart arrhythmia and that day we had no idea what her life would look like. I forgot to take pictures in this class, but I will try to get one from Paige’s parents.

In the 7-to-8-year-olds, Paige’s older sister, Adrienne stayed up for 7 1/2 minutes, barely beating Trey, who has won several times in the past.

In the 9-to-11-year-old class, we had a quite the competition! These students were required to keep their legs straight in the air and it was a challenge for most of them. Keaton was able to stay up the longest, but lots of students gave him a run for his money.

In the 12 and up class, there is a fierce competition between Caleb and Spencer (the reigning champion with a time of 31:29) and somehow Spencer pulled it off again. Eilee, Grant, Keziah, and Courtney all stayed up for a long time as well.

Caleb

Spencer

We had an impromptu adult contest and Ryan, father of six, stayed up the longest with a time of 3:15. Green-smoothie Liz was a close second at 3:08. Two minutes did me in. If my life depended on it I could have stayed up longer, but it didn’t, so when my shoulder started throbbing I lost my balance and came down.

Ryan

We had so much fun! All the children won prizes and the winners in each class received a Jamba card. I am proud of their courage to do hard things and to push themselves to improve. Way to go gymnasts!