The Eye of the Tiger
Just in case you’ve been wondering, the song looping in my head these days is Survivor’s Eye of The Tiger. It’s become a favorite of Kira’s for jump rope warm-ups. What worked for Rocky also happens to be perfect for an eight year old girl heading to the Junior Olympics.
Practicing your routine is no walk on the beach. Or maybe it is if you happen to take that walk upside down.
Not even a picture-perfect day on the beach in Amagansett stopped Kira from practicing. She cartwheeled and hand-standed her way through her routine on the sand, pausing here and there to build castles, dig holes and jump in the enormous waves with her sister. Now all I’ve got to do is convince those Olympics folks that the beach is a better spot to host the games. (Though I don’t doubt, as the nice lady at the chamber of commerce promised, that Des Moines is indeed delightful this time of year.)
Grandma has become quite the jump rope enthusiast. In addition to providing a lifetime supply of garlic for her granddaughters,
she leased the use of a racquetball court at the gym down the street, where Kira has been diligently jumping for about an hour every day. For the record, so has coach mom. I don’t want to brag, but I can hang with her for about half an hour without collapsing into a pathetic heap. Maybe not Olympic-material, but it’s something.
The nice people at the gym have been watching Kira come and go for the past month with curious looks on their sweating face, so Kira indulged them with a preview —
I’ve been fielding lots of question about this sport, and though I’m no expert, here’s how I think it will go down at the big competition in less than two weeks: Kira is competing in 6 events; 3 individual and 3 with her partner. These include Speed–how many single steps she can do in 60 seconds (think Rocky;) Power–how many times in 60 seconds she can turn the rope double for every single jump, and the freestyle routine.
Big plans aside, Kira unwound with some family time on the sailboat. Just the wind, the waves, and the time to ponder some really deep thoughts.
