· June 16, 2004

Hi Everyone!

   WOW!!!! I am so excited to have made my second US National Team!! And six seems to be my lucky number - 6th last year at Classics, 6th last year at Championships, 6th this year at Classics, and 6th this year at Championships! I've only had four elite meets since I qualified elite where I was able to do all-around, and at all four meets, I came in 6th place! My coach says that 6 is a good number because that is how many people make up an Olympic team, so as long as I keep being a "6" that will be okay.

   Well, Nashville was so much fun! I had a lot of time to do stuff other than just train, compete, train. My mom, coach, and I all went to the Wildhorse Saloon one night for dinner and we each had a big steak and watched the rodeo on TV while we listened to a live band. On another night, we walked all over the downtown area and went into all the little tourist shops. I found cute little nail clippers in the shape of guitars for all my teammates back home and got my dad an electric fly swatter. This fly swatter is so cool. There was a fly on the cash register and the man said "Don't move - watch this." So he gets out the fly swatter and slowly moved it toward the fly and suddenly - there was this noise and it looked like lightening coming from the swatter and the fly vanished!! Poof - the fly was dead and no guts or anything. So, anyways, my dad just hates it when a fly gets in the house - it drives him nuts and he will practically spend all day and night doing nothing but chasing the fly until he kills it, so I figured he'd have a lot of fun with this new swatter. I also got a Tennessee spoon for my collection and a shot glass for my brother for his collection. We stopped in Spaghetti Factory for dinner. That was a nice place to go, but the food was just okay, and the waiter didn't even know what rigatoni noodles were. He worked in a spaghetti place and didn't even know rigatoni! And then on Friday night, my mom, dad, grandparents, my coach, and I all went to the Melting Pot - that place was so neat! They give you two pots on your table and you pick what kind of cheese you want and they put beer or wine and other stuff in the pot and mix in cheese and spices and stuff and melt it on your table. Then they bring you bread and apples and veggies and you spear them on a stick and dip them into the cheese. Next, you pick the different meats you want and different kinds of oil and they bring it to you and you cook your own meat in the oil. I ended up having three plates in front of me because I kept forgetting about not putting raw meat on my plate where the cooked meat goes, and my grandmother kept getting worried that I would get food poisoning, and she kept telling me to use another plate. Oh, and on Friday my grandfather and I went to see Shrek II. It wasn't as good as the first one, but it was fun to just get away from all the gym stuff. And then the other fun thing I got to do was go to the banquet.

   Okay, and now about my meet. I am so excited about how I did on Thursday! I hit all four of my events and got my highest all-around score that I have gotten since I became elite. And I really hit the events, I didn't just stay on them or not fall, but I really did the best job that I was able to do. I medaled on everything except vault and got a nine on everything except vault. So, my goal for Saturday was to first hit everything again and then try to get 9's on everything again including vault. Well, my first event was bars. And while I was waiting to go the announcer said something about "Bianca Flohr - 2004 National Silver Medalist" so already you think you need to do a really good routine because now everyone is looking at you and expects you to be able to hit a good routine. Well - I fell. It is really weird because I don't even really remember falling or how I got on the floor. I just remember thinking "Oh, I fell - I wonder how that happened." And then I just had to get back up and try to finish my routine. It was like I was sleep walking or something, because I was so confused that I was on the ground when I knew I hadn't even done my dismount yet! Well, there was nothing I could do since you can't do the routine over, but I knew that I had to do my beam routine next and I just kept thinking that I had to hit my beam routine even though I was really upset about bars. I ended up only getting like an 8.4 on bars and a 9.0 on beam. So, I'm kind of happy with myself that I was able to do a decent beam routine after falling on bars but my beam wasn't quite as big as on day one.

   Now for my summer plans. Well, I was kind of anxious for Championships to be over because then I could take it easy (we don't do weekend training in the summer) and I would take some short vacations on weekends. And the best part about summer is that I just train skills and don't have to do routines every day. Well, I GOT AN ASSIGNMENT!! Wow, I was so excited to hear my name called! I am going to compete in Mexico with Jana, Ashley, and Kassi. So I guess my new tricks will have to wait for a couple of weeks! Another really cool thing is that I get to go to Woodward Camp with my teammates this summer. We used to go every year, but then we got a new gym that is huge and has tons of pits and stuff so we really didn't need to go to Woodward anymore. Well, this summer we get to go just because we really love it so much. We go during session 5, which is right before Mexico, so I won't get to stay the entire week but my coach will let me stay a couple of days - better than none! Then, after Mexico, I am competing in a really fun meet. It is called the International Children's Games, and there will be all the Olympic sports represented and kids from all different countries will be competing. They have this meet every four years during the Olympic year but this is the first year that it is in the USA. You have to be between 12 and 15 to compete and I will get to represent gymnastics. What is really great is that one of my teammates for this meet is one of my best friends who trains at another gym, so we will get to compete together and have so much fun. We get to stay in dorms and have an "Olympic Village" just like they will have in Athens! Okay, and now the last summer news - I get my new floor routine this summer! I have no idea what the music is or who will do the routine but my coach promised me that I get a new one!!!

   Okay and now another exciting thing is that my mom is trying to get me into regular school next year! I am soooooooo excited - we just need to see if they will work with us on my schedule so that I can still go to gym in the mornings. I am going to try and take math, science, and foreign language (hopefully Spanish) because those are the subjects that are the hardest for my mom to home school. Hopefully I can have lunch at the school too so that I can eat with my new school friends and don't have to just stay at the gym all day.

   Now the sad part - I will never, ever, ever be able to have my hair the way it has been at every elite meet I've ever been to. My teammate, Ali, who always does my hair for meets is graduating this year! WAY TO GO ALI - but I am sure going to miss my braids! She always did my hair and that was her good luck present to me every time I had to go away and compete. Now I will just have to have a normal pony - I hope it was the rubberband and not the braids that were always my good luck!

   Bye, Bye - hope everyone has a great summer!