Justus starts the 2010 gymnastics season with a smile

Valeri Liukin, a former gymnast for the dissolved Soviet Union, competed in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea and received a gold medals in team competition and high-bar, and silver medals in parallel bars and all-around.  Today, he is an Olympic coach and co-owner of three gymnastic training centers in the Dallas area.  You may recognize his last name as more recently, his daughter, Nastia Liukin, was also a gold medal Olympian gymnast competing in the 2008 games.

This year, Justus and his team were invited to compete in the Valeri Liukin Invitational (for a second year in a row).  So, last Thursday afternoon, Lisa, Justus and I packed up the car and drove up to Frisco, just north of Dallas for a Friday morning competition.  Rebecca stayed behind with friends.

The four-and-a-half hour drive was pleasant.  We stayed at an aLoft Hotel, owned and managed by Sheraton.  The accommodations where very contemporary and chic – not something we would normally go for, but it was cool.  For Justus, the chic aLoft was a pretty special place.

Friday morning, we made our way first to Starbucks (for me) and then to IHoP (for him).  (You see, I already knew, being the self-professed coffee snob I am, that I wasn’t going to be happy with IHoP coffee.  They’ve disappointed me before.  The extra stop before breakfast was not only nice but mandatory.)  The morning was very relaxing:  Justus’ stomach wasn’t in knots, he ate well, and we had a few laughs with the camera (see pictures below).

After breakfast, we drove to the gym where Justus checked in promptly at 9am.  The facilities are the best we’ve been to in the four seasons we’ve experienced.  This working gym is huge, open feeling and very clean.  There are permanent bleachers set up on two sides of the gym for parents and other visitors.

Justus and his team did very well.  Their performance and attitudes were much better than last year.  Last year, Justus’ gut was in knots before the event, and he was crying when the event was over.  Not good.  This year felt completely different.  The boys knew this was the first competition of the season, they knew that they were not entirely ready and that was okay.  What a difference a year makes.

Justus’ best score of the day was on rings, 14.8, placing him 12th out of 52 boys.  In all, he scored 14+ on four of the six events.  A very strong start.  (Level 7 is well-known as the “weed-out” level.  So, it’s important that Justus, the coaches and the team pace themselves for the demanding season.)

After the meet, the Level 7 boys scarfed some old fashioned steakburgers and frozen custard at Freddie’s down the street.  The boys had fun being boys and the parents enjoyed just hung out.  A good time was had by all.

Pictures and video are below.  Feel free to leave your “shout outs” and encouragements for Justus in the comments section.

-D

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