Houston National Invitational 2015

This was Ben's first meet of the season.  It was the 5th meet for the rest of the team.  We didn't know if we were going or not until 4 days before we left, so it was a bit of a rush.  Ben had really wanted to go to Houston and had worked really hard to be able to compete in some events.  We spent most of the time with his friend Liam and his Dad.  They were on the same flights as us.  I had told them we were going down to the Space Center when we arrived and they decided to come with us.  We also ate dinner with them on Thursday night-the boys wanted steak

Ben was really nervous about the meet, but I think he slept OK.  He certainly didn't eat much for breakfast though.

The meet was a huge one.  They only invited teams that were really good, so SLGC was lucky to be invited. However, that meant that they were up against some huge competition.  There were at least 4 gyms from California, including #1 and # 2, also one from Mexico and one from Argentina.  The meet was held at NRG arena, the place was huge.  No wonder Ben was nervous.

Floor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LOS3E_EJqQ&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=1

Vault
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abBjeBBmtg4&index=2&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA

Pommel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAVsNv32_ZQ&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=4

Rings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmIDWLKccVo&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=3

Ben did pretty well.  He got 5th place on vault and was middle of the pack with other events.  Not bad considering he's been out for so long.  He didn't do high bar and only half of parallel bars.  He hasn't got all his skills back yet....