Generation 4.0

Now there's a new group in town, none of them much over four feet tall: the non-sanctioned Level 4's.

A Tale of Two Groups of Level 4's? Somewhat.

We keep the older, experienced Level 4's with the Level 5's. The youngins are fresh off of Level 3. "Non-sanctioned" means that their meets are non-threatening: their scores don't count for anything (some meets don't even have scores), no scores are raised, and at the end, "everyone's a winner."

Like their older counterparts, these Level 4's bring a certain level of sass (or, at least, entertainment). There's Colleen, whose attention is always on something other than gymnastics; Mariah, who cries over anything; Dana, a silent, tenacious child; Nina, who doesn't realize how good she is; Allison, always a step behind; Holly, wildly inflexible (why must this be a trend?!). And then there's Larissa.

We've all known a Larissa. The one who stands out. The one who learns quickly. The one who never seems to get tired. Larissa started gymnastics in September. She was the first girl in the group to get her roundoff back handspring. Now she has a cartwheel on high beam, a back walkover on low beam, and not-too-shabby attempts at kips. She's on the verge of surpassing Dana, the previous leader of the group. She's tiny, flexible, strong, and six years old.

I'm afraid to get too excited about Larissa's natural ability. Sure, she's excited about gymnastics now. She comes to every practice. While her teammates giggle, she stays focused. Give her one correction and she understands. But we've had these talents before: Maya, whose interest in gymnastics is inversely proportional to her mother's prodding; Jamie, who can't decide if she wants to be a real gymnast or a girl who does gymnastics; and another girl of Gen 4.0, who showed as much promise as Larissa but faded out.

We're waiting for the girl who will take the flame and run with it.