Helms Family Christmas 2010

Christmas in Texas

Triniti Wins 1st in All Around and Scores a 9.9 on Floor

Triniti was in the Carol Hillenburg Texas State Invitational Gymnastics Meet this past weekend. Triniti competed Level 3 and had her best meet ever - scoring a 9.8 on vault, 9.7 on bars, 9.75 on beam (which was really a 9.85 but she went over on time - a .1 deduction) and an unbelievable 9.9 on floor. We were told that her 9.9 on floor would have been a perfect 10 if she would have been exactly insync with the music. She won the all around title and won first in 3 out of the 4 individual events. Her combined score of 39.15 (out of a possible 40) was the highest ever for a gymnast at United Elite.

World Series 2010

Misty and I just got home from the World Series. Good game - even though the Rangers lost. It was a fantastic experiance!

Banner outside Rangers Ballpark

Misty and I after the game

The Giants on the field after their first World Series win in 55 years

Noelle Makes MadFrog's Top 11s Team

Today Noelle tried out and made a top select/club volleyball team located in Plano called MadFrog. MadFrog has three 11 year old teams National (A Team), Elite (B Team), and Select (C Team). All 3 teams at the 11 year old level at MadFrog are good. Noelle played great and made their top team - the National team. We signed the contract today and Noelle is now officially a MadFrog!

If you don't know anything about club volleyball - you would be amazed at how intense it is. Volleyball is huge in North Texas. Although Texas is famous for its high school football- all youth sports in Texas are hyper-competitive. Our kids play select basketball, baseball, gymnastics and volleyball. Every one of those sports is crazy good in the Dallas area. I say that only to give you a sense of this accomplishment. As you will read below, MadFrog is maybe the top club for younger teams in the entire state and Noelle just made their top team at her age - which should be one of the top teams in the DFW region at the 11 year old level. They have been the top 11 year old team in DFW 4 years in a row.

Below is the card they gave her after tryouts.

Noelle after tryouts

A group called LoneStar Volleyball ranks all the club teams in Texas. As you will see below, MadFrog was ranked as the 4th best club in the state of Texas last year. How many clubs are in Texas? Well there are almost 100 youth girls clubs in just the DFW area! So, yeah, 4th is good. Furthermore, MadFrog has the best program for younger girl teams. Notice in the chart below how many younger teams MadFrog had qualify for Nationals. In fact, last year MadFrog had three 12 year old teams qualify for Nationals. That is crazy good.

The following chart is impossible to read unless you click on it to enlarge it. But, when you click on it you will see this is a chart of last year's standings of 12 year old clubs in the Dallas & Fort Worth area in the final tournament. You will notice that MadFrog has 3 of the top 4 spots. In fact one of those spots was last year's MadFrog 11 year old National team (Noelle's team this year)! It is crazy how well that 11 year old team was able to do in the 12 year old division.

This is MadFrog's new facility in Plano. It just opened a few month ago.

Triniti Wins 1st in All Around at Kurt Thomas Meet

Triniti had a great gymnastics meet today. She won 1st in All Around in Level 3 out of 21 girls!! She did that by winning 1st Place on Beam, 2nd Place on Floor, 2nd Place on Bars and 5th Place on Vault. Her combined all around score was considerably higher than the second place girl.


Below are a few pictures from the competition:

Triniti on the stand in All Around

Her team before the competition

Triniti on Bars

Split Jump

On balance beam

Handstand dismount

Getting ready for floor

Happy girl

Final score and places

Triniti and her 5 metals!!

Announcing 1st place and All Around

Triniti's Vault

Triniti's Beam

Triniti's Floor