My March madness extended into April this year. Texas Relays, OU softball and baseball, and NCAA gymnastics – seems like I haven’t had a free weekend for a while now. Which I guess is a good thing, but it sure makes me tired.
The gymnastics was something new and fun. I was nervous going into it – I’ve only ever shot gymnastics once, a few years ago at a men’s tournament in Houston. This time around it was the women’s NCAA Championships in Ft. Worth. 12 teams and various individuals competed during prelims on Friday the 17th for spots in the finals – teams on Saturday and individuals on Sunday. Three teams hired me – one tracking me down on site shortly before their prelim appearance.
The teams took turns at 4 different apparatus (apparently the plural is the same as the singular – go figure) – beam, uneven bars, floor, and vault. I had never shot any of these and so I was not quite sure what to expect. As it turns out, shooting women’s gymnastics was much like the proverbial ‘fish in a barrel’ – at this stage, they are all so good that so long as you have the basic sports timing down you are going to get a good shot. Several good shots, in fact. I posted over 65 images for each team on the first day – my usual for any sport event is 15-30.
One team and 5 individuals advanced to the finals, so my expected one-day trip turned into a three-day weekend in Ft. Worth. Totally worth it – women’s gymnastics is now one of my favorite sports to shoot. And I have a long list of challenges for myself the next time I get the chance.
Here’s a link to a gallery on my Google+ account. Enjoy!
