Fundraising Time begins

A new year begins once again.   The estimates are in and we are starting to go into "stress-out mode".

2013-2014  approximation adds up to a whopping $7850.

That's $3500 for Level 8 team coaching/lessons (about  17.5 hours per week about 700 HOURS over the next 10 months he will be dedicating to the art of gymnastics. )  Meet fees (which pay for entering meets, coaching fees while at meets)  about $1650 , A commitment fee (which helps the booster club cover the fees of every gymnasts last meet of the season)  about $165  and last but definitely not least... is the Nationals Meet - which will incur a huge bill because it will be on the west coast AGAIN this year.  So it will be at least another $2500 for hotel and flights to Long Beach California.

This  $7850 is a painful reality for us.   Here we have this tremendously talented kid who has aspirations to go to the Olympics or at least make the USA National team some day,  and to become a doctor after college... but we do not have the funds to do any of this.   We are in a catch 22... Money is needed to go to college -  but we don't have it.  A Full Gymnastics Scholorship can get him into a great College.  But we don't have the money for even the gymnastics which is far less than college...

There is a choice to be made... 1) go into major debt to pay the gym bill, 2) Tell him "no we can not afford this,  forget about your dream of Olympics and/or being a doctor"  or 3) Get out and do Fund Raising to help get him the Gymnastics training he needs.

After suffering in option 1 for the past few years... we have chosen option 3!    This is why we have created the Travis D Gymnast Fund.   It is a way for All friends, family and even fans of Travis can help in any way possible.  With the combined donations of great and small amounts Travis D Gymnast can go very far!  Who knows, maybe someday he will be your doctor and helping to heal you or one of your family members.
 Please contribute today  :)

right now there are 2 ways to donate.   You can become a monthly sponsor, or you can make a "one time" donation.  Either way is a HUGE help to furthering his life goals.  Info is below.

Also ... We will be adding a fundraising items page in the future which will have fun and/or useful items which we will sell to raise money.  So please come back and check it out in a few months.  

SPONSOR TRAVIS D GYMNAST

My Monthly Sponsorship will be

Sponsorship 1 : $2.00 USD - monthly Sponsorship 2 : $4.00 USD - monthly Sponsorship 3 : $6.00 USD - monthly Sponsorship 4 : $8.00 USD - monthly Sponsorship 5 : $10.00 USD - monthly Sponsorship 6 : $15.00 USD - monthly Sponsorship 7 : $20.00 USD - monthly Sponsorship 8 : $30.00 USD - monthly Sponsorship 9 : $40.00 USD - monthly Sponsorship 10 : $50.00 USD - monthly

Personal Note to Travis?

PLEASE REMEMBER - This is a MONTHLY contribution.

By Subscribing, you are setting up a reoccurring payment that will help Travis in his USA Gymnastics dreams every month.

If you ever want to cancel your subscription, simply email travis.d.gymnast AT comcast.net with your name and email you used to subscribe.

ONE TIME DONATION 

USAG Gymnastics Junior Olympic National Competition Entertainment Highlights

 Back at the end of April we were in Portland OR. at the  Oregon Convention Center.  Travis qualified in the regionals and made it into the Nationals!   Highlights from the Opening Ceremony Entertainment.  

We have heard from other people that some of the Past entertainment for the USAG Junior Olympic National Competitions have been lame and sort of  "cheezy"  But I must say - I was not let down by the entertainment that was put on for us at the last competition.

More Gymnastics is in our future

It has been over a month since we returned home from the Junior Olympic Nationals competition in Portland OR.   It's amazing how fast time can seem to slip away as we are so busy with life.

I'm Travis' mom, and I will be starting employment at Daggett's Gym sometime over the next couple months.   I will be working behind the front desk as well as taking some photos and videos of the children as they do their tumbling and gymnastics.    This is something I'm very excited about.   I would have never guessed I would be doing such a thing even a year and a half ago.   For nearly 12 1/2 years I have created wedding accessories - namely wedding garters.   I used to be so busy that the thought of doing anything else besides being a mom would have overwhelmed me.   But after the past 2 years of moving and then last summer my father needing so much help with various different surgeries, I had to close my business down countless times.   In doing so, it forced me to give up a lot of business.  Now this year, when I do have the time to do more, I have not gotten much new business.   It's like God is trying to tell me something.   2011 and 2012  I GAVE UP the business and had to turn many many brides away. Now they just aren't coming...   It's like I was being weened from my tether to the wedding industry.   Now 2013 is having a new horizon opening up to me.   I'm not pursuing more and more wedding business.  I will be happy to help those who would like to order from me, but my main focus will be shifting to gymnastics.

I am so very excited to be able to get behind the scenes at the gym.  To learn the in's and out's of how it all works.   To be able to take lots of photos and videos... to be able to write blog articles about the various gym activities and events that go on there on a weekly basis.   I feel like there is a better purpose to my life with doing this.   Garters were nice, I made good money while it was busy.  But I never felt *proud* to be a garter maker.   It was just a job.   Working at the gym is more important to me.  I feel like gymnastics is such a worthy sport.   I see what a difference it has made in my son.   Before gym his self esteem was not all too high.  But after joining gymnastics back in November 2009,  I have seen his self confidence sky-rocket.   Gymnastics is one of the most difficult, strength enhancing sports I know.  It will be such a privilege to be part of this new Daggett's gym employement team.

This is the first video I ever made for the gym.   I did it last year just for fun.

USA Gymnastics Region 6 - 2013 Level 8 Men's Regional Competition

I finally had a little time to put together the video of Travis' Regional meet.   He came in 12th in the Region.

This is his very first time ever qualifying for the USAG  Nationals.   It's so exciting.   We had to fill out forms to give college scouts permission to contact us if they wanted to.   To know he's only 12 years old and may be starting the scouting process already, amazes me.

It also amazes me that only a little over 3 years ago he had never stepped foot in a gym before.  He as worked so hard to get where he is... here's the video. Hope you like.  :)
 

First Competition Ever - Level 5 boys Gymnastics 2010

Only ONE year after walking into a gymnastics gym he was flipping and swinging all over the place.   He never participated in any kind of gymnastics prior to this.   It's amazing to me how far this little boy came in just 12 months.  (and to think the first 6 months he was just doing casual 1.5 to 2.5 hour classes before he was invited to be a member of the boys level 5 team.

The Handstand Handspring Kid

Travis took to the gym like a monkey to the vine!  He was a natural.   After only 4 months, he had learned how to do tons of stuff (a back handspring being one of them)  Learning Back handsprings took a few weeks of practice, before we knew it, he was springing all over the front lawn!  Check out his progression in just a matter of a few weeks.

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#3 WOOOO HOOOO  ! 

The Beginning - Oct 2000 to Nov 2009

First - let us thank you for visiting Trav's page!   THANK YOU  :)

 Last weekend he qualified for the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic Nationals Competition.  (this year being held in Portland Oregon)  He Placed 10th in his region (MA,  CT,  RI, VT, NH, ME )  It was at that moment it became a reality that he would not be able to continue in his dream without the help of many.  We are a typical middle american family. It was a struggle to send Travis to regular gym... never mind after he was invited to be on the Team.  The costs have exploded over the past few years with the hours of coaching the team must have.  He's very dedicated, and works out with his team about 14 hours per week.  As he progresses through the Levels (he's on level 8 right now)  the time commitment and money goes up.  All competition entrance fees and traveling expenses are extra on top of the gym team tuition, so this adds over $1000 EXTRA every year to the already high gym tuition... as if that's not bad enough...  When a gymnast qualifies for the Nationals,  they must pay their own airfare to where ever it is being held (this year Portland Oregon)  and also pay for all hotel/food expenses while there (usually a week) This adds on Thousands and thousands more...   The average investment of money for all gym related things at Level 8 and making it to Nationals is about $7500 - $8000   It's OVERWHELMING to say the least.  We had NO IDEA how far our son would take this Gymnastics thing!  It started as a nice "1 day a week" hobby which helped his self esteem and has blossomed into this amazing life challenge and dream.

Travis started out his life as a tiny baby only about 7 pounds. He didn't crawl until he was a year old and never tried to walk until he was 16 months old.  We were concerned that he may have some physical set-backs but were not sure.   He even was part of the Early Intervention physical therapy program for about 2 . 5 years.... As the years went by we watched him.  Little by little  he grew he started to accelerate at his school and his physical activities.  One day when he was about 8 years old, he was jumping all over the couch and doing his wobbly handstands (which to us back then were AMAZING )  We saw that he had some kind of raw talent and definitely an interest in doing gymnastic type tricks so we signed him up for his first gym class in November 2009.  Here is his first handstands... the amazing Travis D Gymnast  ;)