Every year the entire competitive team from South Coast comes together for a banquet. It is a time of food, fun, and reflection on the previous competition season. Competitive gymnastics is a demanding activity, and it is good to take a little time once in a while to appreciate how much hard work goes into it by the gymnasts, coaches, and families. This year we enjoyed the pleasure of fellowship at the pristine Coto de Caza Country Club nestled in the Saddleback Mountains of South County.

At the banquet we like to recognize a few gymnasts from each program who shined a little brighter in various ways during the season. The award for Gymnast of the Year goes to the kids who excelled at competitions. These young men and women turned their hard work and determination into high scores and brought home medals for their achievements. Here are this year's Gymnasts of the Year:

Club of the Year is for those kids who have great attitudes. These kids finished their season with great results, and are always smiling, always working hard, and always encouraging their teammates. These kids are fun for coaches and other kids to work with, they bring an uplifting quality to the team.

The most improved award is self-explanatory, it is given to those who have shown the greatest improvement during the last season. Sometimes we give this award to those who have overcome a setback and worked against the odds. Sometimes we give this award to those who have shown a great improvement in attitude or work ethic. Sometimes we give this award simply because of numbers to those who have increased their scores the most from the beginning of the season to the end. Either way we are honored to present this award to deserving team members.

I don't know if you who are reading this know much about pommel horse, I assume some do and some don't. At any rate one thing that can be sure about pommels is that it is difficult. It is very hard to stay on the thing, and it is so easy to fall off. Sure it looks easy when the Olympics are on tv but trust me, it is not as easy as it looks. At Souith Coast we have a prestigious club, a 100 circle club. Membership to this club is given when a young man can stay on the mushroom for 100+ circles. This year we added four proud members to the 100 circle club, and respect the efforts that went into completing this difficult challenge.

As if 100 circles wasn't hard enough, we had a determined young man this year break the 200 circle mark. Congrats Sean!

South Coast has the best coaches. They are easy to work with, easy to get along with, and always available to share the knowledge they have gained over the years. Each and every one has a passion for gymnastics that shows through their tireless work. The coaches had their own table at the banquet and it was a great way to reflect on the previous year.

The banquet was a ton of fun and definitely a success. Special thanks go out to those that worked behind the scenes and at the banquet to make this team even successful:

Ashley and Jeff Naemura for awards preparing and helping with the raffle tickets

The Chu family for the lovely centerpieces, announcing, and brilliant slideshow. Even the restless young boys had their eyes glued to the screen, excited to see themselves and their friends depicted on the screen. The slideshow is absolutely one of the highlights of the banquet.

The Sarep family for the DJ and music. Khin's talent and love of music were made abundantly clear as he sang though the vast majority of the event. I look forward to hearing more in the future!

The Lin family for help with the launch of the new website. Looking good!

Also thanks to the group moms for putting all the beautiful raffle baskets together: Suzanne Vallely, Arleen Hasegawa, Bridget Halsey, Celeste Wakita, Mary Abad, Alejandra Alvarez, Robin Cacciatore, Suzy Brackenridge, Dinah Chu, and Grandma Chu.

It was a fun banquet. I look forward to being a part of many more!