2013 U.S. Secret Classic: My Story

I arrived at my hotel on Friday, the night before Classics. That night I could hardly contain my excitement! The next morning I woke up at about 7:15am and couldn't fall back asleep.

I was really hoping that I might get the opportunity to meet some of the gymnasts competing and get their autograph so I had to be prepared. I made this special design and printed it out on card stock before I left my house and was going to have people sign it. I also brought an edit of Jordyn that I made and was going to have her autograph it.

I got to the arena about 12:00pm so that I could walk around a bit and watch some of the junior session warm ups. When I got to the arena there was already a pretty long line of people waiting to get in. They had a few different vendors and activities set up, including a GK Leotard booth with a large poster of Aly. I tweeted a picture of this saying "OMG it's Aly!" Hahah sorry if I freaked everyone out!

Before sitting down in my seats I met up with Ashlee and Brittany (@TripleTwistGym/Triple Twist Gym Blog). It was really fun to meet them in person! Here's a picture of us:

Then I found my seat and watched what was left of the warm ups. The picture makes it look further away than it really was, but here is the view from my seat: 

I won't really go into details of the actual competition because you probably already know about what happened and such. I might write a seperate post later though. 

Anyways, just before the last rotation I moved seats to a spot located near where the gymnasts would be after the meet. As many of you know, Gabby Douglas was in attendance at the meet. As I walked by I snapped this picture of her and Missy Parton (yes I was creepin'!)

Here is a picture of the Junior's All Around podium:

 (L-R: Polina Shchennikova, Laurie Hernandez, Norah Flatley, Amelia Hundley, Bailie Key, Nica Hults, Nia Dennis, Alyssa Baumann)

After the awards ceremony I spotted coach Liang Chow walking up an aisle near me. Luckily I had my autograph stuff out and all ready so I walked over and asked him for his autograph. We didn't chat much or anything but he was his usually smiley self. I was so excited to meet him, he has always been one of my favorite coaches. 

Ashlee, Brittany and I tried to go wait by the edge of the arena to see if we could score any autographs but the security guards quickly made everyone leave and clear out of the arena so they could prepare for the senior competition. 

We went outside and waited near the doors to see if we could meet any of the gymnasts as they came out.

We ended up meeting a lot of gymnasts! Here are a couple of pictures:

(Nia Dennis)

I was getting Norah Flatley's autograph and my mom comes up to me and says that there is someone that she wants me to meet. Turns out that while my mom was watching me meet Norah, a woman next to her said "that's my granddaughter" :) and then they started talking. I got to chat with Norah's grandparents and parents for a little bit, they we all really nice and were impressed that we had come all the way from Minnesota.

(Norah Flatley)

When I was talking to Nica Hults I said that I think she is really good at doing hair and that I like to do fun styles also. I learned that she likes to get ideas from Cute Girls Hairstyles on youtube! 

(Nica Hults)

(Bailie Key)

At 5:00pm they opened the doors for people to get into the senior session. Let me tell you, it was crazy. Jordyn Wieber's meet and greet started at 5pm and everyone was trying to get a spot in line. I was planning on trying to meet her but I took one look at the line and decided to skip it. I am hopeful that I will have an opportunity to meet her at some point in the future. Even if she's 30 years old, she is still Jordyn Wieber! For example, Amanda Borden was there and no one was chasing after her haha!

I still got a good picture of Jordyn though:

They also were giving away these goodie bags filled with various P&G products:

While I was waiting for the senior session to start this man came up to my mom and I and said that he was sitting in Starbucks and turns around and there is Marta Karolyi and Valeri Liukin. He also showed us a picture that he got of his daughter with them. I think he was just as excited as his daughter that they  had just met Marta and Valeri.

My seat for the senior session was in almost the same place, just one section over from my junior session seat. I thought my view was pretty good, only bars was kind of far away. But considering that I bought them three days ago, they were great!

As I was walking over to the other side of the arena I saw Rita Wieber. I got a picture with her but didn't have the flash on so it turned out poorly, but thats okay!

I also noticed that there were some of the gymnasts parents, Steve Penny, Rhonda Faehn and some more USAG staff members sitting together in the special box seats.

When the competition was over I want down to the edge again with Ashlee and Brittany. It. Was. Insane. There were so many girls squished up to the sides. People would yell out things like "Someone pleaseee sign this! Anyoneeee!" I understand that a lot of the girls wanting autographs were younger, but it definitely helps you get an autograph if you know their name. Amelia Hundley was nearby so I said "Hi Amelia, do you think that you could sign this?" and held out my paper. She came right over and I got her autograph. I was also able to get Gabby's autograph!

After a while the security guards cleared everyone out, but Ashlee, Brittany and I's autograph quest wasn't over yet! Outside, we all waited by the back door and got the chance to meet a lot more gymnasts!

(Amelia Hundley)

Waiting by the back door:

(Peyton Ernst)

Eventually everything died down and I decided it was time to head back to the hotel.

It was such an great day. The U.S. Secret Classic was the second elite meet that I had attended and just as fun as the first. Being there watching everything right in front of my own eyes was amazing.

Here is a picture of all of the autographs that I got:

I took a lot more pictures that I didn't include in this post so if you want to check them out they are here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/99548790@N05/ 

Feel free to use my pictures, please give me credit though! 

Sorry this post is long! Thank you to everyone who read it! I hope that everyone gets the opportunity to attend a meet in the future :) 

Let me know if you have any questions- you can always tweet me @Aly_RaismanFans !