Things really get going the next couple of months with preseason and the start of Regular season meets. I hope you can take advantage of the many classes, clinics and opportunities available to get the most out of the season. It is really going to be a fun one. We are all very proud of the girls.

Competition Leos

Leos have been ordered and should be in and distributed for us to wear at our May 1^st Meet.

Competition Fees & Expenses

Here are the fees and the due dates for your calendar and financial planning.

Remaining COMPETITION FEES:

April 8 – League Fee Due ($100) The league fee covers participation in 4 regular season meets, Regionals and State, if qualified. It also offsets our coaches’ pay for working meets.

May 5 – Final Date for all fees to be paid. If you have not paid for your competition leo & shorts, the Parent Volunteer Fund and the League Fee pay it by May 5^th to avoid a late fee. Please note Gymnasts cannot compete in regular season meets until all fees have been paid.

Finc. Assistance

Aurora Residents who are receiving financial assistance you must re-apply in April. Please call the registration office at 303-326-8700 for assistance.

Clinics

Monday Night Clinics (7:45 – 8:30) and Thursday Clinics (4:00 – 5:00) are a great way to get some extra attention on specific skills. Clinics cost $8 per participant. With a smaller group ratio this extra time with a coach can really help your improvement.

MONDAY CLINICS

Apr 12 - Kips & BHS

Apr 19 – Tumble Tramp

Apr 26 – Comp Routines

May 3 – BHS & Kips

May 10 - Beam

May 17 – Vault & Floor

May 24 – Comp Routines

THURSDAY COMP CLINICS

Apr 8 – Comp Routine!

Apr 15 – Beam Work

Apr 22 – Tumble Tramp

April 29 – Comp Routines

May 6 – Kips & BHS

May 13 - Beam

May 20 – Comp Routines

May 27 – Vault & Bars

THURSDAY OPTIONAL CLINICS

Apr 8 – Routine Review

Apr 15 – Tumbling

Apr 22 – Beam

April 29 - Bars

In order to attend clinics you must sign up and pay at the front desk more than 24 hours in advance. You cannot attend clinics that you have not signed up and paid for in advance.

Clinics fill up fast so sign up early! To register, see or call the MDW front desk at 303-326-8300.

“Learn the SKILLS, Do the DRILLS. Feel the THRILLS!”

………….CoA Gymnastics

Fundraising

Leo Sales – New Practice Leos Just arrived!

We always have practice leos available for sale in the gymnastics office. Practice leos prices range from $20 - $40 depending on fabric.

Team Lockers – We still have lockers that the girls can rent if they want to have a locker at the gym! Cost $50/year

King Soopers Certificates - $100 KS Cards are always available!

Aurora Residents for Recreation Mtg’s

There are two community meetings this week for Aurora Residents for Recreation. They will be discussing programming needs for the Central and South Centers. Meetings are from 6:30 – 8:30 at the following locations.

April 8^th at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church for Central Region Recreation Center

April 13^th at Tallyns Reach Library for the South Region Recreation Center. Get Involved!

Judging 101

On April 15^th we will host a FREE class for Compulsory Parents and Optionals & Parents to learn how routines are scored, what the judges look at and how they score a routine. This is a VERY helpful class. If you are a competitive parent or someone that watches and wants to understand scores you really need to attend this class. Traci Hogan an AI Coach and Certified HS judge will teach the class and answer any questions. Please call the MDW front desk to say you will attend so we have an idea of the number of people.

Compulsory Parents: 5:45 – 7:00

Optionals & Parents: 7:00 – 9:00

Don’t miss out on this educational opportunity!

AIPS Board Mtg

We have an AIPS (Aurora Illusions Parent Sounding) Board Meeting scheduled for Thursday April 22^nd. We will be discussing the season and making plans for our upcoming home meets. ALL PARENTS ARE WELCOME to attend and we encourage new comers that want to get involved in making us the best gymnastics program ever! Hope you will attend. Meeting is from 5:00 – 7:00

Come Join Us!

Furlough Day

Friday, April 23^rd is the first of 2 mandatory City Furlough days we will be taking this year. Due to these mandated furloughs we will not have practice. Each furlough day saves the City $500,000.00 so the 2 days will save a million for the City. Although this is a responsible way to help the budget it is a bad sign of possible things to come. Reducing and canceling services is a real consideration for the tough economic times. Recreation is definitely an area that is always looked at when cuts are needed. We feel that Aurora Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) is the quality of Life Department. Don’t let it go away. Talk to your City Council person and make sure they know that Recreation (Gymnastics) is important to you. Get involved with Aurora Residents for Recreation, be prepared for a vote to support Recreation Centers and the activities that make your quality of life what you want it to be. Support Recreation, make sure others know that it is essential to you!

Preseason Meet

We have our first Preseason Meet Saturday, April 10^th at Broomfield Recreation Center. This is a practice meet and everyone should be fine attending. I know many girls are nervous and don’t feel ready, well that is why we have practice meets! So you can get ready and learn that there is very little to get nervous about! So come and have fun.

Optionals arrive at 8am done about 1:30

Comp 4 arrive at 1:15 done about 4:45

Comp 5 arrive at 4:15 done about 7:30

Cost is $5 per gymnast to cover cost of judges. Pay fee at the meet.

Compulsory wear a leo that you would wear to practice, Optionals you will wear your warm up leos.

This is a fun day to practice meet conditions and see what we need to work on before regular season. Come and help yourself get ready!

May 1^st Preseason Meet!

Oh this is a great practice meet! It is our Aurora Illusions Inner Squad Meet, and is the only time during the season that you will get a chance to see all levels of our team competing at the same time! It is really great to see the entire Team Program all at once.

Optionals Arrive at Noon

Compulsory Arrive at 1;00

Everyone done about 7pm

Supplies Reminder!

There was so much information passed out at the parents meeting that many of you might have forgotten a very important supply need; hair ties, tissues, & Band Aids. We go through these items at the gym like they come in ice cream flavors! We asked that each Compulsory 4 Gymnast bring hair ties, Each Comp 5 to bring a box of tissues, and each Optional bring a box of Band Aids. These supplies are really needed and used by all please help out if you forgot to bring your supplies in do so right away!

Leo Exchange

We will have our annual leo exchange at the May 1^st Preseason Meet. This is a great chance for you to get some good, inexpensive practice leos and get rid of those leos that your daughter has outgrown.

How it works: Starting April 19^th bring your outgrown practice leos to the gym and use our clothes tag gun to put a price label with your name on each leo. Leave the leos and we will take them to the meet and put them out for other people to purchase. You can pick up your unsold leos after the meet is done or you can donate them to the Team. Any leos left at the gym on May 1^st will become the property of the Team.

How you make money: We will keep the price tag from each leo sold (The price tag will have your name and the price of the leo). The Team keeps $1 for every $5’s in leo price. So if you sell a $5 leo we will make $1 and you will make $4. If you sell a $20 leo we will make $4 and you will make $16. You select the price you set on each leo but they all have to be $5 increments.

This is a great way for you to get some inexpensive practice leos, and clean out the drawer of all those leos your daughter has outgrown. The more people that participate the better the selection. There are the rules, come and tag your leos! Tag gun, and price tags will be available starting April 19^th!

Team Tuition

Remember that Starting in April we have moved to our new team payment policy as written in the Team Handbook. Team Tuition is due on or before the first of each month. Please make sure your tuition payments are made on time.

Facebook!

Join the team Fan Page on Facebook! Aurora Illusions Gymnastics

Team Pictures & Chipotle Fundraiser!

May 11^th is going to be a great night for Aurora Illusions Gymnastics! First we will all be coming to the gym this night for our team pictures and hopefully everyone will also be going to the Chipotle at Quincy and Buckley between 5-8pm for dinner or to pick up lunch for the next day or BOTH!! Our team will get 50% of all the Aurora Illusions sales between 5-8pm on May 11^th! This is a great opportunity to make some easy cash for the Team and fill your belly with some yummy grub.

Team Picture Information:

Compulsories will arrive at 5pm. Comp 4's will be in the gym getting poses and 5's will be in the room across from the front desk getting poses and doing an activity. Optionals will arrive at 6 and go into the room across from the front desk until they are ready for them in the gym. It could be right away! They will get their poses and have a journaling assignment to complete while they wait. If compulsories finish early we will do the coaches picture then, if not, after optionals.

Order of Pictures: We will do Comp 4 individuals, then C4 team; Comp 5 team then C5 individuals; Optional individuals then Opt team. Order Forms will go home the week of May 3^rd plus we will have extra forms the night of pictures. All orders must be paid for the night of pictures by check or cash to Luper studios. Even if you choose not to order pictures please come and be in the team photo.

Chipotle Info: In the May Newsletter there will be a flyer that you need to take with you (will also send out by email, on website and on Facebook!) Anyway, go to the Chipotle at Quincy and Buckley on May 11^th anytime between 5-8pm order a great meal, hand them the flyer and then realize that our Team will make 50% of whatever you spend! This is AWESOME! Take a friend, send the flyer to everyone you know, go and buy a burrito for lunch the next day! Hand a flyer to a stranger in line!!! We get 50% of the sale from anyone that hands in a flyer when they pay for their meal, Tuesday, May 11^th at the Chipotle at Quincy and Buckley!

Team Survey

Results from the Team survey are starting to come in. The results were VERY helpful, and I appreciate the valuable input. I am trying to put together some of the info to share with our staff and Team, but as you might expect, the results on the most part were very positive. One problem that did immediately stand out was our Team Website. Although the website is a useful communication tool, information has not been updated on a regular basis. That is totally my fault, as other things get put on my agenda the website falls into oblivion. Well we are trying to fix that. I have found a student that is going to be in charge of updating the information and making changes to the site. He has already done quite a bit and has a long list of other things that need to be added or updated. My hope is that you will be better served by the info going on the website and that it will be better maintained from now on. If you have any ideas please share them with me and we will see what we can do.