Eight Medals for Ragan and Emma!

Ragan Smith of Lewisville and Emma Malabuyo of Flower Mound traveled to Italy for the City of Jesolo Trophy this weekend, adding eight special souvenirs to their suitcases for the trip home.

Both had super-consistent performances in Italy with clean work and no mistakes in a very competitive competition. In a field of 27 senior-level competitors (those born in 2000 or earlier), Ragan placed second in the all-around on Saturday, only six tenths behind 2012 Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas! She had big scores on all four events for a total of 59.05, contributing to the team gold medal in addition to the silver of her own. On Sunday, Ragan competed in the beam and floor finals, winning the silver medals on both. She had the highest execution score on beam for her clean work there, and the Italian crowd loved her Addams Family floor routine.

Emma competed in the junior division, which featured 25 young gymnasts born in 2001 or later from the United States, Italy, Canada, Germany, Slovenia, and Finland. She earned a silver all-around medal on Saturday, earning spots in all three event finals she hoped to qualify into. Emma picked up silver medals for her clean work on bars and her beautiful performance on floor, and then blew the competition away on beam with both the highest difficulty and the cleanest routine on beam, winning the gold medal there by a full point – a huge win in a sport where tenths and hundredths of points can decide your fate!

For both, the City of Jesolo Trophy was a very strong start to their 2016 season, especially for Ragan, who is hoping to make it to the Olympic Games in Rio this summer (Emma’s not old enough and will have to patiently wait until 2020 for her shot). After their success, the two enjoyed a day of fun in Venice, but now it’s back to Texas Dreams to train hard for the season still to come.

Bowling Green, Yale, Stanford and Berkley, Oh My!

Congratulations are in order!

Texas Dreams is proud to celebrate four of our high school seniors who have earned spots on college gymnastics teams, one of the greatest achievements for gymnasts at their level.

Jade Buford of Coppell, Kaylee Cole of Flower Mound, Cassidy Keelen of Lucas, and Randi Morris of Arlington signed their National Letters of Intent last month, officially committing to some of the top collegiate programs in the country. Jade is off to Yale University, Kaylee to Stanford University, Cassidy to the University of California at Berkeley, and Randi to Bowling Green State University, where they’ll each begin as freshmen in the 2016-2017 school year.

All four of these young ladies have had incredible careers so far, reaching the highest level of Junior Olympic competition in the United States and earning spots at multiple J.O. national championships in addition to getting fantastic results at dozens of other meets over the years.

With one final season to go at Texas Dreams, we wish Jade, Kaylee, Cassidy, and Randi the best of luck as they finish up their level 10 careers and graduate from high school, and can’t wait to see them continue their greatness in college!

Beyond The Routine Web-Series

Via Gymnastike.org: 

The full Texas Dreams Beyond the Routine series is now available for all Gymnastike Gold members. This epic four part series shows Texas Dreams from when is was a tiny idea in the back of Kim Zmeskal and Chris Burdette’s heads to now, years later, where they have the largest elite team in the country. Their four current national team members, Bailie Key, Peyton Ernst, Nica Hults, and Ragan Smith, are all featured in depth and we also show the other dream team members including Grace Quinn and Macy Toronjo. 

Episode one is centered around Kim and Chris and they tell the story of how Texas Dreams began. Kim goes through her career and what lead her to coaching and tells us how her passion for gymnastics still burns brightly. The gymnasts tell us the advantages to having a big elite team and how they are able to push each other daily.

Episode two features Bailie Key and goes through her story including when she began gymnastics, when she moved to Texas Dreams with Macy, and when she became the US Junior National Champion. Bailie has incredible natural talent and Kim described her as eye catching. The sky is the limit for Bailie and we are looking forward to watching her grow the next few years.

Peyton Ernst is featured in episode three and as we tell Peyton’s story, it is clear that while her talent is important, her drive and determination have gotten her to where she is today. Peyton had a breakout year last season and is looking to continue that this fall with the goal of World Championships.

The final episode features Ragan Smith and Nica Hults and looks toward the future of Texas Dreams. Ragan and her mother tell us about their move to Texas and how Ragan has fit in. Nica tells her emotional story about her proudest gymnastics accomplishment- accepting a scholarship to UCLA. We also look at how social media plays a role in the fame of these young gymnasts. Finally, Kim and Chris explain that Martha Karolyi and Bela Karolyi  have always stressed the importance of bringing up the next generation. While you want to give every gymnast their best shot, you never know how the cards will end up and it’s crucial to have your next group of gymnasts prepared. Kim and Chris have done this and their up and coming elites have a bright future.

Don't miss out on this impressive and exciting series! Watch the inspiring trailer here.

Colbi Flory is gymnast of the year

The amount of work that goes into a gymnasts journey continues to amaze me.  It's that day-to-day grit combined with the ability to perform that inspires others... that makes them feel a connection to a particular athlete.  It's an honor to know that one of our gymnasts were rewarded for just that... it's well deserved, much appreciated, and a testament to the work that she, her teammates, and all of the Dreamers accomplish every day.  Meetscoresonline.com and International Gymnast magazine have announced Colbi as the "Gymnast of the Year".  Please click to read details.  

Congratulations Colbi.  It couldn't have happened to a shorter, harder working, shorter, more talented, shorter (did I already say that) girl.  

-Chris