Background Information:
Regionals is where competition starts to become tough. Now, you have to compete against multiple states located in your region. Illinois is part of region 5. Region 5 also contains Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan. Once you qualify to regionals, you have to compete against girls from all these states.
My experience:
Region 5 puts a big emphasis on teamwork. During my entire time competing at regionals, we were constantly cheering and rooting our teammates as team Illinois. The top 6 all-arounders from each state were put onto the state team where all the states in that region would compete against each other. The constant support from team Illinois was one of my best memories at regionals.
I've been to regionals twice and both times were super fun. My first time attending was in Michigan during my level 7 season. This was when I would say I was at my peak competitively. My second time attending was in Ohio during my level 8 season, which would be my last season of gymnastics.
I was the regional champion on bars and beam during my level 7 season. My scores, although were not as good as they had been during season, were decent. I also placed 4th in the all-around. My level 8 season wasn't as good, however, I did end up 5th in bars. My performances at regionals are some I am the proudest of.
Bars and beam have always been my favorite events, as well as the ones I exceeded most in. My bar set for regionals was changed a week before competition in order to give me a better chance at scoring higher. So going into my bars routine I was extremely nervous. When I finally landed, I was just happy that I had hit my handstands. Looking back at my beam set I always see more and more corrections I wish I could have made. I honestly had didn't think I would have won beam, let alone place within the top 3.
Competition at regionals was one of the most surreal experiences. There was so much intensity through the arena. It was hard to think of not messing up the whole time during competition. For higher levels, if you don't do well at regionals than you have absolutely no shot at making nationals.
Regionals are an important step of competition since it's the next step to nationals. The qualification process for nationals is the same as state. You have to score a certain all-around score at regionals in order to qualify to nationals. If anyone ever thought the competition at regionals was tough than nationals would be a big wake up call.
Videos:
These are the videos from regionals during my level 7 season.
Here's my bars from my level 8 regionals