The Life of a Gymnast

Chapter 2: Big News

I glanced over at Catt. She looked worried. 
"Mike and I have decided to enter you guys in a big competition." Lizzie sounded happy, for once. She even cracked a smile. "The competition is next month, and we decided to enter you a level above where you last competed". 
Shocked, I snuck a glance at Catt again. She had the same stunned expression on her face. What where we going to do? We were barely level 8's! Emma whispered something to Sam, and they giggled. Kristy gave them a death stare and Halli, catching on, followed suit. 
"Ladies, you are all ready. It’s only Monday, and you have four more weeks to prepare. I have confidence in you all. As long as you train your hardest everyday, you will be fine.”  We relax.  I mean, if Lizzy thinks we can do it, then we probably can.  She’s the most doubtful person I’ve ever met.  She turns to walk away, but stops.  “Oh, and the event will be televised.  They’re looking for girls to fast track to Elite”.  Mike seemed triumphant, seeing the varying expressions on our faces. Although I was excited, I could tell Halli, who had stagefright, was not. The thought made me duck my head to smile to myself.  But still…on TV?  And with coaches scouting us for Elite?  This is crazy. 
"Alright girls, let's get started". Mike started splitting us into two groups. "Hallie, Emma, Sam; go to beam. Kristy, Catt, Mia; off to bars". Great, I was with the bitch of the beam.  At least Catt could join in the wealth. 
Kristy stomps over to bars, giving us the death stare as she flounced by. I looked at Catt, and we both started giggling. This is going to be an interesting practice.

~

Perfect kip, cast to handstand. Chinese sit up, catch the high bar. Kip handstand, pirouette, overshoot. Kip, squat on, kip handstand. Giant, giant, double back dismount.  Faceplant.  I hear Kristy’s snickers even from where I lay on the mats. I walked over to the chalk bucket, and Catt whispers to me.
"It was only the dismount. Let go a little later and you'll be fine". Now don't get me wrong, I love Catt.  But it is one of my biggest pet peeves when people correct me. I don't mind coaches, but when my teammates think they’re better, it just pisses me off.
After chalking up, I kip back onto the bar. Already I can feel that I'm not going to make it, that feeling if dread in the pit of your stomach. I go for my routine anyways, and as expected, I completely missed my double back. 
"Throw the bar!" Mike said, demonstrating with his arms what I should be doing. "Kristy, show her how it's done." With a smug look on her face, she climbed up onto the bar.  It wasn’t the fact that somebody had to show me how to do a skill that made me upset, it was that it was Kristy, of all people, that showed me up.
"And that is how it's done”, she whispers as she slides by me to the chalk bucket.  It took all I had not to slap her.  I clenched my fists and tried to calm myself down, because unless you harness your anger, it’s not going to help.
After 45 grueling minutes on bars, we switched to beam. We washed off our chalky legs and bloody hands before going to beam.  When I looked up into the mirror, I could see Kristy smirking down on me.  I clenched my teeth and smiled, before grabbing a paper towel and walking out the door. 
Before mounting the beam, I brushed some chalk onto my hands and feet for a better grip.  When I jumped up, my legs brushed the black letters spelling out the brand of the beam.  We warm up with some basics before moving on to our bigger skills, like series and dismounts.  After doing some timers, I set out to finish my series and dismounts.  I was shaky on my series - handspring handspring - so I had to do a few more than three.  Once I finished though, Lizzy gave me a new assignment. 

“Mia, are you finished?”

I nod my head in reply.

“Alright, how were your series today?”

“A bit shaky, I fell on a few.  But they felt pretty good in general”.

“Okay…how about we work on handspring layouts today?”

I’ve been waiting for a long time to work on these; they’re my favorite.

“Great!  I’ll get started!”, I reply.

I pull out one of the low beams and put some mats next to it, so when I fall, I don’t fall far.  I warm up some handspring layouts on the floor before starting on the beam.  The first one is the hardest for me, because I’m usually too scared to go.

I stand at the end of the beam, rocking on my toes.  One, two, three, go, I mutter to myself.  Usually it takes a few more series before I go, but today it only takes a few.

I jump backwards onto my hands and immediately look for my feet to hit the beam.  As soon as they do, I jump backwards again.  This time, however, my hands don’t hit the beam.  I look for my feet right away, and the first one lands squarely not he beam.  The second one misses, but the mats are there to catch it.  

I put it back onto the beam as if it never missed, and raise my hands above my head in a mock salute.

It takes 6 more series before I finally get both feet on the beam, and that’s one of then best feelings you can get as a gymnast.