The Life of a Gymnast

Chapter 26: New Coach

My locker slams shut as I’m grabbing my books. 

“Damn it, Lucy, I’m not in the mood”. 

I start turning the knob and my locker clicks back open. 

“Sorry Mia.  What’s with the mood?”

I shake my head and start walking to class.  “My dad’s home”.

“Wait your dad was gone?”

I walk faster, hoping to lose her.  I mean, Lucy is a good friend and all…but she can be a little dense. 

“Yes, Lucy.  He was gone!  He was in Iraq!”

I open the door to my homeroom and slam it shut behind me.  Thankfully, Lucy wasn’t in my homeroom. 

The day went by unbelievably slow.  I watched the clock tick by in each class.  Every second stretched to a minute, every minute became an hour.  Finally, I walked into DEGA’s.  I couldn’t wait for practice to start.

The team room is full when I walk in.  I was later than usual.  Almost everybody is changed into their leotards, and I’m the last one out into the gym. 

We start our warmup, 30 laps and 10 sprints on the floor.  The gym is still dark; we leave the lights off while we’re warming up so just the lights from the lobby illuminate our training. 

I can see GG from here.  Lizzy isn’t here today, thank god.  Anyway’s, GG is talking to somebody…it looks like one of the coaches from the other gym, the one all of our new girls came from.  She’s motioning towards the gym with her hands, and he’s smiling and nodding.  They walk into the gym and turn the lights off.  WE all groan, because we like running without the lights on.

He’s tall with dark brown hair, and he’s built thick.  We finish our final lap and walk around the floor on our toes before we stretch out, giving us a chance to catch our breaths. 

Kristy leads warmups.  I honestly don’t know why she’s even practicing anymore.  She’s not doing college gym, she hates practice…I kind of wish she’d just leave. 

After we stretch out, GG calls us over to introduce us to the new coach. 

“Good afternoon girls”, she says.

We chorus back.  “Good afternoon Miss GG”.

She smiles.  “This is going to be your new bars and vault coach, as I’m not exactly the best spot on those events” she says with a wink.  We all laugh, thinking about the few times she tried to spot us.

“Anyways, this will be your new coach.  Welcome Coach Bart, girls”.

“Good afternoon Coach Bart”, we say.  I sneak a glance at Emma.  She shrugs.  Neither of us know quite what to make of this.  All I can say is I hope he’s good. We’ve got summer training coming up and I want to make Level 10 this season.  Maybe if I can find an elite qualifier, I’ll do that. 

My group starts on bars.  GG put me with Emma (thank god), Britt and Kristy (kill me now please), and Natalia.  So I’m okay I guess. 

We start on bars today, with the new coach.  GG’s on beam with the other group, leaving us at his mercy.

“Okay girls.  So, I’m Coach Bart, and I’m happy to be coaching you today.  We’re going to start off with some basics.  How about…” he pauses to think for a moment.  “Kip cast pirouette, stoop on, long hang kip, giant, blind if you can, giant, double back dismount.  See me when you’re done.”

I look over to Catt and smile.  Except I was a bit worried about Natalia, but there she goes, first one up.  I watch in awe as she goes. 

She does the blind (shakily), even though I don’t expect her to.  Her double back is okay.  I mean, she stuck it, but her knees were apart and her legs were completely flexed.

I was next up.  I was confident, even though I was leaving the blind out for now.  I was still perfecting that. 

My bar routine was pretty good, and I only took a small step on the dismount.  I look at Coach Bart, and was shocked at the look on his face.  What he said next, would change my life forever.