In December, Tom and the whole Team GB were about to leave for Australia for a 3 weeks long training camp. We tried a few times to make Andy change his mind and let me go along with the team, but it wasn't easy. He always says that only the divers, coaches and official partners were allowed to go to the training camps. But the entire team pushed him to change his mind underlining the fact that it all depended on what we include under the "official partner" tag. I was a little bit dreading to stay 3 whole weeks by myself, in my hotel room, during the British winter... But one night, Tom rushed to my hotel room to tell me the good news. Tonia proposed that her best Christmas present from Andy would be that he agreed for me to come with them to Australia. And then, all the others went along, asking for that to be their Christmas present... and Andy finally gave away and agreed!
And that's how I find myself going to Australia. This was my 1st trip with the Team GB, and would remain as one of my favorite memories. Right from the meeting at the airport, it was great. We had a room for Tom and me with a connection door to Chris' and Jack's room. During that training camp, I discovered Tom's ability to tan! I left England with Tom Daley and came back with Mowgli! He tans so fast and he gets so black! At one point, he had a red speedos' on, so I called him Mowgli, and everyone started to call him like that, but he got his revenge by finding me a new nickname "Snow" for Snow White!
I was working a little bit for my work on my computer, but I was also helping on the training. I was becoming an assistant, I guess. I wasn't doing anything extraordinary, just helping them for their stretching, bringing them their flasks, cheering on them,... it was fun. And I was also in charge of filming them. And from time to time, they tried to teach me some somersaults and so on, we were really having a blast.
One day, after practice, we were just hanging out at the outdoor pool. Some were sunbathing, others were playing,... Jack and Tom teach me how to do an easy dive from the 3m springboard... under Chris' supervisory (he was mostly making fun of me rather than trying to help the other two who were coaching me!). According to Chris, I was a lost cause! And then Jack asks me if I ever dived from the 10m
"Did I ever dive from the 10m platform? Ahah, good one, Jack" I say laughing
"What? Never?"
"No! I'm not even sure I could even just sit on that platform and look at the edge"
"You've never even been up there?" Chris asks quite surprised
"No"
"You have to at least climb up there and look at it" Tom says. Then he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the stairs, the 2 others following us. When we got up there, I was shaking like a leaf.
"Do you suffer from vertigo?" Jack asks
"No, not really. I'm not scared of the height, I'm scared of jumping from that high, that's not the same thing"
"Start by sitting at the edge" Chris says. "Ahah, look at her face!"
"Give me your hand, we'll sit together" Tom says
"Promise me you're not gonna push me into the pool"
"Of course not! I'm not like that, and you would seriously harm yourself if you miss your entry"
"Ok, so I'm definitely not jumping from there!"
"Great Tom, great move. You really chose the right words there!" Says Jack
He grabbed my hand, asking me to trust him and we walked to the edge. We talked about random things, anything that could male me forget we were standing at 10m up in the air, our legs dangling in space.
"Are you still afraid?" He asks me
"No"
"Are you comfortable right now?"
أنت تقرأ
Just follow me (Tom Daley Fanfic)
قصص الهواةValentine is a young woman living in Dublin with her close friend. She doesn't know it yet, but the day she met Chris Mears changed her life forever. Thanks to him, she'll be introduced to Tom Daley. Right from the beginning, something special is ob...
