One Rotation

Climbing the ranks

We then leave the room, and head into a larger gym.  When we walk in, we notice that it is an obstacle course.  There is a springy net stretched across the ground, just high enough so that when we fall to it, we will not be hurt.  I look up, and see that there are platforms that are connected to the ground by poles, that are coming out of the bottom of them.  Some of the platforms are ten or twenty feet long, and others are only a couple inches long.   One the large platforms, there are trainers, some with padded clubs, and some with dodge balls.  We are told to try to make it across as fast as we can.  We go up to the base, which is a ladder that is connected to the first platform.  We are to go in a random order, and Mr. Nostra tells us that Olivia will go first.  She climbs the ladder easily, and she stands on the first platform.  The first platform is a few feet long, so that you can figure out what you are going to do.  She makes a nice jump to block two, which is a shorter block, of about two feet.  She jumps to the next block, and lands easily. This platform is a longer one, and has a trainer at the other end.  She sees the male trainer, and runs at him.  When she is close to him, he swings at her with a club.  She tries to duck under it, but she is too tall.  The club clips her back, and she trips.  She falls to the platform, but she stands up before the trainer can push her off.  She turns on the trainer, and shoves his shoulders.  He staggers backwards, and falls off the platform.  He lands on the net, and rolls off.  The dodge balls start to fly and Olivia ducks as one flies at her face.  She jumps to block four, and sticks the landing.  She makes a short jump to block five, and lands, close to the edge.  This block is about five feet long, and she almost falls of the edge as she dives away from one of the dodge balls.  She stands up, and backs up, so she is fully on the platform.  She has no problem, until she hits block eleven.  She ducked under a trainer, and tried to jump to block twelve.  She is hit mid-air by a dodge ball, and she doesn’t make the jump.  She falls to the net, and rolls off.  Mr. Nostra writes an eleven next to her name, for how many blocks she completed, and tells us that Ryan will go next.  The course it made up of twenty five blocks, and it should not take very long to complete.  Ryan makes it to block ten with no problem, but on block eleven he is met by the large trainer that Olivia dodged.  The trainer rushes at him, and tries to push him off the edge.  Ryan dodges the attack, and makes it to the next block.  He almost fell again at block twenty, when he jumped a little bit too far.  He recovered, and made it the rest of the way.  He pumps his fist in the air, and climbs the ladder down the platform.  He walks back over to us, and Mr. Nostra writes his time down, which is three minutes and twelve seconds.  He stands next to Olivia, and he can’t help but smile.

      Mr. Nostra tells us that the next person to go will be Ava, and she nods.  I wish her good luck, and she climbs up the ladder.  She is small, and that should be good, but that also means that the trainers can overpower her more easily.  She jumps to block two, and lands easily.  She makes it to block three, and sizes up the trainer.  This block is twenty feet, and has plenty of room for movement.  The man runs at her, and she dives under his club, she stands up, and continues to run, until she is at the edge of the platform.  When she reaches the end of the platform she jumps, and lands quietly on the next block.  She dodges the dodge balls, and continues on her run. When she lands on block eleven, the trainer is waiting.  When he rushes at her, she ducks under the club.  She then kicks him in the stomach, and pushes him off the edge of the block.  She jumps to the next block, and the next without trouble.  There is a large gap between block thirteen and fourteen, and Ava almost misses it.  She grabs onto the edge, and pulls herself up.  She makes it to the next blocks easily, and ends up on block twenty.  She jumps off of the block and lands on the end of block twenty one.  She is holding onto the edge of the block, when one of the trainers comes over and knocks her off.  She falls to the net, and rolls off.  Mr. Nostra writes a twenty next to her name, and she nods happily.  I give her a hug, and we look over to Mr. Nostra to see who will be going next.  He informs us that Sydney will be next, and we know that she will not get very far.  She makes it to block three, but she is hit by the trainer.  She ducked under him the first time, but he hit her on the back, and she is launched onto block four.  She rolls off, and is grabbing onto the block by her fingers.  A dodge ball is thrown, and hits her in the face.  She falls to the net, and a four is written by her name.  Jim goes next, and he has no trouble making it past the trainers, and all the way to block eighteen.  He jumps the large gap between eighteen and nineteen, and jumps too short.  His hands scrape the edge of the block, and he falls to the net.  The number eighteen is written by his name, and we are told that Sean is next.  The next few minutes are a blur, and I easily zone out.  Sean got to block twelve, and Gabe was not far in front with fifteen.  The next people to go are Beth, Nick, and Carly.  Their scores were all very close, and they ended with six, seven, and nine.  Jake goes and was hit off by a dodge ball at block twenty-two.  Olivia pokes me, and I notice that it is my turn.