Gymnastics at its Finest

Chapter 26

So many thoughts go through my head. Are we supposed to go over and talk to them? Ignore them? What do we do? While I'm thinking, Mattee comes up behind me. Practically reading my mind, she tells us:

"Just ignore them. Don't be rude or anything, but don't go out of your way to talk to them. You guys both need to focus on your routines and on having a good competition. Don't let them rattle your thoughts."

Liv and I both nod and I give a half-hearted smile. We get ready with our team and warm-up. We get a few looks from our other team, but I just have keep reminding myself to ignore it. Now's the time I have to prove myself.

We do the march in. I make sure to keep my chin up and look confident. Definitely not my forte, but you can tell that our old team is struggling without me and Liv. Everyone on our old team's eyes are following us. We look at each other and nod. We both know we have to beat them.

Our first event is vault. This is good for me, considering I have my double full super solidly and it will help me to have a good start for the rest of the meet. I warm up a timer, a one and a half, and then a double. I take one step back on the landing, but other than that it was a pretty solid vault. Olivia is competing a one and a half, and she sticks the warm-up flawlessly. I give her a high-five and we talk while we wait for the other girls to finish warming up. When they finish, we get our order. Mia is 4th, Liv is 5th, Mattee is 6th, I'm 7th, and then Kristin is last. The first few girls do pretty well on their vaults, getting low nines. Mia goes and gets a 9.7 easily with her one and a half.  Eventually it's Liv's turn.

"Come on Liv!" I yell. "You've got it!"

She salutes to the judges. She looks down at her number. She rises up onto her toes, and she sprints. She hurdles and does a flawless round off back handspring and blocks for the one and a half. She twists with flawless form and lands with the smallest step to the left. She salutes with a smile and goes over to talk to Cliff. Cliff gives her a few corrections, and she comes back over to do her second vault. She does basically the same vault as she did before, but this time she sticks the landing. Cliff pumps one arm up into the air and gives Liv a huge hug. She gets a 9.60. She's definitely going to be happy about that.

Mattee is going next. She's competing a double, like me and Kristin. She under-rotates and takes a huge step forward on her first vault, but she only takes a super slight step backwards on the second one. She salutes with her big beautiful smile and goes over to Cliff. Cliff gives her a hug and a high-five. She gets a 9.675. Now it's my turn.

I'm standing there waiting for the judges to salute me. It feels like I've been waiting for forever. Cliff tells me to just relax and focus on what I have to do. I shake out my wrists and legs a little, and get a few encouraging words from Liv and Mattee. The judge finally salutes me. I salute in return and get ready.

Hurdle, punch, block, twist, stick. Hurdle, punch, block, twist, stick.

I begin sprinting and hurdle super aggressively with my arms by my ears. I do the round off back handspring, block as hard as I can, and start twisting. Before I know it, my feet are on the mat. And I stuck it.

"Yes!" Cliff yells.

I go over to him and give him a hug.

"Do that vault again Mickey. There was nearly nothing wrong with it. Remember chest up on the landing. You've got this."

I go back to the end of the runway. The judge salutes me, and I start sprinting. I hurdle and do the round off back handspring. I start twisting, and find the floor. I stick this one as well, making sure to keep my chest up. I salute with a smile and go back to Cliff.

"Good job Mickey!" I hear Mattee yell. Cliff gives me one more hug and I walk back to my team.

I hear a few claps from the audience.  I look around to see what they're clapping at. Liv says, "Mickey! Look at the score board!"

I glance over and see my score. 9.95.

I smile the biggest smile I've possibly ever smiled. I get hugs from a lot of my teammates and I get a huge hug from Cliff and Franko. Now it's time for bars.

We warm-up the first half of our  routines, one second half of our routines, and one full routine. Bars is not my best, but I'm feeling more confident after that vault and my adrenaline is pumping. I'm lined up to go 5th, Mia is right before me going 4th, Mattee is 7th, and Liv is 8th. "Come on Mia!" I say. She sticks her landing and salutes to the judges. She gets a 9.55. Right before it's my turn to go, Franko calls me over.

"Mickey, I have seen you improve so much since you first came to this gym. You need to be more confident on everything you do. You have incredible potential. You could go super far in this sport. But right now, you have to focus on this routine right here. Remember to hit all of your handstands and keep rhythm in your swings. You've got this."

I smile and nod. I stand there waiting for the judges to salute me. When they finally do, I raise up my arms to salute, turn to face the bar, and jump. I do my kip pike on, making sure to keep my legs nice and tight on the jump to the high bar. I do my kip cast to handstand, giant, and do my blind, trying to hit the handstand. I do a super aggressive swing into my piked jeager. I catch the bar by my fingertips, but manage to regrip and keep it going. I do the kip cast to handstand into the pak, and make sure to hold my feet up keeping the rhythm in all of my movements. I do my pirouette, and then do my toe hecht. I catch the high bar and do the kip cast to handstand into my giants. I do two super aggressive giants and let go to do my double layout dismount. I make sure to keep a tight arch position. My feet find the mat and I take a slight step backward. I salute and turn to the judges with a smile. I go over to Franko and he gives me a big hug. I look over at the score board and see a 9.675. I smile. Pretty good meet so far.

Mattee does her routine very well, but on her dismount she under-rotates and puts her hands down. You can see the slight disappointment in her face, but she's tough. She'll definitely pull through on beam.

Liv is up next, and she looks super ready. This one of her best events.

"Liv," I say. She comes over to me.

"What is it?" she asks.

"Liv, you've got this. Just do what you normally do in practice and be more confident. You can do this. I know you can." I give her a hug and she goes over to the bar to wait for the judges.

The judges salute her, she salutes back, and she begins the routine. She does the beginning flawlessly. The she begins setting up for her tkatchev.

"Come on Liv!" I cheer.

She catches the tkatchev with flawless rhythm and keeps the routine going. She does the giants going into her dismount and releases the bar. She flips her two layouts and sticks it flawlessly. She salutes to the judges with a huge smile on her face. I run over to her and give her a huge hug. We look at the scoreboard and see her score. 9.85.

I give her another hug and she takes off her grips with a smile on her face. I look over and see that the coach who kicked me out of the gym is staring right at us. He gives me a death glare. But this time, I'm not nervous. I'm not upset. I'm just ready to kick our old team's butt.

"Hey Liv?" I say.

"Yeah Mike?"

"Look over at our old team. Dave keeps giving us dirty looks." I say.

She looks over, and sees that Dave is still looking over at us.

"Well I guess that just means that we're going to have to beat them. We can do it Mickey."