Knowing the Secret Password

[Antione Hoefflin]

Back when he was training, Coach Antione Hoefflin and the rest of his team, especially at the national training camp, had always believed that there was a secret password that everyone had to learn to get their names on that Olympic list, and he, along with five others, was fortunate enough to have known what it was. And now, he was trying to teach that same password to five other young gymnasts, and the password was dedication.

He walked around the studio, making sure that the chalk bins were full and that the apparatus was all in the right place. He then walked back to the front of the room and decided that he would start the year off his favourite way as he pulled the doctors' scales out from their hidey-hole in the wall beside his office and set it up on the floor front and centre.

He watched as the gymnasts entered, including his two boys. The girls were all in their team leotards, and he would give the boy's theirs that day. He watched ad they all began warming up and he finally clapped his hands for attention. "Right, can I please have everyone lining up." He set to bottom block on seventy-five pounds and as each gymnast stepped onto the scale, he moved the top slide along until the top sat evenly and then recorded the numbers, frowning now and then when he saw a number he didn't like - though nothing on his face gave away whether he thought the number was too high or low.

Once the weighing was all over and done with he got right to work. "Oliver, Beam! Toman, Bars! Kitchi, Vault!" Once the girls scrambled to their feet and ran to their assigned apparatus, he turned to the two males. "Follow me." He strode toward his office, scale in hand that he tucked away back into the hole in the wall, and then walked into his office where he opened his cupboard and looked through the gymnastic uniforms and pulled out two men's uniforms and bags and then handed one to each male. "Come in these this afternoon, what you are in will do for now. Paquet, parallel bars! Edar, Rings!" He then strode to stand by the rings to boost Kai up and spot him while also being able to keep an eye on Finn, while the assistant coach kept and eye on the girls.    

[Stefan Eder]

Kai dressed in a simple tracksuit and shirt, both tight enough that they wouldn't get in the way of his training, but loose enough to allow him the freedom of movement that he wanted, one of the sets he'd worn to practice back home all of the time. Hopefully it would be fine for here as well.

Grabbing his bag and making sure that his water bottle was full, Kai left his room, making his way towards the gym. As he entered the studio, he was surprised to see that he was the first person to arrive, apart from the coach, obviously, “Good morning, Coach Hoefflin.”

Unsure of the proper procedure, he dropped his bag at the edge of the room along with his water bottle and his shoes, then moved to the mat to begin stretching, his eyes on the coach as he hoped he wasn't breaking any rules. However, as more gymnasts began to trickle in, he realized that he had done the right thing, and continued his stretches.

As the coach called them to line up, Stefan rose and walked over, stretching his arms above his head as he got closer. First in line, luckily or unluckily, he was the first to step on the scale, watching as the coach moved the weights, noting the number in his head although it meant nothing to him. After all, he was used to seeing his weight in kilograms, he would have to do the conversion later from the hundred and twenty-six pounds the scale had read.

After he'd done his part, he waited patiently, standing on one foot with the other one raised slightly, a position that had often been pointed out as mirroring his sister's, curiously enough. However, after everyone had finished, he waited as the coach ordered the females to their apparati, then followed him into the office, taking the uniform and bag, “Thank you.”

After settling the uniform in the bag, he nodded as he heard his last name, albeit mangled, jogging to drop the new bag by his worn one before he grabbed his ring grips, slipping them on. He moved to the rings, chalking up the grips before standing in the center, looking up at the rings. Had they always been this high, or was it just because he was nervous? Taking a deep breath, he raised his hand in a salute, then reached up, before jumping up, feeling the coach's hands as he was boosted upwards, before he grabbed the rings. Taking a moment to get a feel for the rings, and his own strength after a few days of no training, he hung, then began.

The first thing he did was push himself around the three-quarters circle into a back lever, before he brought his legs straight up in an inverted hold. Allowing himself to swing once again, he went into an iron cross as he came to the bottom of his swing, holding it for two seconds, counting along, before he released the tension in his shoulders, dropping to hang. He pulled himself through a backwards roll to a kip, then went through a swing before he held himself in a simple handstand on the rings. Considering his options, he let himself fall into a forward swing, then released his hands, going through a tuck before he extended himself to land, arms extended.

None of it was fancy, especially not the dismount, and he could have been missing some elements, but that was about the extent of what Stefan felt comfortable with, and he hadn't wanted to try anything harder. Rather the coach undercount his abilities than expecting more from him than he could produce, after all.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara stepped out of the shower and quickly dried her hair enough so that she could put it up in a maiden braid and then dried the rest of her body and got dressed into her gymnastics uniform. She glanced down at herself and knew that she would need to speak to the Coach and see if he would object to her having the leotard tailored so that it would fit her a little better. She then pulled her team tracksuit over the top, pushed her feet into her shoes, picked up her gym bag and left the House.

Arriving in the studio, she put the bag down on the bench that lined the wall, slipped her feet out of her shoes and then stripped out of the tracksuit. She then made her way over to the floor exercise mat and started to warm up before she went through a series of stretches.

She looked up from a split stretch as Coach called for attention. She leaned forward and groaned when he told them to line up for weigh-in. She jumped to her feet and lined up behind one of the two boys who had joined the team and when it was her turn she stepped up onto the scale. She worried her lower lip with her teeth at the look on Coach's face and she finally stepped off the scale and walked back to the mat to stretch more.

When they were assigned their spots, Cara jumped to her feet and headed over to the vault. She checked the springboard and walked down the runway where chalked up her hands and feet, and bounced on the spot a couple of times before stepping up to line. Raising her hand to a mock salute she stepped up to the start line, circled her shoulders and then began her run down the runway. She did a round off onto the springboard, did a half turn before her hands hit the table, bent her elbows and pushed off to give herself enough height to do a front straight salto with a one and a half twist to land on the mat, facing the vault table, bending her knees so that her bottom almost touched the floor before she straightened her legs, lifting her arms up to keep herself balanced and she stuck her landing.

She chewed on her lower lip as she felt that twinge in her left shoulder as she walked back to the start of the runway, she knew that her pre-flight turn had been a bit wobbly and she was sure that her knees had been bent slightly during her salto.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity silenced her phone, even though the alarm was on vibrate. She rolled over and sat up, quietly shushing a complaining Luna as she slipped out of her bed and walked silently into the bathroom, trying to be as quiet as possible so that she didn't unnecessarily awaken Maeve at five in the morning.

Once she was dressed, and shoes still in her hand, she grabbed her gym bag, slipped out of the room, left the House, slipped her shoes on and raced over to the gymnasium. Sure, she had no intention of going elite, like ever, but she loved the thrill of starting her day in the studio.

It didn't take her long to warm up and then slip into stretching and then turned her attention to their coach and pulled a face at the scale as she lined up behind Cara, and then stepped up onto the scale when it was her turn. She felt a little nervous, as she knew she hadn't been working out while she was at home, and there was a chance that she should have eaten more than she should have.

Bouncing off the scale again, she followed Cara's example and went back into stretching until they were sent to their first apparatus. She beamed as she was told to go to the beam and she quickly jogged over, grabbing the springboard and moving it to the end of the beam - where it could remain because her dismount would be at the other end of the beam. Moving to the end of the mat she bounded forward to bounce onto the springboard and did a jump to handstand to hand spring mount, she then went straight into a forward roll without hand support, then danced down the beam, did a pirouette, went into a layout stepout, a switch leap, followed by a split leap with a half turn. She then jogged toward the end of the beam and dismounted with an aerial walkover with a half twist. She grinned, sure, her routine wasn't as poised as the elite's but she knew she had done well.

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby slammed her hand on top of her alarm clock and then looked over toward JC. They had been rooming for a while, so the other girl should be able to sleep through the alarm by now, and if not, too bad. She then rolled out of bed and headed into the bathroom to get dressed. She tied her hair up and applied enough glitter and makeup to her face to look ready for the gym, grabbed her bag and headed out and over to the gym.

She rolled her eyes as she walked in and saw all of the other gym-rats already at work, but she quickly joined them. When they were told to line up for a weigh-in, she rolled her eyes and stepped into line behind Serenity, leaving the second of the two males to join their team to stand behind her. When it was her turn, she stepped onto the scale and stood tall as Coach Hoefflin took her weight. She knew that her weight was perfect so she knew that she had nothing to worry about.

When she was told that she would be working on the uneven bars, she couldn't help but smirk in Cara's direction, as she knew that that was also the other Elite's best apparatus, and headed over to the bars, where she pulled the springboard over so that it sat under the highbar. She then pulled on her grips, tightened them and chalked up. She then went to stand on the area of the mat that normally wasn't stepped on until the dismount. She raised her hand in a salute and jogged forward and did a round-off onto the springboard, a flic flac with full turn, through to handstand on low bar (known as a Gurova). She then did a clear hip release with counter movement to high bar. Once on the high bar, she did a cast and then followed by a Blind change, Ono, Markelov, and a Gienger. A cast followed by a Ray. She went into a cast, onto a Tweddle and an Ezhova to the low bar, cast, Maloney, overshoot to handstand on low bar, Stalder lift to high bar, cast, toe-on full turn to a double salto backwards straight with double twist dismount. She smacked the mat as she ended on her knees after the dismount and jumped to her feet again, looking around for someone to blame.

[Fionn Paquet]

Finn groaned as he rolled over and slammed his hand down on his alarm clock for the second time. The early mornings were the biggest part he hated he hated about training, though he knew the only way to the top was with the early morning and late night practices. He shook his head as he rolled out of bed.

Taking his time to get dressed, he made his way over to the studio and began to warm up. He wasn't here to make any friends and the other four gymnasts who were already in the studio were nothing more than his competition, especially the other boy.

When they were called to line up for the scale, he took the spot at the back of the line, tipping his head to the side as he admired the curves of the gymnast in front of him. When it was his turn, he stepped up onto the scale and stood there, looking as bored as hell, as the coach adjusted the blocks and he stepped off when the man wrote his weight down. Finn knew that at one hundred and twenty pounds, he was possibly a little underweight, since most of his weight was muscle, but he really didn't care. It wasn't like he was starving himself.

He followed the coach toward his office and raised his eyebrows at the uniform handed to him. "Stylish." he muttered but nodded when they were told to be wearing it that afternoon. Dropping the outfit and bag on one of the benches, he walked over to the parallel bars and saluted before he went into a pretty simple routine with a straddle kip to straddle L press handstand on one rail mount, onto a back toss to handstand, then a support swing followed by a Diomidov (cast to pirouette on one arm), then a cast to upperarm on to a front uprise straddle cut to handstand and then finished with a double back off dismount, he wobbled a little with the dismount and took a step. He glanced around and caught the coach's eye before he gave an angry huff and walked back up to the bars.