Faced Your Fear Yet? (gymnasts)

[Antione Hoefflin]

Coach Antione Hoefflin walked into his studio with his clipboard under his left arm and a thermal mug in his right hand - which was surprisingly filled with nothing more than hot water and a squeeze of lemon, rather than coffee.

The coach walked straight to his office, his eyes not even glancing over the studio to see if any of the girls had yet arrived to start practising. He threw the clipboard down on his desk before he shut the office door and sat down in his chair. He had a lot of thinking to so, as he needed to replace one of his gymnasts. Being the coach of the gymnastics team, also made him privvy to the medical records the academy kept for each of the girls - you have to give him some credit, as hard as he pushed the girls, their well-being was in his best interest - and because of this he knew about the Keri's Osteoporosis, and it was something that no amount or cortisone was going to fix, and because of her high risk of injury, he couldn't have her on his competition team, even when she did recover enough to return to training. The man sat back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair, still not sure what he should do.

Shaking hos head, Antione turned on his computer and brought up the meet schedule, looking at the next one they were registered for - which was in two weeks. Now, if his girls thought he had been pushing them hard until now, they were about to discover that this was far from the case. Their next meet was going to be against some of the best in the business. He had managed to squeeze his team into a competition that quite often led to gymnasts finding themselves places on the national team. And, unless the Firebirds wanted to become the laughing-stock of the world of gymnastics, they needed to make sure they were in their A-game.

Calling:
Cara-Jean Kitchi
@keri
@surfsup
@samanthal

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara stood under her shower. The water was possibly a little too hot, but it was the only way that she seemed able to get her shoulder to co-operate first thing in the morning. She finally stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself as she then grabbed another towel and began to squeeze the majority of the water out of her hair. Once her long tresses were no longer creating a small waterfall, she ran a brush through her hair and then with nimble fingers she pulled her hair back into a neat and tight french braid, which she then wound into a bun and held it into place with what seemed to be a million hair-pins and then covered her hair in hairspray to make sure that it all stayed where it needed to be. She smoothed her hands over her hair before she walked out into the main room.

Her gymnastics gear was already laid out on her bed, ready for her to put on and she quickly got dressed. She knew that she had a good twenty minutes until she would be classed as late, in her books anyway, and she still needed to make sure she had everything she needed in her gym bag.

Once dressed, with her team tracksuit over her leotard, she checked her bag, pulled on a pair of socks, pushed her feet into her sports shoes, left Blue House and jogged over to the gymnasium - which was the start of her warm-up - and then entering the enormous building and walked down to the gymnastics studio.

Seeing that she was the first one to arrive, she walked straight through to the locker rooms where she quickly shed her tracksuit along with her shoes and socks. She folded her clothes placing them on the shelf, putting the now damp socks into her laundry bag, and hung the bag on the hook at the back of the locker before she closed the door and walked back out to the studio.

Finding herself a spot on the mats that were used for basic tumbling skills and warming-up, she began to stretch out her muscles, which were already warm from her jog over. While she was stretching out her muscles, her eyes worked their way around the studio, already going through what she wanted to work on that day. Unless of course, their Coach had other plans for them. She stood up and lowered down again, this time into splits. She reached her hands forward, folding at the hips as she cupped her hands around her foot. She lifted her head as she heard the door open

[Deleted]

Keri sat on her bed, pulling on her leotard before practice, trying to ignore the pain that was coming from her ribs. It was less painful that the day before, but it was still causing her trouble from day to day. As she pulled her hair back into a braid, which was as tight and neat as she could get it with one hand, she was thinking about practice, about what she would do. Coach would have found out soon enough, surely, and as each day went by, she felt the knot in her stomach getting bigger and tighter. It would happen any day, she'd walk into the Hall, and he'd talk about it, ask her about it, yell at her about it... She took a deep breath, wrapped her ponytail holder around the end of her braid four times, and stood up, walking over to her closet, pulling out a pair of bound sweatpants and a zip up jacket, which she had now managed to get over her arm and onto her shoulder, in a quick and slightly painful process, but all that mattered what that she could do it. She slid into her sneakers and grabbed her bag, heading down and out the front door.

Once inside the Gymnastics Hall, she spotted Cara on the mats, looking at her, having heard the door open. She gave Cara a smile and walked towards the locker room, going to take off her shoes and socks, but keep on her outerwear, since she wanted to keep her body temperature up while she worked out. While she knew the thought of staying on the team was a silly hope of hers, she wanted to make sure that no matter what she did, she did everything she could to make it possible.

As she walked back out, she walked over to the mat, stretching out her legs as she went. Her workout that day, if not given something by coach, would consist of weighted sit ups, bicycles, ball wall sits, squats, jump squats, and whatever else she thought of. She stood at one corner of the mat, bending down to touch her toes with her left hand, her right one in the sling basically strapped to her chest. She sat down, leaning as far as she could to each side before pain came from her ribs. She sighed and changed stretches, bringing both feet in to the butterfly stretch, loosening her muscles, all the while avoiding her eyes from Coach's office.

[Deleted]

Sam cracked her toes while she sat on her bed, loosening up enough before she went to warm up in the gymnastics studio. Slowly but surely she got ready, twisting her hair up into a nice and tight bun. Her tracksuit and leotard both sat next to her on her bed, waiting to be put to use. The teenager rolled her neck and slid her leotard on which had become her second skin over time. With a light sigh she pulled her pants on then her Nike sliders before grabbing her bag with her protein shake and bar.

Light feet carried her towards the gymnastics studio quickly, the cold air felt refreshing on her small amount of exposed skin. The immediate change in temperature from the outside to gym felt even better than the cool air outside. A joyful sigh escaped her as she pushed open the doors to the studio. Silently she glided across the floor, making it to the locker room when she left her bag, tracksuit and shoes.

Once more silently she made her way to the mats and began her routine stretched for the day. Her eyes continually scanned the studio, landing on Cara, her roommate or the vault. Today she was in the mood for working on the vault rather than the floor but if Hoefflin had other plans for the girls today she would have no objections.

[Antione Hoefflin]

From his office, Antione watched as his girls arrived and began to warm up. Once it appeared that no other girls were arriving, the coach left his office and walked out onto the floor. "Welcome back." He greeted the girls. "I hope you haven't lost too much condition after having a month off training." He had a feeling though that just because he hadn't run any training sessions that the girls had taken charge of their own training.

He looked at each of the three girls. "Cara and Samantha, you are both free to work on where ever you think you need to work on, for now." He said before he turned his attention. "Keri, we need to have a word." He said as he nodded his head toward the benches that lined the sides of the room.

He walked over to a bench and sat down, then then waited for her to do the same, the look on his face giving her no choice but to sit herself down. "I am aware of what you have been through. All of what you have been through." His raised eyebrows drove the point that he knew about her eating disorder and everything that went with it. "And because of what has happened, I have no choice but to drop you from my competition team." He went on without giving her a chance to defend herself just yet. "If you can get your weight back up, we will reassess your placement as being a Firebird. For your own safety, even when your doctor has given you the all-clear to return to training, you will only be doing floor exercises until I say otherwise." He nodded his head. "That's all for now." He sat back as he waited to see of Keri wanted to add anything to what he had said.

Heads up:
Cara-Jean Kitchi
@keri
@surfsup
@samanthal

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara sat up from her stretches as the shadow of their coach fell over her. She pulled her knees up to her chest as he spoke. She had kept up her training, even while the man had kept the studio locked. With all the moves she had made in the past, it had made her inventive of finding ways to train - which included using the top wooden railing of the pasture fences as a beam.

As she rose to her feet, she looked around the studio and her eyes finally landed on the uneven bars. As she walked over to them, she was already planning what she wanted to work on. Today she decided that she would work on the different release moves. Sure, possibly something a little dangerous when she didn't have a spotter, but the mats in here had twice as much padding as those used at competitions.

She mounted the bars with a reverse kip with stoop through on lowbar. Then, with a clear hip circle she flew backwards to the highbar, with a half turn right before she closed her hands around the highbar. As she worked through a couple of giants, handstands and pirouettes, she sorted out the release moves she wanted to work through, crossing out anything below a C grade.

The first move she did was a hip circle hecht with a half turn to catch the same bar - a move that was a lower level transition. Next she did a cast with a straddled forward salto, quickly followed by a clear hip circle with a counter straddle over highbar. After a couple of giants to build up her momentum again, she swung forward and did a half turn, which was followed by another half turn to counter straddle before she closed her hands on the bar again. By now her shoulder felt as though it was on fire and she knew that she needed to finish soon. She swung forward and let go as she went over the bar, then doing a straddled forward salto, she almost seemed to have missed the high bar completely before her hands closed on it again.

Her mind then went to the dismount that she could do. She decided on a Kraker; an underswing with half turn to a backward tucked salto with a full turn, where she landed facing the uneven bars. She stumbled forward a step and as she threw her arms up to try and rebalance herself she felt something rip in her shoulder. Glad that she had her back to the coach, she drew in a couple of sharp breaths as the pain was intense before she was able to push it away. Straitening she lowered her arms and circled her shoulders, even though her left shoulder didn't quite move as easily as the right.

[Deleted]

Keri looked up as Sam came in and gave her a smile as well, always glad to see her roommate. As she moved on to laying on her back and crossing a leg over her body, touching it to the ground as well as keeping her shoulder on the floor, she heard more footsteps coming from the direction of Coach's office. She closed her eyes for a moment, saying a silent prayer for her safety, knowing that he wouldn't put it off any longer, not after their training break. 

She opened her eyes when he came nearer, switching legs carefully as to avoid much pain on her ribs with transitions, she looked to Coach as he spoke to them. She knew it was coming when he addressed only Cara and Sam, giving them permission to work freely until told otherwise, which he knew the girls loved doing. She sat herself up, her face masking any pain that she may have been feeling with the maneuver, but there was no fooling Coach... she'd learned that a while ago.


When he asked to speak to her alone, she stood up and followed quickly behind him to the bleachers. She had only a moment of doubt as to whether or not she should follow suit and sit down as he did, after seeing his expression which silently commanded her to do so. She slowly sat down, afraid of what he would say, though she knew the exact words that would come out of his thin lipped mouth which often scared her with the volume and force of the words that came out during training. She braced herself to hear that she was no longer allowed to compete, as she'd already known that from the doctor... but the words that hit her ears were all of that and more. It wasn't that he came right out and told her that he knew what secret she'd been keeping, and maybe he didn't know the secret, but if not, he sure as heck knew that there was a secret. She swallowed slowly and quietly, unsure of how to react to that. Then again, he had to have known, correct? He was a tough coach, so he had to know every detail of his athlete's medical history, and hers had just been updated, obviously. 

She sat quietly, unable to form words to respond, though she had so many things she could say. None of the thoughts in her head made any sense, so she kept them inside, listening as he began to speak again. But wait! There was hope for her yet! Gain weight. That's all she had to do. Wasn't that ironic? No, not really, even though it was losing weight that got her into this mess, it was the fact that she'd gotten a bit too crazy about it that caused the trouble. Protein shakes, real balanced meals... Yeah, she could do that. Floor exercises were the most she could hope to do, not because of her healing, but that was all she wanted: to have a chance to be back on the team. She nodded at his words, knowing that he was being very generous about this whole thing. "In the mean time, may I still come to practices? If not to train to just to watch?" She asked him, not wanting to spend her recovery time separated from the gym. 

[Deleted]

McKayla couldn't forgive herself after this day. She was at least a minute or two late to gymnastics practice. "You are so organized!" She mumbled, frustrated at herself. She planned, in her head, a time schedule to make sure she gets on time to the next practices. She shuffled around in her closet as she slipped into her blue and black leotard, which she got from the coach the first day. Adding on a layer of lip balm to moisturize her lips and keep them soft during practice, she went on to place an extra pair of socks in her gym bag and a water bottle before zipping up the bag. Tying her hair up in a bun, she used a blue ribbon-like hair tie to secure the hairstyle in place. Quickly, just putting on a jacket and sweat pants over the leotard, she checked for anything she may be missing before walking out of her dorm and fast walked quickly towards the gym.

Checking the time as she made it through her way towards the gymnastics studio, she was three minutes late, okay, maybe almost five. She let out a deep sigh as she slowly slipped her way into the studio. She tried not to interfere with the other gymnasts as they continued on with what they need to do. She placed her things where they are suppose to be and shed herself from her jacket and sweat pants to reveal her leotard and placed the two clothing in her gym bag.

Walking out and looking around to see only two gymnasts doing their routines, she glanced around, hesitantly, to see if the coach was around to see her tardiness. Surprisingly, he wasn't. Obviously she knows Mr. Hoefflin would know she would be late, somehow teachers/intructors have a way of knowing, but for now she would just have to continue on until she will get some kind of 'tardiness lecture'. She groaned at lectures as she was disturbed with them, as it gave her a ghostly shiver down her spine. She headed over to the mats and knew that the other two gymnasts would look at her oddly for showing up late. No matter, she just moved on like nothing had happened and started out on her regular stretched before working on an apparatus for today.

[Deleted]

Green eyes, having lost their usual hazel hue today, studied the map he held in his hand closely. While the young male had been up and ready in perfect time, he appeared to be lost. The academy was foreign to him, having only arrived last night. Lapping the path around the classrooms once more, Bradley looked around for any sort of help to direct him toward the gymnasium. He was late for his first training session at the academy. The boy kept is cool though, his expression still neutral. Eventually he found a passing student. "Hello. Could you possibly direct me to the gymnasium?" he asked the female politely, his smile charming. The girl seemed to be fairly flustered as she gave him directions, stumbling over her words and stuttering slightly. Bradley remained patient, giving her a lopsided grin once she was finished. "Thank you, gorgeous." He didn't miss the way her cheeks flushed and her eyes lit up as he thanked her, glad to see the reaction. "I appreciate your help."

Ten minutes later, he finally found the gym. He was one phone number up and had left a still giggling and blushing girl, who's name he had already forgotten. Grinning, he hiked his kit bag onto his shoulder and pushed open the door to the gym. He gazed around the room slowly, his eyes first landing on the benches were a girl, he took her to be a gymnast, was sat talking to a man whom he recognised to be Coach Hoefflin. His gaze quickly switched to a blonde that appeared to only have just arrived a short time before himself. He rose a brow, wondering her excuse. At least he had that he was new here, and had genuinely gotten lost. His eyes then sought out the girl approaching the vault, smirking slightly. He definitely believed her to be the most attractive of the three he'd seen so far. But she was not the girl he was looking for.

Bradley's eyes eventually landed on the uneven bars, just in time to see the infamous Cara Kitchi land. His head tilted to the side curiously when he noticed the stumble, and her reaction to it. He didn't miss the flash of pain on her face, even though he could only see the side of it, before it was pushed away. Watching her for a moment longer, he then tore his eyes away and then returned to Coach Hoefflin. Approaching the man, he kept some distance to check if he and the girl he was sat next to were still talking. When he heard a gap in the conversation, he decided to barge in and get the introductions over with. He just wanted to get his warm ups over with so he could get on the rings. It wasn't his strongest apparatus, but he needed to work on them. "Hello Coach Hoefflin, nice to finally meet your acquaintance. Bradley Grey." He highly doubted he actually needed to introduce himself but he spoke clearly while doing so anyway. He intended for the girls to hear him too.

[Deleted]

Sam rolled up on the balls of her feet as the coach walked out to the floor. While he addressed the girls Sam was rocking on her toes, keeping her heels off of the floor and effectively stretching out her calves. It was a trick she picked up from her old coach over break while she was in the studio. Luckily Sam was one of the favorites when she was there so she got access pretty much whenever she could get there, and if she couldn't she was either out running or swimming. Needless to say she keep herself pretty busy over break.

When they were given the go ahead Sam made for the vault. On her way to it the door opening and closing caused her to look back, seeing the newest gymnast McKayla. Paying no mind she walked over dipping her hands in the chalk and glanced around at the other gymnasts. Every face was familiar, even the newest one that she didn't hear enter. Upon recognizing him her eyes widened. "No, just no way." The brunette watched for a moment, trying to see if it was really who she thought it was. Given the cocky nature and obvious emphasis of the name Sam ground her teeth, knowing his face through media was one thing but to train with him!?. Really? Cara, I can deal with but him?!? She was biting the inside of her cheek as had a mild temper tantrum and a stream of curses flew through her head. Cara, Sam had learned to deal with because she was better than her at, well, everything but she refused to be beaten by yet another, particularly Brad Grey.

Biting her cheek still she readied herself to show off her moves, just so it would make her feel better. Out of all of her choices she decided to go for an double twisting Yurchenko. Last time she attempted it she didn't allow herself enough height to finish the salto, but she was going to get it right by the end of the day. A heavy breath escaped her as she rolled her shoulders before sprinting towards the springboard. Sam performed her round off and back handspring nearly perfectly. Giving herself barely enough room, she did her double twisting layout, but stumbled backwards upon her landing. She walked back to the chalk with a slight grin of embarrassment and disappointment. Inside her head she was kicking herself around, almost making herself laugh.

OoC: Lesson learned, copy to word counter often : D

[Antione Hoefflin]

Antione listed to Keri, though the arrival of his fourth gymnast didn't slip past him. "You're late, Gilbert!" He said. "Warm up and then wait by the ropes!" He turned his attention back to the girl he had been speaking with, lowing his voice slightly. "Your doctor has informed me that as long as you don't push yourself; no acrobatic moves, then you are alright to train, which leaves you with working on your dance moves for floor. This also excludes you from the exercises I have planned for the others." He gave her a nod and then walked to the centre of the studio, by the vaults.

From where he was standing, he had a good view of the entire studio - the best thing about only working with girls - and he could make sure no one broke their neck by coming off the side of the vault from trying a move they weren't ready for. "Ok, ladies. Once you have finished what you're working on, I want you at the ropes!" He had a few exercises planned for them today, which they would no doubt hate him for later.

He was about to walk over to the ropes when the doors opened again. The man turned toward the door and arched an eyebrow at the boy who entered his domain. "I know who you are." He replied, his voice sounding far from impressed. "Warm up and meet us at the ropes." And, without giving the boy any more of his attention or another look, he strode over to the ropes.

Once the gymnasts had gathered, he nodded to the ropes. "Fifteen climbs in twenty minutes. Only use your hands to climb up and down, legs are to be straight out in front as though you are making a triangle around the rope, and invisible line between your feet. GO!" He hit the start button on his stopwatch and sat there watching as they climbed. "Oh, and if one of you falls, you all start again."

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara had heard the doors open a couple of times while she had been working, ignoring it both times as her mind had been on the task at hand.

She circled her shoulders again, trying to get the full movement with both shoulders before she crossed her arms in front of her chest, wincing when she felt her left shoulder pull slightly more than it should have. It was however the voice that, not that of their coach, that caught her attention. Turning around to try and convince herself she was hearing things, her eyebrows rose when she did indeed see whom she thought she had heard.

She narrowed her eyes at the boy who stood with the coach, shooting him a look that demanded to know just what he was doing in her gym. She had had the pleasure of getting to know all about the self-absorbed male at quite a few past competitions, and she could do without his attitude here. This was her safe haven and she didn't need anyone to unbalance what she had worked so hard to establish.

She shook her head when Coach Hoefflin gave the next instructions and without giving Bradley Grey another ounce of her energy, she jogged over to the ropes and awaited the next instructions.

She nodded her head at the number of climbs and the time they were given, that gave her a little over a minute to get up and down the rope for each climb, Yes, her shoulder was going to love this kind of treatment. At the word go, she jumped up on the rope and just using her hands, pulled herself to the top, keeping her legs out straight in front of her as though she was sitting on a seat as she climbed up and down.

[Deleted]

She listened to his words carefully, relieved slightly when he approved that she could still train in the hall with them. The fact that she would just be able to practice her dancing wasn't completely horrible, but it was enough to keep the emotion from her face. She nodded at his words and thanked him quietly, waiting until he was up and walking to stand and move over to the floor mats, away from where he would be gathering the others at the rope; which included the newer gymnast, McKayla whom had just gotten to practice a few minutes ago, as well as a haughty guy who must have sauntered in while she and coach were speaking. She wasn't one to judge others before getting to know them, but she could easily see that some of her other team mates already were. From the looks that crossed their faves at the sight of him, they either already knew of him, or already hated his guys... most likely both. As for Keri, she'd never seen him, heard his name, or given two flying flips about him, then again, she'd never heard of Cara more then once before meeting her at Blue Ridge, so in some ways, she may just be living under a rock in terms of the gymnastics world.

Keri began stretching again, this time unzipping her warm up jacket to reveal her black arm sling which glittered under the light, as well as the bright green cast which rested on her forearm, hopefully coming off in a few weeks. She figured that since coach wanted her to now gain more weight, she needn't be working out in her track suit. She slid out of the black pants as well, bracing herself as the cold air hit her skin. Maybe it was just her, since she'd practiced without her track suit all of one time before, which meant she was freezing without the warmth she was accustomed to. As she started to stretch out her legs and left arm again, she watched as Cara made her way up the rope just using her arms, and a smile crept into her face. Cara had seemed especially bothered by the new guy, so Keri knew that her team mate was going to do whatever it took to show him that she ruled this gym.

[Deleted]

McKayla jerked her head over towards the direction she heard her name, or her last name. She swallowed in embarressment towards her lateness and gave a firm nod with her facial expression in an apology. She made herself work hard and push herself to make up for her tardiness. 'Wait by the ropes?' She thought, but just shrugged as she spread her legs, in a split, and reaching over to her right foot and then her left. She glanced up as she noticed a boy gymnast. For her, it's surprising because he's the only boy in the practice compared to all the girls here. Though she can't judge the guy's likes and dislikes.

Crossing her arms over and stretching and doing some over arm stretches. Thinking about what she should start working on. Beam was a for sure thing she shold fix up on. Balance is slightly hard for her since the beam is kind of thin, in her opinion. She watched as the other two gymnasts worked on their apparatus. Watching as Cara stepped forward on her dismount and went back to try again. She hasn't really done much of the uneven bars and should really make a habit of doing so. Also gazing to watch Sam, she then got slightly bored. Wishing she could work on one of the apparatus in the studio, though she didn't complain out loud and just finished warming up her body with stretches.

She looked over and walked over to the ropes where her next set of instructions were told. Giving a nod to the directions of what they were required to do. She stared at the rope in front of her and listened for the 'go'. Hearing her cue, she jumped up onto the rope, grabbing a firm hold, and as instructed, she kept her legs straight, out in front, and used her hands to climb up and down the rope in the time given.

[Deleted]

The hostility showed toward him, particularly from Cara and the girl at the vault, caused him to smirk. This is going to be so fun. he thought in delight, his eyes bright with mischief. At Cara's demanding look he just rose a brow and offered her a crooked smirk, accompanied by a wink. "Get used to it, Princess." He murmured under his breath, catching sight of the girl at the vault landing improperly. It seemed most of the girls had a problem with that. While he was pleased to have some anger directed toward him, it was also nice to see that the other two girls did not seem particularly bothered. That meant he could focus his energy on riling up Cara and vault girl.

Coach Hoefflin's pretty much hostile reaction to him was expected. Placing down his kit bag, Bradley nodded at the instruction. He had taken the liberty of stretching before he had left his room this morning, but still repeated the actions. He did not look at the apparatus once, his focus becoming the ropes as he approached when the girls did. Tactfully, he chose the rope beside Cara. Of course it was on purpose. He waited patiently for the go ahead from the Coach, glancing side long at Cara. Bradley had the advantage of power for this exercise, as well as speed. His upper body strength was hard to compare to, it had always been a strong point of his. At the command, he started to climb. His frame was hauled up and down the rope almost effortlessly, his legs locked straight ahead of him.

As Coach's words regarding a fall sank in, he had to fight every instinct to fall on purpose. He knew it would annoy the heck out of the girls, which was causing him to favour the idea. However, he just continued to climb. "That shoulder looks sore, Kitchi." He kept his taunt quiet, the words only for her ears. There was no strain in his voice, his broad frame going up and down the rope with ease. This was something he could do in his sleep, and he soon found himself growing bored. Again, the urge to 'fall' was dominant in his mind.