Faced Your Fear Yet? (gymnasts)

[Deleted]

Sam sneezed as she patted the chalk off of her hands before she started on the vault again, but she never got the chance to try again since the coach called the girls. She made her way to the ropes, thinking that what was about to come would be far from fun. Hearing the instructions proved her correct, but she almost let out a laugh when he said if one falls the others restart. Fall and everyone will hate you. Good motivation... This would be easier for her if they were allowed to use their legs since she had rather long legs and her height would be a bit of an advantage over the others.

She let out a deep breath before she jumped up on the rope on the other side of Bradley, legs straight out in front of her. It started rather easily for her, slowly but surely her arms began to feel like jello. She did her best to keep up, not slowing down at all. "Come on, Sam. Get moving." Speaking very quietly to herself she kept herself moving quickly, counting the amount of repetitions she had left. Sam closed her eyes for a while as she kept on going, realizing she was almost done. Nobody fall, nobody fall, nobody fall.

[Antione Hoefflin]

Coach Hoefflin watched as the gymnasts climbed their chosen rope, his eyebrow arched as he noted that the newest member had chosen to climb beside his elite and the air in the studio had shifted with the arrival of Bradley, something he didn't know he like too much. No matter what the boy's background, if he disrupted things too much, he had no qualms in telling the boy to pack his stuff and remove himself from the gym.

He clicked the stopwatch as it got to the time. "Let go!" He didn't care where on the rope they were, he wanted instant obedience, and they had all fallen from greater heights.

When they were all on the ground, he pointed at the uneven bars and the high bar next to them. "Chin ups on the high bar!" He knew that the girls could use the lower bar to give themselves lift onto the higher bar, though Bradley would need his help to be boosted up. "You have ten minutes to do thirty lifts!" He knew that there were chances that after the rope climb, the girls might struggle with the shorter time to do the lifts, but right now he didn't care. He had chosen this before any of them had arrived today, so he hoped they didn't blame the new-kid.

Once everyone was hanging from a high bar, he stepped back and hit the button on the stopwatch as he yelled "GO!"

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

As Cara climbed up the rope, she pushed the pain in her shoulder to the back of her mind, so that it was no more than a dull throb. She had been ignoring her pain since she was half the age she was now, which made it easy to compete when you knew that you had done major damage during a routine and still continued competing. If people thought that the coaches were hard on their gymnasts, then they had never looked at how hard the gymnasts were on themselves.

It grated her slightly that Bradley had chosen the rope next to hers, and she wasn't naive enough to think that it happened per chance. She tried to block out his presence as much as she did her pain, but his words seemed to slice through her shield. She looked at him with a smirk as she continued her climbing. She too had remarkable upper body strength, which is why she excelled on the bars, and managed to match him grip for grip. "My shoulder is fine." She replied at the same level. "You however, your ego looks a little wounded. After all you are on a school gymnastics team." She finished with another smirk.

His mention of her shoulder shook a memory to the surface though. It annoyed her that he obviously remembered the same meet that she was now thinking about. Her bar routine was going well, she only had a couple more release moves to do on the high bar before her dismount. It was a brand new routine though, something she hated doing at big national events like this one. She circled the bar and let go just as her toes pointed toward the roof, where she went into a straddle split and did a backwards salto over the bar. However, she hadn't gained enough height and her left shoulder clipped the high bar with enough force to knock the air out of her. She managed to finish the routine and claimed herself the gold - her moves gave her a high score even though she clipped the bar. While she stretched and warmed up for the vault, the assistant coach was trying to ice her shoulder while she was hoping the ground would open up and swallow her as her coach ripped into her about sloppy moves almost costing him gold

She was at the top of the rope when the order to release was given and since she didn't question adults, her hands just opened and she started dropping. Knowing that just landing on her feet would probably not only break her ankles, but also jar her knees to no end, no matter how she bent her knees, so half way down, she did a back layout, followed by a back tuck and landed on her feet, throwing her hands up to keep her balance as she would when finishing any other routine.

She then headed over to the uneven bars, once again tuning the presence of the teen male out of her mind. Doing the most basic low bar mount, Cara stood on the bar, bounced and flew up to close her hands around the high bar. She let herself hang there, her arms relaxed until they were told to start. It was now that her shoulder really started to protest, but she pushed the pain away again, not wanting to be the one to slip and let the team down. After all who wanted to be that person.

[Deleted]

OOC: Haven't been sure how to respond to this... so this is totally pointless and will be an inner monologue of random things that probably won't come into play until later on... so whether or not you wish to read it is perfectly fine by me.

Keri stretched her legs for a long while, closing her eyes and letting the music of her mind take her away. It was no song she'd ever heard before, but she knew it by heart. She continued to play it in her mind as she stood up, and once standing, she rolled her left shoulder, blocking out the entire gym, not listening to the whispers and yells going on around her. She picked up her right leg slowly, letting herself leap into a dance. She loved to do this, even if she wasn't as good as some of the others. It was something that she was learning slowly but surely, and perfecting as best she could.

The gymnast wasn't necessarily working on a routine, rather just moving to the music inside her head. Some may call her insane, but she was simply forgetting her troubles... as much as she could with the sling and cast that was. Her body rolled with the beat in her mind, seemingly rippling like water in a lake. She swung her left leg in a full circle straight up in the air. Suddenly, the music changed. There were now words. Lyrics maybe. Her body showed the confusion playing loudly in her head, jerking movements, incomplete and static. Harsh words. Taunts and ridicule. Her face contorted. Her blood pressure rose. Her stomach clenched. Why would they say these things? How could someone be so horrible? What did she ever do? Her breathing sped up, her muscles tensed, and her heart wrenched. Her ribs throbbed, but she couldn't distinguish it between a distant memory or a painful reality.

Her eyes shot open and she stopped herself in the middle of the floor mat, which seemed to be shrinking in size with each quickened breath. Keri brought her left hand to her head, closing her eyes again and taking deeper breaths than she had been, trying to calm herself down. She pushed the hair out of her face which had started to fall out of her braid behind her head. She took a quick glance towards the uneven bars where her teammates were doing their chin ups, and then to the high bar where her coach was nearby after helping up their newest addition to the team. She looked down now, taking in deep breaths again. It was done. She was gone. They were back home, and she was here, at Blue Ridge. They couldn't hurt her.

[Deleted]

McKayla used most of her strength to pull herself up the rope and back down. Doing her best to not get restless while keeping her legs straight while doing so. She knew there would be another activity to do after this, so she saved some strength left for the next required excercise. Watching as the other girls did their set of climbs. Almost slipping from being unfocused, she quickly noticed her weak grip and quickly got back in the game. 'Focus, Kayla. Focus.' She motivated herself as she continued on, almost like she just got a bolt of energy from that.

She repeated climbing up and down the rope, almost to the required climbs. While halfway down she sighed as the coach commanded for the gymnasts to let go. She took a deep breathe and let her hands open and let go of the grip from the rope. She did a back tuck is all she had room for and landed squarely on her two feet and tried to balance herself, but started to wobble slightly and take a small step back, out of place. She bit her cheek in slight disappointment, but just let it go and listened as he told their next set of instructions.

Jogging over to the uneven bars she used the low bar to fly over across towards the high bar. She hanged onto the bar, getting a good enough grip as she waited for their 'go' signal. She glanced around, suspicious of the new kid around here. Though as she heard the coach's yell. She snapped back to focus and started lifting herself up until her chin was above the bar and counted as one and then starting to continue on with the rest of the thirty lifts.

[Deleted]

He chuckled quietly at the snappy reply from Cara, her smirk making his grow. "Hey, everyone has to experience the slums at some point." He countered. With that, when ordered, he allowed himself to fall from the rope. Though he had been a little lower down the Cara, he also knew that the pain would be excruciating if he were to land on his feet. So, he completed a simple back tuck before landing solidly, his arms lifting to remain balanced. Straightening up, he walked toward the high bar and waited patiently for Coach to boost him up. He hung heavily from the bar, swinging his legs slightly as he waited for the go ahead.

When ordered to start, Bradley lifted himself continuously. He moved with ease, again looking as if he were completely at home. As he did his lifts, his eyes wandered to the gymnast not joining them on the high bar. He watched her with interest, wondering why she was not with them training. He continued to complete his chin ups, his mental counter reaching twenty in no time. He rose a brow as the girl seemed to jolt herself out of some trance, noting the fear on her face. There was definitely something up with her. Brad found himself intrigued but he took his interest from her to complete the chin ups.

Once he completed the exercise, he just let himself hang from the bar. He knew better than to drop without a Coach's permission, so he waited for the order. With his distraction of the dancing gymnast, he hadn't had time to ponder sabotaging the other girls. Now that he was finished, his chance was over. He could, however, distract one of them into falling. He glanced at the three, his first choice being Kitchi, and chuckled softly. "Arm is looking weak." He commented airily to Cara. "Is the strain getting to you? A dull ache gradually getting stronger the longer we talk about it?" His intention was to make her aware of her shoulder pain, knowing she had the ability to push it to the back of her mind. Most gymnasts did. Those who didn't would never get far in the community. Especially not to the level of himself or Cara Kitchi.

[Deleted]

Sam worked to finish the last of her repetitions on the rope when she was almost halfway down the rope when given their let go command. Immediately she released her grip on the rope, doing a simple back tuck so she wouldn't break her ankles on the landing. She landed evenly, managing not to stumble when she did so and turned on her heels to the coach, waiting for the next set of instructions. Ten minutes? It seemed like a bit much to do thirty chin ups but at least she could have some time to rest in between.

She trotted over to the uneven bars, easily getting herself up and to the high bar. Sam rested with her arms completely extended until they were told to go. Given their command she began her chin ups quickly, wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible. Her arms ached but she finished rather quickly so she began watching her roommate as she danced on the floor. She didn't watch long since Keri was snapped out of her trance and began watching the other gymnasts finish up. Silently Sam mouthed the words to any song she could think of to keep her mind off of how sore her arms had become since the two drills.

[Antione Hoefflin]

Coach Hoefflin watched the gymnasts. Part of him wished that his newest gymnast had been another female, he could see the friction between Bradley and Cara, knowing that he would be able to push them more if they actually competed on the same apparatus. "Time!" He called when the ten minutes was up. "Right, we'll continue your resistance training tomorrow morning." He gave a quick smile. "Now, you can return to your practice. Lawrence, beam. Kitchi, Vault. Grey, you can do the vault as well. Gilbert, bars!" It would be interesting to see his two senior league gymnasts working side by side - as the two vaults were beside each other with enough space between the two to make it safe.

He walked over to position himself between the vaults, after all he couldn't chance one of them over rotating and breaking their necks. His head was already running through what he wanted them to do the next morning, during the evening training session he'd get them to work on their desired apparatus, until he worked on something else for them to do.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara worked through her chin-ups, counting them out in her head. Most people rested once their arms were once again extended, though she rested with her chin above the high bar, when she shoulders were bunched up rather than extended. She let out a sigh when that boy's voice broke through her thought again and she shot him a look with narrowed eyes. "Don't you have anything better to do?" She asked, not even mentioning her shoulder. Anyway, she'd been doing this for too long for someone to be able to get into her head. Please! If she allowed other gymnasts to do that to her, she'd crumble under the pressure at competitions.

When Coach said that the time was up, she realised that she'd actually got to forty, ten more than they were asked to do, oops. She hadn't been bailed out though, so obviously he was just counting to make sure they didn't go under the required number.

She dropped to the ground easily, folding her knees so that she was practically sitting on the ground before she straightened her knees and listened to what their coach was saying. She curled her nose slightly at the thought of the vault. She didn't not like the vault, she just preferred the bars or the beam, no doubt why she was assigned the vault.

As she walked over to the vault, circling her shoulders, pleased that she had fully motion with both of them, the pain completely forgotten and her gameface on. Standing to the side of the vault runway, she placed first one foot and then the other into the chalk bin on the ground and then rubbed the white power across the soles of her feet and then clapped her hands together. Raising her hand in a salute, she stepped onto the runway mat and looked at the vault and springboard down the end of the runway. Drawing in a breath, she bounced forward and ran down the runway, just before she got to the spring board she did a front handspring with a half turn to punch off the springboard with her feet, her back to the vault. As she flew into the air to punch off the vault with her hands to go into piked forward salto. While piked, she twisted one and a half times in the air before her body straightened, facing the vault, and she found the mat with her feet, bending her knees and sticking the landing without having to take a step.

Forgetting herself, and everyone around her, for a moment, she grinned from ear to ear and wiggled her hips in a small victory dance.

She then jogged back to the start of the runway to do another vault. She knew that what she had just done had a start value of six-point-ten and needed to nail the vault perfectly, not just stick the landing, but for the rest of it to be perfect as well.

[Deleted]

Keri took a few more deep breaths, just as the others were told to stop and head over to their respective apparatuses. She sighed and walked herself back to the edge of the mat, where she had placed her water bottle. She usually never took water breaks during practice, but she felt she needed one today, if not to rehydrate herself then to just take a mental break. As she sipped on the water, she looked around at her teammates, seeing that the coach had sent both Cara and the new member... what was it? Brett? Brad? Whoever he was, he was over there at the second vault and would no doubt soon be annoying Cara. That poor girl was being tested, and not only did Keri know it, but she was sure that Cara knew it as well.



She squatted down and placed the water bottle back on the ground before sitting down and working on pointing her toes as far as she could. She'd never really had a problem with this, but she knew that some gymnasts allowed their coaches to break their feet in order to allow them to point the toes farther for more points, and she had never wanted to do that. She laid on her back, staring straight up at the ceiling, feeling the sharp pain in her feet as she held them as parallel to her Tibia, as far as she could manage to move them without crying.



When she was finished with this, she stood herself back up, rolling out her ankles, shaking out her legs, and went to begin dancing again, but quickly realized that those voices in her head had never shut up. She lifted her left foot - "Sl*t!". She shifted back to her right foot - "B*tch!". A sweeping motion with her left arm - "Coward!". So on, so forth. Her stomach did flips as she leapt across the mat, right arm stuck to her body thanks to the sling. The best she could do was fight them off, block them out, ignore them as they taunted her, yelled at her, got underneath of her skin.

[Deleted]

McKayla kept her head in the game as she finished off with five more chin ups. She didn't notice as she did an extra of another five more chin ups before being called from the coach that time is up. Soon realizing what she did, she just gave a shrug and dropped to the groun nicely. Listening to what the coach had to say, she was slightly puzzled at the words resistance training. Later hearing her last name once more, she jumped at the reaction, but gave a firm nod to the coach once she was assigned the uneven bars. The uneven bars wasn't her first choice, yet she understands that it would be a good time to improve on her skills. Not wanting to question Mr. Hoefflin, she just went along with it and started to head over to her assigned apparatus.

Dipping her hands in the bin of chalk, she rubbed her hands together to make sure she had enough. Clapping her hands to get rid of any excess chalk, she let out a silent cough from the dust cloud of chalk. She glanced over as she spotted Cara doing the vault and sticking the landing. She gave a grin at her performance, but knows the girl would never notice, telling by how the new guy gymnast has been trying to get to Cara. She wondered what was up with the pair, yet again, she shouldn't get into anyone's personal business. Now keeping her thoughts away from them, she turned her gaze back to the lower bar, where she would be starting her routine. She took a deep breathe in and out and bounced herself from the mats, up towards the lower bar where she held a good grip on. Starting herself of with a basic kip and straightening her legs she did a basic front hip circle and finished off with a cast handstand. Doing a handstand position, she eyed the bar she gripped at and let herself do a free hip and release the bar to fly backwards to catch the high bar above her head. She pulled herself back into a kip and went back into a handstand on the high bar, releasing one hand to place it on the opposite side of her other hand, doing a piroette.

Continuing on her routine, she went into a cast and did a 3/4 giant with an underswing. A straddle or two in her routine with a full piroette, this was it, her time to do her dismount. She got a good hold as she did a few simple tap swings enough to reach the height she wants for her dismount move. Once she feels she had enough, she released from her tap swing and did a tuck flyway, bringing her knees to her chest immediately, and looking at her toes during the flight. She landed on the mats, with her knees slightly bent, as she threw her arms up in a salute and didn't need to take a step or anything. It was a nearly perfect landing. She gave a grin at the dismount and then started to walk back to the chalk bin and try again.

[Deleted]

"Nope." Bradley shook his head at Cara's question. Truthfully, right now, he didn't. When ordered, he dropped to the floor and bent his knees so that the impact wasn't too great. Straightening up, he gave an inaudible sigh when he was ordered to the vault. It was one of his strongest apparatus, so he knew that he did not need to practice it. He gave a quick glance to the rings, which he believed needed more of his time and then walked toward the vault. He didn't bother to watch Cara, now disinterested with her. Instead, he stretched slowly as he planned the vault in his mind. If there was a characteristic associated with Bradley about his gymnastics, it was that he did not rush. He didn't need to. People waited for him, not the other way around.

Deciding to stick with what he was good at, rather than something that he'd been working on privately, he prepared himself to complete a two and a half twisting Yurchenko. The male took a deep breath, and began to block out the surrounding gym. His eyes locked on the vault, taking another deep breath before giving a small nod when he was ready. The male took off toward the springboard, completing the roundoff with ease. His expression was clear as he hit the vault and threw himself into a back handspring entry. Punching off the vault, his broad frame completed a two and a half twisting layout, his knees bending just as he landed to take the impact. Straightening up with a smirk, he stepped off the mat.

Instead of going back to the end of the runway to the vault, he shifted the springboard back slightly. Testing it, he frowned slightly and shifted it one more inch. On his first vault, he'd felt he'd been a little too close. While he'd completed the vault with what he believed to be pretty much perfection, he knew it could be more fluid. Testing it again, he nodded in satisfaction. He still did not really want to be on the vault. Even floor exercise would be preferable to this right now, because he needed to work on it. And he hated floor exercises. His frustration grew, not used to being told which apparatus to use. He knew which ones he had to improve on, and was usually allowed to just do so. Stalking back to the end of the runway, he began to think over his next vault reluctantly.