To Thine Own Self be True

[Antione Hoefflin]

That old saying about not being able to teach old dogs new tricks was good for describing The gymnastics coach. Even when his career had been ended all those years ago in Sydney, he still awoke in the wee hours of the morning and exercised.

Once he'd had his protein shake, he headed down to the gym to get ready for the day. Walking into the office he grabbed his clipboard and turned the computer on and checked his emails. He knew that he had a couple of new gymnasts, and he was looking forward to getting to know them. And now that his gymnasts had returned from camp, he was keen to know if they had learned anything new, or just picked up really annoying habits from the current Olympians who had been coaching them.

It wasn't until the gymnasts were there that he walked out of the office, clipboard in hand and surveyed what the girls were doing. "Kitchi, you can work on the fluidity of your floor! And you will be here this evening in your uniform!" He barked, not even bothering with a greeting, as it hadn't slipped the coach's notice that she had been wearing the dark, high neck leotard for the last couple of weeks. "Oliver, vault! Toman, uneven bars! Shahar, uneven bars! Panquet, pommel horse! Eder, parallel bars! Let's see if those of you who went to camp actually improved over the summer or if I have to unteach you some useless skills."

His blue gaze turned to his new girl sitting on the mat and he gave a smile that didn't touch his eyes. "If you will come with me." He led the way to his office. Walking in he turned to look at the girl, easily sizing her up and then opened the cupboard, that from the outside looked like lockers, and took out a team uniform: two leotards, tracksuit and black backpack. "What you are wearing will be fine for now. This afternoon, you will arrive in your uniform." He didn't leave his comment open for argument.

"When you've put that on the benche, I will see you at the beam." He strode past them and stood between the two beams, crossing his arms, waiting for the girl. "Show me what you can do."

Roll Call:
Cara-Jean Kitchi
Elizabeth Toman
Fionn Paquet
Jacey Taylor Davison
Serenity Oliver
Stefan Eder

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara shook her head and turned toward the alarm clock by her bed as the alarm went off. She had spent the night working on her summer reading assignments, and now it was time for a shower to wake herself up and head to the gym. She needed to arrive in the studio looking like the professional athlete that she had been conditioned into, and that meant not showing any flaws.

After going down and tending to Kit, she headed back to her dorm and showered. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror in her leotard, she checked to make sure that her bruises were covered, though the one around her neck needed the help of a little make-up to hide it, and she made sure to blend the make-up so that it didn't look like she had applied it. With her hair in a French braid and then wound it into a tight bun that was held into place with a zillion hair pins and hair spray.

Pulling the tracksuit on, she pushed her feet into her running shoes and then made her way down to the gymnasium and through to the studio. She took the tracksuit off, to reveal the dark blue, long-sleeved turtleneck leotard she was wearing, folded it and placed it next to her bag on a bench, She toed off her shoes and tucked them under the bench.

Walking over to the mat, she began her well rehearsed warm-up routine, keeping her head down and keeping to herself, doing her best not to give any physical indications to the pain that rippled through her body with each movement, but all she had to do was get into her zone, and the pain would be nothing more then a buzz in the back of her head. Training was not the time to socialise... well, that, and the fact that she always had trouble socialising with others anyway.

She glanced up through her lashes as the coach appeared and barked out commands. "Yes, Coach." She said in her whisper-soft voice. Getting to her feet, she walked back over to her bag and pulled out her I-pod and walked over to the floor area and plugged the device into the stereo. Clenching her fists she opened her hands and shook them, an interesting reaction to the spots dancing in her vision, but it worked for her. Pushing play on the device, she jogged to her starting spot, centre right, of the mat and sat down, left leg curled under her body, the ball of right foot on the ground with her knee bent at a right angle, torso resting on her thigh, left arm wrapped around her leg and the fingers of her right hand gently on the floor. She counted silently as she waited for the music to start, and as soon as the music for Fall Out Boy's My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up) began to play, she started her routine.

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby let out an excited squeal as her alarm sounded, ignoring the fact that her roomie didn't have to be up before the sun like she did. She had enjoyed her time at gym camp that summer, though she was super excited to be back to her school!

She rolled out of bed and danced her way into the bathroom, where her gymnastics uniform was already hanging, waiting for her, beside her make-up cabinet. After a shower, she dressed and then spent the next fifteen minutes fixing her hair and putting her make-up on. She then pushed her feet into her shoes, grabbed her gym bag and raced out of the House and down to the gymnasium.

Walking into the studio, she placed her bag down on the bench and shrugged out of the tracksuit jacket and left her shoes by the bench where her bag was, with the tracksuit lying over the top of it - and rolling her eyes at how neat Cara left her things.

She then walked over to where the tiny gymnast was warming up, arching her eyebrows at the girl's lack of team uniform - certainly looked like there was something gossip-worthy there - and she got down to warming up.

When the coach gave them their assignments, she arched her eyebrow as she looked around for the other girl who had been assigned her apparatus. Obviously someone who had joined their ranks during the vacation, as it wasn't a name that she was familiar with. With a haughty toss of her ponytail, she stalked over to the uneven bars and began to chalk up her hands, signalling for the useless assistant coach to bring the springboard over for her.

She stood at her starting spot as she waited for the other girl to ready herself at the other uneven bars. If Coach was going to give her some new wannabe to work beside, she may as well turn it into a fun challenge.

[Fionn Paquet]

Finn quickly silenced the alarm on his phone as soon as it sounded, very aware of the fact that he had returned from camp to find that he was sharing his living space with another male. Rolling out of the bed, he slipped into the bathroom to have a shower and quickly changed into his team uniform - which felt wonderful to be back in after his time away - and then made his way to the gymnasium.

Leaving his bag on the bench, and kicking his shoes off, he headed over to warm up - as he hadn't bothered putting his tracksuit on that morning and had left it folded in his bag - he began to stretch out every muscle group so that there would be an unlikely chance of him pulling anything - not that he'd feel it anyway.

He looked up as Coach came out and barked out their assigned areas and he bounced to his feet as he circled his shoulders and jogged over to the pommel horse. He'd studied under a number of coaches during his time at camp, and he'd been given the chance to catch up with old team mates and rivals, both he'd been happy to see again. Chalking up his hands, he walked up to the horse, gripped the handles and prepared to start his routine.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity didn't need an alarm clock to wake her up for gymnastics, she had a cat for that. She lifted Luna off her chest - only to stop the feline from batting her in the nose - and filled up her bowl with kibbles before she slipped silently into the bathroom, always aware that she had a roomie that didn't need to be woken up before the sun.

Once she had showered and dressed for gymnastics, she made her way over to the gymnasium and into the studio, not at all surprised to see that she was one of the last to arrive. She quickly kicked her shoes off, left them with her bag and headed over to where the others were warming up. "Hey!" She greeted as she dropped into the splits and began her warm-up.

She glanced up as Coach came out and began barking out their assigned placed and she forced back a groan as she got to her feet and jogged over to the vault. She wasn't too surprised though as, unlike the others who had either been here or at camp, she had gone home, so she wasn't surprised that Coach was punishing her.

With a bright smile, she began to chalk up her hands and feet before she stood that the end of the runway, raised her arm in a salute and began her run-up.

[Stefan Eder]

Kai groaned as he heard the alarm clock blaring at him. Shouldn't he be used to the early mornings by now, after gym camp and everything? But no, mornings were still hard. Stifling a yawn, he threw a hand out and managed to catch the snooze button, shutting up the machine at least briefly. He used that blessed silence to find the alarm-off button and then rose, careful not to disturb the grey shadow at the very head of his bed.

The dim nightlight he always left on served as enough illumination for him to grab his uniform and then reach the bathroom to wash up before practice. Once he'd slipped into the uniform, he stretched his arms above his head again, checking the fit (it might have gotten a tad short over the summer), before grumbling to himself that it would do.

After leaving his room, Kai slipped out of the Green Ribbon House, a shadow ahead of him probably Serenity. Deciding not to bother the girl, Kai simply followed her to the gymnasium and then slipped silently through the door behind her. With a brief nod at all of the other gymnasts, Kai set down to his stretches, very much glad that his body had healed from his tumble on the trails the previous year. He didn't know how much longer he could have kept the coach from completely throwing him out... At least to his thoughts. He just wasn't as good as pushing through pain as some of these gymnasts.

As he heard the coach start shouting, such an abrupt wake-up, Kai looked up, listening until he heard his name. Last, again. He could probably zone out for a minute or two every time the coach started barking, honestly. However, without comment, he bounced to his feet and walked over to the parallel bars, windmilling his arms as he walked (careful not to hit anyone else). Of course the coach would have assigned him to his weakness, but that wasn't surprising. At least he'd gotten quite a chance to practice on it. Perhaps following Finn to gym camp hadn't been a bad idea. Hopefully it wasn't just 'useless skill', as Coach so lovingly put it.

After chalking up his hands, Kai went through the compulsory routine that he would be showing if he ever did. He by no means was elite, but at least that saved him the trouble of having to figure out what he needed to do! After his greeting and bouncing up onto the bars (honestly, perhaps he was just too tall), Kai focused on his swings below the bars, then regripped and pushed himself up into an L-sit. This part had given him trouble, but hours of holding the position, and just going to and from it, had simplified and added fluidity to the motion. After holding the position, Kai switched to the swings above the bar, pushing himself to meet the minimum angles and then holding the handstand for the bonus three seconds before he pushed himself off to the side for his dismount, landing it and then raising his hands in salute.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

As the music started, Cara gracefully lifted her arms up - like a swan stretching her wings - and then flicked her legs up so that she went into a back neck roll and found her feet. Without wasting anymore time, she went into her first power-tumble pass across the diagonal, doing a double piked Arabian with half turn. She only just caught herself from losing her balance for she went straight into another power-pass, finishing this one with a slato backward with a triple twist. She bit down on her lip as she stepped out of bounds, she shoulders reaching her ears as Coach yelled out toward her.

She didn't have time to think about it though as the music demanded that she keep moving and so she did as she began to moved around the mat with a mixture of ballet, turns, tumbles and leaps, making sure that she used every inch of the mat during the ninety seconds of her performance, demonstrating the grace and beauty of her movements as well as the power behind her tumbling.

One last pass across the diagonal, she went from a double salto backward straight with double twist into a dive roll, so that the music ended with her lying on her stomach; right leg bent at the knee with her elbows on the mat and her chin on her hands. She closed her eyes as she blew out a breath and rolled onto her side, eyes closing while she regained her equilibrium and then rose to her feet, internally going through the routine and knowing everything that had gone wrong with it, even while their coach was laying into her about it. "Yes, Coach!" She said, accepting his criticism which told her that she had pretty much just blown any chance of that being a slightly acceptable routine.

her routine starts at 45 and ends at 2.15

[Elizabeth Toman]

Bouncing on the spot, Libby skipped toward the springboard that was waiting under the highbar and mounted with a Jump to Hecht with a Hop Grip Change, then to a Cast, which was quickly followed by a forward giant in reverse grip with full turn on one arm (Healy), Straddle Jaeger with half turn, then a Straddle Jaeger.

She went back to a Cast and went into a Higgins Roll, forward giant in L-grip with full turn on one arm (Ono), Healy, a forward inverted giant, full turn to inverted grip (Ling) and then a swing forward with half turn, further half turn to counter straddle (Shushunova).

Cast to Blind Change, to Ono, to swing backwards with half turn and straddle flight over high bar (Markelov), and a Gienger, Cast, Clear Hip Circle. Toe-On Circle, Overshoot to Handstand, pike Stalder release with counter movement to high bar

Cast, Piked Stalder with half turn, Stalder forward to handstand (Endo) in L Grip, Ono, Healy, swing forward with counter salto forward straddled, to underswing with support of feet, counter salto forward straddled.

Cast, 2 backward giants, and then dismounted with a double salto backwards tucked with double twist. Her arms were tucked against she sides as her knees bent to the point she was almost sitting on the ground when her feet touched the ground, she then pushed her arms up, using this momentum to carry the rest of her with it until she was standing straight. "Yes, Coach!" She sang as the man gave her a run down on what could have been better, though she didn't care, she had stuck her landing and that was the hardest part of any routine, and she had nailed it!

[Fionn Paquet]

With the pommel horse being what it was, Finn had the amount of time it took his to boost himself up to work out a routine. Rather than trying anything flashy, he decided to keep thing simple and decided to just do a compulsory routine.

Cutting his left leg forward to a single leg pendular travel, he shifted all his weight onto one arm at a time as he brought his leg all the way over the horse until he returned to his starting position. He then went to complete two false scissors on each leg, shifting his grip on the handles, wishing he'd remembered his grips. Next he swung his left leg forward to feint position to do a half circle with quarter turn. To finish the routine off he added two full circles with flairs before doing a flank dismount. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He muttered as Coach decided h just had to add in his two cents as to what he thought about the routine. Ok, Finn knew that he could have done better, he could have circled his way from one end of the horse to the other, but he just couldn't work out the why. It wasn't like they were performing for a judge!

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity had started her run with her eyes on the ground as her feet pounded down the runway, and then she looked up and almost fell flat on her face when she saw Coach Hoefflin standing there beside the vault! Quickly regaining her balance, she pulled herself together and continued toward the vault.

Her original idea had been to start with something easy, but with Coach now standing there, she wanted to prove to him that she hadn't spent the summer slacking off - since she hadn't been at camp like the others - and right when it was time to begin her Yurchenko, she decided at the last moment to change it into a Yurchenko with full twist in pre-flight and after her round off onto the spring board, she did a full twist onto the horse and pushed off into a pike back salto. She thought it was going so great, until her feet landed on the mat with her facing the vault and she had too much momentum to stick the landing and she ended up on her butt. Scrambling to her feet, she raced past Coach with a squeaked "sorry", and headed back to the end of the runway.

Chalking up again, she prepared for her second vault, knowing that she needed to make a clean vault this time or she was bound to get ripped apart by the man who was spotting her. Raising her arm in a salute, she pounded her way down the lane again. She continued with the Yurchenko idea though this time she did a Cheng (round-off, half-twist onto the horse, front straight salto with one and a half twist).

Although she had to bounce on her landing, it was minor, her feet remained together and best of all she remained on her feet. She pressed her lips together as she lowered her arms and waited for what Coach had to say.

[Gavriila Shahar]

Gavriila woke up early, spending extra time making sure her hair would stay perfect and that her make-up, though minimal, was perfect as well. Her hair was in a four strand braid and then rolled into a sort of twist bun secured with a hair elastic, tons of bobby pins, and hairspray. Grabbing her gymnastics bag, she left the dorm room and headed to where the rest of the gymnastics team would be. 

Entering the gymnasium, she began to stretch out her muscles and body, warming up before practice actually started. Her bag was on a bench, out of the way. She gave a crisp nod to the coach as he said that she would be on uneven bars. The last part about camp didn't apply to Gavriila as she had stayed at Blue Ridge all summer. 

Heading over to the uneven bars after Coach Hoefflin finished speaking, she nodded to the other girl...Toman she recalled but didn't say anything. This was practice, not get-to-know-someone time.

Gavriila chalked her hands up, before mounting the spring board. She started out with a clear hip circle from flight with half turn before going into a straddled Deltchev. Once the Deltchev was out of the way, swing backwards with half turn and straddle flight over high bar (Markelov/ Khorkina) before doing a Galante. A toe on Marianich was next and then a Li Li. A toe-on to layout reverse hecht over high bar (Nabieva) was after the Li Li before she did a straddle roll backwards to the low bar. Once on the low bar, the Israeli gymnast did a clear hip with flight backwards to high bar (Shaposhnikova) before dismounting with a salty backwards tuck.

Landing on the mat, knees bent, she rose to a straight position her arms up as Coach Hoefflin began to tell her what she did wrong. She knew mostly what went wrong, but she found that he had spotted things that she had missed while running over the routine in her head. Giving a crisp nod, she replied with a "Yes, Coach." accepting his critiques and criticism without fault.