The FUNdamentals

[Antione Hoefflin]

Ant was more than a little sad that he'd watched not one but two of his elites graduate at the start of the summer, and he knew that he had been lucky to have had Cara remain here and continue competing for the Academy throughout the summer; as, by all rights, the girl could have competed as an individual athlete.

This year's team wasn't a lot to write home about, not that he exactly shared his job with his family, but he had Iris and a new elite joining them, and Karin had been working hard with Kitchi over the summer so they might be able to get somewhere, just probably not where he was used to being.

"Don't worry about warming up." He said as the girls entered. "Walking around the line on the floor mat please, arms out to the side, point your toes as you walk." He figured that the best way of watching them work together was to have them warm up together, and with only three of them, there shouldn't be any issues with space.

He walked over and turned the stereo on, grimacing slightly as Uptown Funk began to play, not exactly his kind of music, but the beat was good to warm up to.

Bridgette Iris Beaumont
Karina Fuchs
Nicole Victors

[Karina Fuchs]

Karina had gotten dressed that morning, pushing down the nerves that showed up. It was the first practice without Cara, who had been her teacher and, almost, friend, helping her understand the basics and giving her the confidence to try the harder movements.

But nothing would change what was. So after she had pulled her hair back, she stepped into her shoes and made her way to the gymnasium. She dropped her bag and shoes at the wall, and then greeted Coach Hoefflin before she stepped onto the mat, listening to the instructions and following them, making sure to keep her back straight and her head up as well.

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki bounced out of bed as soon as her alarm sounded. It didn't take her long to find an outfit suitable to wear to practice, ignoring the voice in the back of her head that said she probably should have gone and made herself known to the coach before today, but she also didn't the the point unless she would actually be working out.

Heading down to the gymnastics studio, she walked in as though she had been there for years already, rather than it being her first day. After all, she wasn't new to the sport, so the coach should at least know who she was.

After toeing off her shoes and balling her socks up, she headed over to begin warm up, though the coach's voice stopped her. "And here I was thinking I would be training elite level, not going back to baby gymnastics." She muttered as she took up her place on the line and began to march along it, kicking her feet out and pointing her toes as she went, her eyes narrowing at the brunette ahead of her, wondering if the blame for what they were doing could be placed on her shoulders.

[Antione Hoefflin]

"If you don't like it, you could always leave!" Ant said as he watched the gymnasts. "Pick up the pace now, and I want you to follow the lines on the mat so that you are just about running serpentines. Running on the flat of you feet now, you aren't ballerinas!" He kept his eyes on the new girl as he grabbed a booster block in each hand. "Any more complaints Victors, and you can run with ankle weights." He placed the block on the ground, slightly angled, in a row that the girls had already run.

"Jump up onto the first block, arms above your head, then just off and bounce to the next block, where you repeat the cycle, and then go back to running around the outside of the mat." There was a chance that he was now being mean, but he wanted they year to start how he meant to continue it, and that was by working hard.

[Karina Fuchs]

Karina stayed quiet as the other girl - New teammate? - started complaining, focusing instead on her own actions. She wasn't good enough at this yet to mouth off, and from what she'd heard of the girl behind her so far, she would need to minimize mistakes as much as possible, or worry about facing the girl's ire.

As the coach changed their instructions, Kari nodded and increased her pace, focusing mainly on the lines, although she was watching the activity taking place in the studio. The next set of instructions weren't a huge surprise as a result, and when she reached the blocks, she brought her arms above her head and jumped up, legs together, repeating it until she was past the obstacles. Then her arms went back out to her sides, and she started running again.

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki gave the coach a saccharine smile before turning to face the front again and picked up her pace at the command. At least she had to give it to the girl in front of her, she set a good pace to follow and Nikki didn't have to worry about running over her because she was too slow.

After zigg-zagging across the mat, her smile became more natural as they were given the next instructions, and running on the spot to give the other girl time to get three-quarters of the way through the blocks, she stretched her arms above her head, making sure that she was as straight as possible and jumped up onto the first block and continued with the rest before she dropped her arms again, and circled her shoulders as she resumed running. While this was fun, she hoped that not ever session started like this, as she had her own warm-up routine that worked for her.

[Antione Hoefflin]

Ant chose to ignore the barbs from his newest gymnast, she was going to get a charm to work with over the next few years, he just hoped that her competition scores would remain the level they currently were. He could already tell that she was going to be a lot like a few Elites he'd worked with over the years, completely full of herself and following her own rules.

Just because he could, he let them run another half a dozen laps. "Right, time to get to the real reason you're here!" He said. "Fuchs, I understand that you have been working through a beam routine with Kitchi over the summer? I'd like you to work through that on the low beam today." He knew that she had been working had on the floor beam, but now was time to push her a little out of her comfort zone. The coach then turned his attention to the blonde. "Victors, I'd like to see a routine on the beam from you too." He gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Give me something to be impressed about."

[Karina Fuchs]

Karina could feel herself loosening up as she completed the running exercise, but she was definitely glad when the coach let them stop! She halted and listened to the instructions, nodding and walking over to the low beam that she'd been sent to. It was only a little higher than the line on the floor, but still - If she missed the line, she'd actually fall off.

Without complaint, she walked over, however, and ran through the routine that she'd worked on with Cara in her head. She walked over to the beam, and almost forgot about the first step Cara had taught her. Luckily, she remembered just before jumping up to the beam, and turned to raise her hands in the air, imitating the salute that Cara had shown her.

The first bit went well enough, although she did find herself looking down at the beam more often, trying to make sure she didn't step too far off from the center. The jump was nervewracking, but she managed to land squarely, and then it was smooth sailing until the end - She came down from her handstand a little awkwardly, and fell over. She hurried to get to her feet and saluted anyway, smiling as if nothing had gone wrong - Yes, she'd learned at least something from Cara.

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki gave the man her brightest smile at his request. She would have preferred bars or floor, but she would dazzle him with a beam routine. She gave the other girl... Fuchs, a pitying look, not really bothering to give the girl's baby-gym attempt and attention.

Walking over to the proper beam, she circled her shoulders, placed her fingers, just so, on the beam and waited until she had the undivided attention of the coach before she started: The mount was simple enough, jump, press to handstand, lower to clear pike support - something even level one girl could do. She moved into a tuckstand and did a triple turn before straightneing up and added some dance moves in for a little flair. Her next move was a tucked Arabian back handspring. Then two back handspring, a layout full and then a Korbut to finish that off. Front aerial, Grigoras, back pike and straddle full. She jumped into the air and did a double turn in splits. She was bored of the practiced routine now, but she had to finish it or the coach wasn't going to take her seriously. Switch Ring leap, layout step-out, tucked full, back tuck, sheep jump. Sissone and a split jump. Swinging her arms into the air for momentum, she went into a back handspring, followed by another and without even pausing for breath, or to check where she was, because she knew her apparatus, dismounted with a double Arabian. She puffed her chest out as she stuck the landing, with a tiny bounce, arms in the air. "I could show you my bar routine if you really want to be impressed." She all but purred.