A Hard Earned Second Place

After my high school gymnastics coach finally welcomed me on to her team with open arms, I began to focus on gymnastics more than ever.  I let go of any social life I had (which wasn’t much) and buckled down on the sport.  However because I was still injured, I was only able to do one event, which were the uneven bars.  This event includes swinging around 2 bars, which really only includes the use of your arms and because I broke my foot, I was able to do certain skills on bars.  One of these skills is called a giant.  In this skill, the gymnast starts in a complete handstand upside down on the bar and completes a full rotation around the bar with straight arms.  This skill is very difficult to get and a high level skill, but was exceptionally easy for me.  I would go into practice a few times a week with my cast on my foot and do as many giants as I could. I’ll admit, it probably wasn’t the safest thing I’ve ever done however it ended up helping a lot, and really improving my giants. After four long months of physical therapy and rehabilitation of my ankle, I was able to start easing my way back into gymnastics. However, since it was still weak, I was still only allowed to do bars, but now I was able to dismount which meant I could actually compete bars for my team instead of doing just giants. 

         Words can’t explain how excited I was to finally be able to compete for my high school gymnastics team.  I worked so hard every single day, most practices I would be on bars for over an hour trying to perfect my routine.  Unfortunately, we were nearing the end of our high school season, so there weren’t many meets left for me to compete in.  Luckily, I was able to compete in the NEC/CAL meet.  This is where all the teams from the Northeastern Conference and the Cape Ann League compete, and they actually give out individual awards.  Usually, high school gymnastics is solely a team sport, and the gymnast’s scores are added together for a team score.  I was so nervous to compete because not only was it my first time competing for the high school team, it was my first time really doing gymnastics since I broke my ankle.  At NEC’s, only one gymnast competes at a time, so all eyes were on me.  The judge saluted me and it was all on me.  My coach Mike would always put his hands on my shoulders before I compete and say, “it’s just you and me” in order for me to stay focused.  It worked every time.  I had done one of the best bar routines in my life! I was so excited!  I received a 9.2 out of 10 and earned second place!  I knew how proud Mike was and that made it even better.  To this day, I watch the video of that routine all the time because I would do anything to relive that moment.