A Series of Unfortunate Events

As my junior year was coming to a close, it became time to prepare for nationals.  It is always at the end of June, making it the last competition of the season, and giving gymnasts all season to prepare.  That year, it was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Even though I had already been to Wisconsin for nationals 3 years before, I was excited to go back.  After competing in a few nationals competitions, I got all the nerves out and was ready to compete.  Also, that year I had moved up from level 8 to level 9 and was feeling strong and confident. 

         One day at practice, I was warming up my vaults.  (This is the event I broke my ankle on a couple years earlier).  I bounced back quickly from this injury and was doing that skill again.  However one day, it didn’t go so well.  Before you actually flip, you need to do what is called a “timer.”  This consists of the beginning of the vault, followed by no flip and just rolling backwards to break your fall.  This one particular time I got way too much power and flew backwards.  I did my roll, however because I had so much power I was extremely far back on the landing mat.  Behind the landing mat is a padded wall.  Even though it is padded, it is not very squishy, so it still hurts when you hit it.  I unfortunately managed to hit the wall with the back of my head because I rolled too far and too fast.  Fortunately, I did not black out completely, but I do remember everything going blurry for a few seconds.  I was extremely dizzy and felt nauseous, which are both symptoms of a concussion.  I went to the doctors and they told me I was out of gymnastics for at least two weeks, and possibly longer depending on lingering symptoms.   

         Luckily for me this injury happened less than 2 weeks before I was supposed to leave for Wisconsin.  This obviously meant I would not be able to compete.  Once again, I was devastated especially because I only had one more year left of gymnastics.  I tried to look on the bright side as much as I could.  That being that I had one more full season, and another nationals to train for.