Pre-flight

I remember that first meet well. I stood with my arms crossed, wearing the white cheerleading sneakers that I'd put baking soda in the night before so they wouldn't smell. My hair fell messily over my shoulders. If I left it down, I figured, I wouldn't be confused for one of the gymnasts. I am neither tall nor look anywhere near my age. Maybe I'd even, I don't know, look official or something.

The gym I'd trained at for the majority of my career was there. My old coach and I hugged it out and she complimented me on how cute my gymnasts looked. I then proceeded to screw up the order of the beam warm-up for the girls. Good job, rookie coach!

What was going to happen today?

I'd like to believe that I'm a healthy mix of realist and optimist. Thus I hoped for the best. Clean vaults would mean mid-to-high 8.0's (say, 8.5, 8.7...) for the stronger vaulters and perhaps 7.0's for the weaker vaulters (re: those who could barely make it over the table). Beam: 8.0's, perhaps a 9.0 for Brittany with her dancer's poise. Floor: the same. Bars, well...I cringed inside. Who knew what would happen on bars?

Well, they all fell off beam besides Maya, our Level 6, who managed to forget her full turn and thus lost points for leaving it out. Kathryn went so far as to fall onto the beam post-cartwheel, splitting the beam and bouncing off in epic fashion. Tears ensued. But she finished the routine, wiping at her eyes with her elbow as she kicked into her dismount. Jamie, the youngest of the Level 5's at age 9 and quite possibly the most talented, forgot her floor routine at one point--the embarrassed grin and wide, alarmed eyes said it all. Tia, the shortest Level 5 at 4'4", swallowed a 5.0 on vault. Maya pulled out a 9.0. And bars, well, I think perhaps Natalie broke a 6.0. The rest occupied the 4.0-5.0 range. Nat also managed to win beam, even with a fall.

"I think they did pretty good!" my boss texted me after.

A generous assessment. Very generous.

We needed a plan.