Revenge in Connecticut
"Girls, take 5. Except you Alyssa, you owe me 15 pull-ups on bars. After you girls get water, meet me on beam next. “I walk over to the bars, do my pull-ups, and then catch up to Tessa. I finish my water and go stretch on the floor.
I watch my best friend, Tessa, run through her beam routine up to her dismount. My older sister, Avery, came to watch. "Go, Tessa!" The whole elite team screams.
"Alyssa, you're up next." Coach Bethany states. I walk to beam, salute, take a deep breath, and start my routine. I do a press handstand hold, down to middle spilt across the beam. Triple wolf turn, stand up, and my spilt leap pass. Slight wobble, but I'm feeling great.
Backhandspring step out, layout step out, another layout step out, stick!
I complete my dance pass and all I have to do is stick my dismount. I take a deep breath. Skip, round-off back handspring straight onto the beam – double pike! I spot the crash mat and get ready to open.
Something feels weird.
I can feel my calf bone breaking through the skin, and all I can see is black.
************
"Alyssa, you're awake."
I could see a blurry image of Avery. I rub my eyes, and she slowly gets clear. I feel something tightly gripping around my left leg and something that feels like an IV in my arm.
"What happened?” I ask. I cannot remember anything at all except a screams and what I think was a double back pike.
Tessa explains, "You were on beam, and on your way to a perfect routine. As you were going for your dismount, your double back pike was crooked, and you landed off the crash mat."
Avery continues, "Your right foot landed on the crash mat. Your left foot hit the ground. You've got a, well, a compound fracture in your left leg."
"What's a compound fracture?" I wonder out loud.
Avery looks disgusted and Tessa starts again, "It's when your bone breaks through the skin. We all saw a broken chunk of your tibia."
I shake my head and reply, "Both of you worry too much. I couldn't feel much of anything. All I saw was black."
The talking continues. "Alyssa, honey, Avery texted us that you woke up." Avery tells Mom and Dad what they were just about to tell me about a concussion.
"Concussion? What, I've got a concussion too?"
"I've got this, Avery, "Dad says, "If you recover quickly, you'll still be able to make elite nationals."
"Well, let's make sure I do. I'm going to sleep. Goodnight."
"It's 11 am, and you're not allowed to fall asleep according to the doctor."
I hate being hurt. To relieve stress, I usually do some handstands. Except I can't.” How long have I been asleep?"
"Around 30 hours."
************
It feels good to be back in the gym after two weeks. It's almost like I went on vacation. A vacation full of painkillers and doctor visits. I get my airpods, open Spotify, and click on "The Pain Playlist." Here goes nothing, I think to myself. I check the time, and it’s 6 am. "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift comes bursting through my airpods. It’s good to be back in the gym, even though I have this big boot to drag along.
Weeks pass, and it’s time for my last practice before Elite Nationals.
I never thought I would make it here. It's been seven weeks since my injury, and I got my boot off last week. I made a full recovery. Probably all that milk I drank. Tessa has been working hard, not in the gym, but homeschool. SAT's are right after the Elite Nationals. Perfect timing, right? I haven't seen Tessa in over four weeks and haven't seen her in the gym since my injury.
We start practice with running, stretching, and conditioning. I'm lapping the team for the third time now. I think all the conditioning paid off.
We go to floor, and Tessa and I nail our routines. Vault was terrific, and bars went great for me but not so great for Tessa, as she ripped on her right hand.
Lastly, we go to beam, but we never do full routines on beam before a competition. According to Coach Bethany, it messes with our heads. Something about falling on and off? I can't remember. Anyway, Tessa and I talk the whole time and, toward the end, start quizzing each other on SAT Math formulas. Did I mention I love homeschooling with friends?
Coach Bethany calls everyone to floor for a tumbling parade. A tumbling parade is when we bomb music into the gym and take turns doing tumbling.
Tessa and I grab our bags and head out to the car. In 48 hours, we will be in Hartford, Connecticut, getting pumped for what will be the biggest competition in our lives so far.
************
I get up and see it's 4 am. I guess I'm too nervous to sleep. I put my suitcase in the car, followed by my Kavu. My mom makes us a small breakfast, and I go upstairs to my sister's room. I tell her that we're leaving now. Avery wishes me luck, even though she says I won't need it. I get in the car. We go to pick up Tessa and her mom. We've been driving for two hours when Tessa says "Hey, Alyssa. I've got something that might help to wake you up." "What is it?" Tessa opens her phone and turns up the volume. I look outside, and I think the sun is starting to shine. We make it to the top of this huge hill. Tessa's phone starts playing my favorite song. She knows me too well.
"My father told me when I was just a child.
These are the nights that never die,
My father told me."
The sun glares through the front window, and I realize Tessa's filming this whole thing. Classic Tessa.
************
"Competition day - aren't you pumped?" Tessa squeals and runs around the hotel room. She turns on “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift. "Tessa, please." She turns off the music. Tessa says, "Sorry. Wasn't thinking." "Thanks." I say. Tessa reaches for her phone. She's playing “You're Welcome” from Moana. "Girls, time to go." I grab my grip bag, jacket, and Kavu, and head downstairs. I open the doors to the competition arena. Suddenly, I don't feel so great. I run to the bathroom and take a seat on the benches. I had no idea this many people would want to see the competition. I pull myself together and go to the sign in table. My order of events couldn't be any worse. I start with vault, the floor, over to bars, and lastly - beam — my worst nightmare. I find my chair, sit down, and put my tumblers on.
Tumblers are grips that go on your hands to make sure you don't injure your wrist when you hit the vault table.
The National Anthem is played. Before I can even sit down, I see her. Phoebe Vanderbilt. Phoebe and I go quite a ways back. We both trained at Georgia Elite Gymnastics when we were Level 7. Phoebe loved to make fun of Tessa and me, and one day, she just disappeared. Tessa and I got the impression that she was kicked out. Phoebe was one of the annoying popular girls. She would prank us all the time. Today, I'm going to show her how toothpaste and bar chalk is a bad idea (I was trying to get the toothpaste out of my grips for days).
Vault is first. I chalk up and get ready on the runway. I salute and power hurdle into my running. I round-off, hitting dead center on the springboard. I block off the table for my 1 1/2 twisting yurchenko. Stick! The crowd roared! As I wait for my score, I try to find my mom and Tessa. I see them and want to wave, but I'm interrupted. "That was Alyssa Green on vault with a 9.8." Take that Phoebe!
Floor is next. I fly so high in my first tumbling pass, and I almost land out of bounds. I stick all my other tumbling passes and receive a 9.75 on my routine. The highest score, I've ever received on floor. Bars are next. I decide to talk myself through the routine. I salute and get ready to kip on the low bar. Tessa is in front of me in her chair and gives me a double-thumbs up. I can do this, I think to myself. Kip to cast handstand, flip the grip, toe on to the high bar. Kip up, full handstand turn on the top of the bar, pike flyway, split flyway, half twist. Two giants for the dismount. All I can think about is how much I need to stick the landing. Double twisting, double back, stick! I wait for my score. "Alyssa Green receives the highest bar score in the competition so far, a 9.9!"
I high-five Coach Bethany and make my way over to Tessa. We chat for a bit. I guess we're both super nervous about Phoebe. Tessa tells me about the way the bar was sticky for Tessa's kip to flyway and didn't allow her to get enough height over the bar. "It could be completely coincidental, but the same thing happened at level 7 regionals," Tessa explains. I remember now. That was the same year on beam that I was going to stick my dismount, but the mat slid out from underneath me, causing me to face plant. I had better check my crash mat before this final beam routine.
I walk up to the chalk bucket at beam and check for toothpaste. The coast is clear. I walk over to the beam. I get up on the beam and do a standing tuck of the end onto the crash mat and fall flat on my face. I lift the crash mat and see a slick pad underneath it. "Coach Bethany!" I yell. Coach Bethany comes running. "Phoebe sabotaged me. The same thing has happened before," I tell Coach Bethany. She replies, "Let's pull this slick pad out and leave it on the floor here. After the competition is over, I'll go tell the director to check the security cameras. We should find evidence there. Remember Alyssa, fly high and stick the landing." "Thanks, Coach Bethany."
We move the pad away, and I re-chalk up. I salute and start my beam routine.
I do a press handstand hold, down to middle spilt across the beam. Double wolf turn, stand up, and my spilt leap pass.
Backhandspring step out, layout step out, another layout step out, stick! I complete my dance pass; all I have to do is stick my dismount. I take a deep breath. Skip, round-off back handspring straight onto the beam. I complete my first pike, and I can feel myself going crooked. I pull my arms in, getting me back on track. I complete the second double back pike, and stick the landing!
As I make my way back to my seat, I calculate my all-around score in my head. A 9.8 on vault, 9.75 on floor, a 9.9 on bars, and a 9.9 on beam. That would make a 39.35 all-around score! The highest performance I've had in my life! I walk over to vault to see Tessa's double yurchenko. She needs a 9.7 or higher to beat out Phoebe for the all-around silver medal. Tessa soars through the sky, and sticks the landing, scoring a 9.85!
I look over to Tessa, as she receives her silver medal. I hear my name being called. The sound rings in my ears. Our all-around gold medalist, from Georgia Elite Gymnastics, Alyssa Green!
We've done it! Take that Phoebe!