Chapter 1 At The College
It’s a nice spring day. The day is so nice that many of the students at the college sit on the lawn of the campus. Some of them sit and talk with their friends. Some of them sit and study. Others just lay back enjoying the spring sunshine. In the back, the track team assembles for their first meet. Some distance away, the janitors work on the lawn to establish a higher level of beauty and appeal to the landscape. Inside the gymnasium, the next main exhibition for the college practices to try and bring it to a higher level of esteem. It’s the women’s gymnastics team instructed by coach Ambrose. They’re hard at work trying to improve their skills for next week’s tournament. The coach who is a woman of average height is nicely built. She’s wearing a sweatsuit, white socks, sneakers and has a whistle around her neck. She walks around the gymnasium observing other members of the team as Natasha and one of her close friends Maleena awaits their turn to use the uneven parallel bars. Maleena notices the coach as she looks over at them, and then starts walking towards them. She turns and looks at Natasha. She’s playing with another close friend named Mira. Quickly, she taps her on the arm frantically whispering,
“Natasha! Natasha! Natasha!”
Natasha who is a woman about five-six is somewhat medium built. She has long black curly hair that extends to about the middle of her back. She has a pleasant voice that makes you feel somewhat settled and yet confident. Like the rest of her teammate, she’s wearing the team’s leotard to help condition her in the arts of sportsmanship and showmanship. Like her other teammates who has long hair, she has a rubber band embracing it so that it won’t interfere with her vision while training.
Jokingly, she turns and looks at Maleena responding,
“Yeah, what up?”
Still, whispering, she replies,
“Coach Ambrose is coming over here.”
Natasha looks at the coach. She notices an expression of discontent as she walks towards them. Maleena who is a woman about five seven is somewhat slim and has long deep brown hair. Like Natasha, her hair is curly and extends to about the middle of her back.
Again, she looks at the coach. This time, she notices the serious expression on her face.
“Au oh—!”
She responds in a troublesome tone of voice as she turns away. Again, she taps Natasha on the arm. As she turns and looks at her, she says,
“I hope you’re a lot better on the parallels then you were last week, because if you’re not, she’s— trouble.”
Maleena and Mira looks on as Natasha turns inspiringly yelling,
“How you doing coach?”
“Not too good I’m sorry to say.”
She replies angered as she approaches them.
“Au oh—!”
Mira responds in a troublesome tone of voice. Mira who is about five-five has a medium built. She has black hair that’s straight and extends to her shoulders. She has somewhat of a high pitch voice that at times appears to be loud, or sometimes when she’s being humorous could shock you with humor and curiosity.
She looks at the coach as she looks at them discontented. To avoid her hard and troublesome stare, she turns in the opposite direction. The coach continues to stare at them repugnantly. She then speaks in a firm tone of voice,
“Now you ladies know that I don’t approve of any joking around during practice! Especially at a time as crucial as this!”
Just then, the coach’s watch buzzes. Looking at it, she realizes the time and blows her whistle. Natasha, Maleena and Mira breaths in and out heavily in relief as the coach turns and addresses the team.
“Let me have your attention please!”
She says in a firm tone of voice. Everybody quiets down. All activities cease. She continues to speak,
“You ladies know that next week we are in a tournament! That’s why I’ve been training all of you so hard this month! A lot of you still need practice! So, practice will be held again tomorrow at four o’clock!”
Remarks and reactions of resentment heavily fill the gymnasium. The coach blows her whistle a few times. Everybody calms down. She speaks decisively,
“No negative attitudes!”
She looks around the gymnasium with a firm look. All of them become silent. She continues to speak,
“Now! If y’all want a chance at getting into the finals, it’s going to require practice, total participation and a great amount of motivation!”
She pauses for a few seconds. Again, she looks around the gymnasium with a serious expression. She then inspiringly yells,
“Team dismissed! All of you shower up and have a recuperating evening!”
Everybody heads towards the locker-room. The coach remembering her encounter with Natasha quickly yells,
“Just a minute!”
Everybody stops, turns and looks at her. She looks at her clipboard. Humorously, playing it up, she moves her head back a little in astonishment. Curiously, she then responds,
“Hm—. Natasha Anita Simms?”
Surprised, Natasha looks at the coach baffled. Skeptically, she replies,
“A—, yes coach.”
The coach again looks at her clipboard for a few seconds. She then replies,
“You’ve been having trouble on the parallels, right?”
Natasha thinks for a few seconds. She then breaths in and out in relief. Acting comical and witty, she replies,
“Yes, coach Ambrose!”
The team laughs. The coach looks at her surprisingly. She responds with some resentment after observing the reactions of her taunting,
“Have you improved on your skills?”
Again, she responds comically and witty.
“Yes, coach Ambrose!”
Her response causes the team to laugh heartier. Angered, the coach replies,
“Well! Since you’re so good that you have the time to joke around, why don’t you come up here and show the team how much you’ve improved?”
“Yes, coach Ambrose!”
She again replies acting comical and witty. Again, her response causes the team to laugh. She walks over to the parallel bars.
Turning around she looks at the coach and team boldly, and with a lot more confidence than they could have ever anticipated. As she gazes upon Maleena and Mira, they look at her dumbfounded. She gives them a smile and then winks. Surprised, they move their head back astounded. They look at each other and then at her dumbfounded as she is smiling and saying to the coach,
“Coach. Do you mind if I do a quick warm up before I do my routine?”
The coach gives her the o.k. by nodding her head up and down a few times and then waving her on. Again, Natasha looks at Maleena and Mira and smiles. Again, astounded, they look at each other. They then look at her dumbfounded. To help inspire her, they quickly look at one another. They then look at her and nod their head up and down encouragingly as they smile back. Natasha goes over to the warm-up uneven parallels. She looks at it for a few seconds. She then goes behind it. Again, she looks at the coach and the team boldly, and with a lot more confidence than they could have ever anticipated. She yells out her warm-up routines before starting.
“Stem Rise!”
She yells jumping up and over gripping the high bar. She maintains the hanging position for a second. She then places one foot with her leg bent over the low bar. She lifts her other leg so that the top of her foot is in contact with the high bar. Very gracefully, in one movement, she whips her extended leg downward and pushes up with the other foot. Pulling her body backward and over the high bar, she stylishly goes into the front support position. The team astounded looks on in amazement. It’s the grace and precision of her moves that highly startles them.
“Natasha?”
Mira responds surprisingly. She looks at Maleena who is also surprised. Deeply inhaling and then exhaling she prepares to go into the next phase of her warm up.
“Knee Swing to Regrasp!”
She yells as she quickly split her legs and hooks her knees over the low bar. She swings beneath it. She then goes into an upswing. Grabbing the high bar, she goes back into the front support position. Again, the grace and precision of her moves astonish them. It causes some of them to encourage her. Overall the responses of encouragement, you could hear some of her teammates clapping and yelling,
“Yeah—! Al—right—! That’s showing them Natasha!”
The coach astonished looked at her teammates surprisingly for their encouragement. She looks at Natasha as she grabbed the low bar with an under grip. Slowly bending her elbows, she slides her body down the low bar. Bending at the hips, she extends her legs down until they reach the mat. She then looks at the coach with a big smile humorously saying,
“And skin the cat dismount!”
The team applauding her for her warm-up routine also laughs about the humor and wit of it. Surprised, the coach thinks about Natasha.
