07 Nats..part two.

Yay. No stealing this or I'm suing. Part three....COMING SOON TO A BLOG NEAR YOU.


Nastia tightened her ponytail making her way to the end of the vault runway. Warmups had concluded disastrously, with Nastia barely making it to her feet every vault she performed. But she was notorious for pulling her skills out when it was time to compete, so Valeri was a mixture of nerves and excitement. Nastia was feeling the same. Nastia blew on her tiger paws as she awaited the judges. She heard the crowd. Saw Valeri pacing. Smelled the scent of lingering chalk. Her eyes trailed back to the center of her focus. In the corner of her eyes, she saw the judge's green flag fly up. Nastia saluted, and brought her arms down. She shifted her weight, and rubbed her hands on her thighs. One quick exhale, and she was off. Her ankle throbbed as she sprinted down the runway, but she tried to ignore it, tried to focus on the vault ahead. She executed a roundoff onto the mat, hit the springboard with force, and arched back onto the table. She blocked off, and twisted in the air, legs slightly crossed. She landed with a thud, and squatted down onto her ankles. "Ugh." She whispered to herself, bouncing up again, feeling a nagging pain in her ankle. Nastia faced the judges, half heartdedly nodded and walked off the podium. Nastia didn't speak to Valeri, nor did she let him comfort her. She was not pleased with her performance, and knew she'd half to pull out spectacular routines to beat Shawn, and come out with a win. Nastia walked towards her gym bag, Valeri following her. Once she stopped walking so she could dig through her bag for her grips, Valeri patted her back. "The worst event is over. It's okay. You've got 3 of your best coming up." Nastia just sighed, and sunk down in her seat, grips in hand. She watched as her teammates, one by one, started their bid at a national championship title. Nastia loved them with all her heart, (Except for one!), but really wanted it for herself. She wanted to prove that she wasn't to old, she wasn't as inconsistent as they thought she was, and that she still had her strength, talent and passion. She wanted them to do their best, though. Nastia didn't want to in knowing that she was only first because somebody else had messed up. The clock ticked slowly while Nastia awaited the second rotation. Finally, after Alicia had competed vault, it was time to move to the next event. Bars. Nastia's best and personal favorite. She had regained some confidence after her vault, seeing as some girls only went for Yurchenko fulls. Nastia had an extra half twist...with an injury, so she was fairly proud of herself. But she still knew that it wasn't her best, and she needed to step up her game. She would shine on bars. Steal the show. Whatever needed to happen for her to get the lead. She was way behind in the standings, but she knew she would regain some spots with her huge start value on bars. The squad reported to the judges, read to begin their touch warmups. Nastia was second in line for warmups and third for competition. After the new senior in front of her dismounted, Nastia kipped up. During the break in between rotations, she had iced her ankle, and them taped it up extremely tight, so she wouldn't have to be in too much pain until that night, so her toeshoot up to the highbar wasn't as painful as the timed warmups. She executed a perfect ono and a half straight to laid out geinger, hit her pak salto dead on, and was ready for her dismount, a double front. She had gone through such a growth spurt that she couldn't do her double layout anymore, or basically any skill that involved a roundoff, backhandspring, as it was so difficult to get herself catapulted into the air. Nastia turned into a blind change, and let go at the height of the bar, flipping in a tucked position. She landed, and fell straight onto her bottom. "Do it again, next turn. And only the dismount." Valeri said, focusing on Christa who was in the middle of a jeager. Nastia nodded silently, adjusting her grips. She chalked up and got back in line, waiting her turn with her hands on her back. She rolled her ankle, nervously glancing around the arena. When she was finally up there was 15 seconds left on the official warmup clock, so she had to hurry. She didn't even do a toeshoot up to the highbar, she simply climbed up and kipped to handstand. She executed another blind change, and hurled herself into the air. The buzzer for the clock went off as soon as she hit the ground. Valeri shook his head at Nastia, who was on her butt, yet again. "Come on. Pull it out when it's your turn." Nastia nodded again, standing up slowly. She was in shock. She didn't get why everything was turning out this way. Training had been going great, there were no major flaws to speak of, but yet when it counted most, Nastia was making mistake after mistake, which frustrated her. She walked around as the other girls competed on bars. Nastia paced, fiddling with her grips, trying to calm her nerves, and her pain. Before she knew it, it was her turn. The judges saluted her quickly, and Nastia wasted no time getting on the bars, except to blow on her hands. Everything went smoothly, and Nastia couldn't help but crack a smile after she kipped up from a perfect pak salto. Then she remembered the dismount, and stopped, focusing on what she needed to do. "Release above the high bar, don't open up too late or too early, make sure to stay tucked." Nastia told herself in her mind, preparing herself for the skill she had so much trouble with. For the third time in a 20 minute period, Nastia flipped into a blind change. She released well above the bar, and opened up at the perfect time. But what sealed her fate was having her chest down. She rolled forward, onto to her back. She sat there for a moment, contemplating what had happened. Valeri was standing there, ready for her to get up. Nastia quickly stood up, turning to the judges. She walked off with Valeri in tow, biting her lip. "I can't believe it." Nastia said to no one in particular. "Me either." Valeri replied, glancing at Nastia, then adverting his stare. Nastia blew out a sigh exasperatedly. This was not going as planned. The rest of the rotation flew by, and Nastia was ready for beam. Her ankle said otherwise. "Shut up." She mumbled to it as she was lined up with the flight for touch warmups. Beam warmups were okay, Nastia only had difficulty making the triple twist dismount all the way around. "Want to throw a two point five?" Valeri asked, looking worried. "No." Nastia snapped. "I want to go all out." "Mmmkay." Valeri agreed, then continued to give Christa a correction on her flight series. Nastia closed her eyes and breathed in and out. Warmups finished, and Nastia had been placed first in the lineup. She walked around the podium, chalking her hands and feet, preparing herself. Nastia turned around from the spot of chalk on the mat, to face the judges. She saluted and turned around once more, to place her hands over the beam. Nastia pressed to handstand. She could feel everyone watching her, expecting her to make a mistake. She continued and danced through her routine. Coming up to her leap series, there had been no major mistakes except for a bobble on her flight series, a front aerial to backhandspring layout stepout to a whip back. Nastia leaned forward going into the dismount, and blocked off of the end off the beam, flying into a triple. She landed and pushed forward, almost hitting her head on the beam. Another mistake. Just when she thought things were turning around. Nastia spun around and saluted to the judges, then made her way off the podium. Valeri and Nastia walked by the NBC commentator's booth, and Nastia couldn't help but overhear. "There she goes." Elfi said in a hushed tone. "Right you are, Elfi." Tim continued. "She's just faltering on every event." "Maybe she should just give this up..she is not in competitive form right now." Al finished, before Nastia hurried away, fighting back tears. "Come on, Nastia." Valeri said softly. "It's okay." Nastia started to breathe hard, trying the control her emotions. "Good girl." Valeri whispered, stroking her back. The warmup timer let all the gymnasts know to take the podium for the final warmup of the evening. Nastia ran into her first pass, and fell onto her back. She waited in the corner, fidgeting with her ponytail, and rubbing her head. Nastia's warmups concluded with a finally hit double front. She made her way off the podium, nervosuly awaiting her turn. She fidgeted in her seat, stood up and paced, trying to loosen up her ankle. Her turn finally came, and she nervously climbed the stairs that lead to the floor. She swiped her hands through the chalk, and glanced over at the judges. Nastia closed her eyes and blew out a long breath, trying to focus. She opened her eyes to a short female judge with her hand raised. Nastia saluted and walked out onto the floor. She struck her starting pose, and waited for the music. Before she knew it, Nastia was in the corner, ready for her first tumbling pass. She ran fast, and flew into the air, but came down, and had to scramble to get back up. She went through the rest of a routine with a scowl on her face. "I should have been able to save it." Nastia thought to herself, obviously not happy. "I guess I'll just have to do better tomorrow." Nastia said to herself after finishing the routine. She limped off the podium, grabbed her backpack and trudged out of the arena with a huff, Valeri following her. "I suck at this. I can't do it." Valeri closed his eyes and sighed. "I..I just can't." Nastia finished. Valeri opened his eyes, and placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from walking any further. "I now you can. Come on, babygirl, you can." Nastia shook her head and walked off into the the dark parking lot, in search for the SUV.