My Memoir

Last March, our gymnastics team and I went to Florida for a gym meet. It was so beautiful there. We would play all day in the warm sun, switching off between the pool, hot tub and the ocean. The ocean was my favorite. I could have stayed there all day, with the warm sand below me and the seagulls, of all sizes, soaring above me. Laying under the sweltering Florida sun and hearing the rushing waves crash back and forth against the shore was the most relaxing thing in the world. The waves were the most fun when we were playing in them; diving way down to the under sea life, but coming back up quickly before the next colossal wave smacked us back down, bringing with them a load of salt. One minute you would be standing up, jumping over the waves, and the next you would be under, with heaps of salt in your eyes, mouth, and all of your open wounds.
One day we even tried to play football in the pool the day before the meet, but that didn’t work out the best, especially when you threw the ball to someone who was in the ten -foot deep end. The gymnastics meet was the thing all of us were dreading.
When that day came, all the gymnasts were freaking out- especially me. I didn’t leave the hotel room the whole morning until Mom dragged me out to go to the meet.
“Katelyn, you’ve competed a million times, why are you so panicked?” My mom kept saying, trying to calm me down, but she just didn’t understand. We hadn’t done any gymnastics in about a week, so I felt I would be sore and clumsy at the meet. Also, who would want to go to a sweaty gym meet if you could stay back and play in the waves of the ocean?
To top it all off, I still wasn’t feeling well. When we got to Florida, I had a bad cough. How can you compete when you got tired after you took one turn, and you were coughing the whole time? My mom tried to get me to take some Nyquil to make me feel better, but I was really scared to take them. They were huge! They barely made it down my throat when I tried to swallow them! Mom made me take some anyway, but they didn’t help at all. I had almost choked on the humongous pills for nothing! I was as nervous as a kindergartener on the first day of school.
When we got to the meet, I was so scared I was shaking. All I wanted to do was go back to the hotel, lay on the bed and relax, but instead I had to compete.
Our first event was vault, my favorite event. I was glad we got to start on it, but I still wasn’t too happy about being there at all. When we found out the vaulting order, things got even worse. I was last! I hated being last, because you had to watch everyone else compete, and every time someone falls, you think “Is that what I’m going to do?” which added to the stress. But, vault turned out great! I got a 9.1, the best out of my team.
I started to relax a little bit, but next was bars, and I had no liking or talent for it at all. My bars score ended up being a 7.3, which isn’t very good to most, but to me it was okay. My nerves started to disappear, we were halfway done with the meet! But they weren’t gone completely, because beam was next, the event I always got the most nervous on. I shouldn’t have worried as much, because the beam score turned out to be the highest score I earned all season! I got an 8.9- the best by far out of my teammates. They were all really nervous and shaky, and all of them fell off, except for me. I was anxious when I competed, but for some reason, I wasn’t shaky. I was so glad!
The last and final event was floor, and from being sick, I was so tired that I wanted to lay down and take a nap right in the middle of it! But, I wanted to do really good on floor, because if I got a good score, my all- around score would qualify me for the state competition! Everyone on my team already made it except for me, so I wanted it really bad! My floor routine was pretty good, and I was proud that I made it through without passing out. My score was 8.65. I made it to state! Relief washed over me like a huge wave, relaxing all my muscles. You had to get a 33 all- around score to qualify, and I had gotten a 33.1. Talk about close!
In awards, our team didn’t place, but I earned third place on vault and sixth place in all around, winning a shimmering medal and a sparkling blue trophy. Even though I didn’t wanted to come in the beginning, I was so glad I competed, and could participate in the state competition with my friends.