GYMNASTICS : Part 1/6

Shadow took a deep breath as she stood on the line, waiting for the judges signal to allow her to start her run up for the vault. She shifted uncomfortably in her black outfit, a tribal design of a wolf running over the back and the name of her dimension also written there.

The judges nodded once, signaling that she was allowed to run. She raised one arm in salute, before she focused her mind on the wooden horse in front of her. She fixed a small smile on her face as she started her run up with two bounding leaps before an all out sprint. The wooden horse loomed closer and closer, but she didn't let her mind deviate from the task at hand.

She leapt nimbly onto the small spring board and up onto the horse, pushing herself as high as she possibly could on her arms. She felt the freedom of the air and closed her eyes, concentrating on trying to make her triple axle look as perfect as possible before she touched down with a very slight wobble. She raised her arms to signal that the figure was finished and smiled with relief as she stepped off the mat, walking over to where she had left her kit, pulling the tracksuit top around her shoulders to keep her muscles warm.

Bell stood at the end of the runway, her gaze shifting between the horse and the judges. She was dressed in a royal blue leotard with a silver design over on side. One judge signaled for her to begin, and Bell started her run. Knowing that the judges would be watching her every move, Bell had opted to do a round-off instead of a hurdle onto the springboard. Bell touched the springboard, and pushed hersef into the air with every ounce of strength she had. As soon as she was in the air, she started the opening move that quickly led into a Handspring Double Front Half-Out.

Bell touched the mat right where she was planning, with a very slight backward step. She raised her arms to signal she was finished while taking deep breaths. Everone cheered as she walked off the mat and waited for her score...

June watched Shadow and Belldandy's vaults, nervously. She clapped softly at the end and took a deep breath. It was time for her to go. She was dressed in Gryffindor colors: Her suit had a sparkling red background with a long phoenix spreading across the top in gold, its tail spiralling down the rest of the suit. June clasped her hands together and closed her eyes for a moment, envisioning her vault. Start quickly, keep the shoulders tucked in as you twist, push off hard, keep yourself linear, and stick it, she reminded herself. Even though these competitions were almost second nature to her, she couldn't help feeling nervous and pressured to do well. The fact that the vault was one of her weakest apparatuses didn't help her either. "Please stick it," she whispered to herself. Before landing, June would perform a triple layout, and she had rarely stuck it in competition.

June walked to the end of the mat and she looked towards the judges. When they had finished calculating Belldandy's score and gave her the go-ahead, June took a few last deep breathes and looked down at her feet, focusing. She had to concentrate, had to nail this. Straight, straight straight, she repeated to herself. She raised her head and as she raised her arm, smiled widely, trying to keep her nerves from showing. Time to go. Looking down the mat to her destination, June inhaled and tensed as she prepared to push off with her feet.

Clenching the balls of her feet, June pushed and barrelled down the runway, building speed as she sprinted. She was focused on the springboard and horse, the rest of her surroundings a blur. June felt the wind in her face and a low buzzing filled her ears, almost blocking the sounds of cheering out. Right before she reached the springboard, she pushed off with her left foot, bringing it up into . June continued her flip and felt the springboard hard beneath her waiting hands. She pushed herself up as her feet met and soared through the air, leading her thin body to the horse. She was arched backwards, sailing through the air and touched down on the horse for a moment before she continued with her momentum, jumping up as high as she could off into the air. She was in thrilling flight for only a few seconds, but in those seconds she twisted downwards and then back up again, going from perpendicular to parallel to perpendicular to parallel to perpendicular as she descended from her high.

June bent her knees at her landing and her momentum pushed her forward, causing her to take a small step in front of her. She let out a breath and, after making sure she wouldn't slip any farther, pulled her feet together and stood up straight, her arms in the air. As she turned to the sides of the room and the crowd, she grinned once more. So she hadn't stuck the landing. Well, practically everything else had been great. In the end, she had done her best, and that was good enough for her. Lowering her arms, June stepped off the mat, her heart pounding with adrenaline.

Katherine stood at the end of the long red mat, breathing deeply to try and calm her nerves. She had performed this vault countless times flawlessly, but it still scared her. The crowd was so tense, making her feel worse. Would she stick it, or miss it? She didn't know, and that was the whole thrill of it.

Taking another deep breath, Katherine broke into a sprint down the mat. She watched the vault come closer and closer into her view, making her nerves get worse and worse. There was her enemy, the only thing she had to beat besides herself. She ran onto the brown carpeted ramp, spring loaded, and within a second, had flung herself head first onto the vault.

Her hands hit the lether surface hard, giving her a chance to propell herself into the air, flipping once, twice, three times. The first battle had been won, but now was the hardest battle of all. She finished her third rotation, coming out at just the right angle, landing and absorbing the shock in her knees. She stuck the landing. The crowd went wild, and she smiled. She threw her hands in the air in happiness, and in good show. When they quited down, she stepped of the mat, happy. She had beat herself.

Matthew waited at the lin, waiting for the judges signal. His chest heaved from the previous game. Matthew's eyes narrowed at the horse, he concentrated on it, until he was seeing double. Matthew blinked, just in time to see the judge nod at him from the side of the horse. With one last sigh of breath Matthew took off down the short course to the horse.

Running, running, running. The air around him shaped around his face, hgis hair blown back. Matthews arms swung by his side his legs taking biug long leaps towards the horse. Running, running, running. It was further to the jump than he thought it was, but he had a good spead on him so this should be a great jump. Running, running, running.

There. Jumping,jumping, jumping. Matthews feet liftes off the spring borad, his hand grabbed the swade materail on the horse. Matthews legs were in the air now he was high enough ontop of the horse. He let go of he horse and tucked his arms into his sides. He spun. Spinning, spinning, spinng. Once, twice, three times. He landed softly on his feet. Matthew threw his arms into the air and bowed. This was great

Watching wide eyed as the other competitors took their turns up at the vault, Etta suddenly realised her time had come. Her black and yellow leotard was hidden under her badger suit and with a sigh, she stepped out of the suit. Hugging her coach, Etta turned for the mat and smiled at the other competitors.

Etta turned her head to the right and then to the left sharply, a small crack clicked with this movement. Her eyes flickered to the screen behind her, her difficulty rating already flashing, nodding to herself she began to perform her vault in her mind whilst waiting for the stop light to change from red to green. Many a gymnast had been disqualified for such a simple mistakes.

The light turned green and Etta took one deep breath and raised her right arm in the air. She smiled brightly to the stadium and began her run up.

Still smiling, her eyes focused on the table of the vault, her mind calculated where to position her hands, and then she was flying.

Running as fast as she could down the mat, Etta knew she was gaining the momentum key to pull off her routine. Nearing the springboard, some six feet away, Etta performed the round off, keeping her body line as tight and straight as a pencil, Etta's hand connected with the vaulting table and she pushed off with all her strength.

As she pushed herself off the table, Etta twisted her body one quarter through the air as she gracefully performed a double pike flip. Getting her landing right was key, she knew her routine had been performed to the best she could and she dreaded to think of losing 8th of a point for falling over.

Coming out of her final pike, Etta braced herself for the impact of the floor, keeping her knees pulled in tightly together, she connected with the floor, and thankfully without a stumble or a fall. Her body was straight from the landing and Etta grinned at the crowd as she raised her right arm once more and bowed at the entire stadium and judging panel.

Violet watched the others, growing nervous. She knew she wasn’t going to make it, but she didn’t stop herself from thinking it. She took a deep breath, making sure she looked alright. She removed the jacket she had been wearing and closed her eyes. She counted to ten, walking up to the bucket to put chalk on her hands. She started getting more nervous and walked back to the start. She heard everything around her go quiet and she took another deep breath.

She had to do this for her team, no matter how much she wanted to back out, she wouldn’t do it. She swallowed hard and looked a the judges. They nodded for her to run and took off, knowing she couldn’t stop now. She felt her muscles starting to work with her and she jumped on the spring, her hands going out in front of her.

She felt herself going up and she did a turn on the horse, turning herself as she did. She flipped herself in the air and she landed on the ground, trying to stay still. She opened her eyes again, not smiling. She heard the crowd cheering for her, but she just moved back and walked back to her group, feeling shaken up a bit.

Chelle watched nervosly from the sidelines. She was not as confident in this event as the others seemed to be and as her turn approached, she grew more and more worried about doing something silly like falling off of the horse.

Taking a deep breath, Chelle composed herself and mentally went through her moves. She knew that she needed to earn as many points from every part and so must put every effort into her jump.

All too soon her turn was up. She gracefully walked up to her starting position. Taking one more deep breath, she ran gracefully forward, cartwheeled upon one hand on the floor and into a one-handed hand spring from the spring board, pointing her toes in the air as she spun her body in a full circle until she landed with a soft bump on both hands on the vault, her fingers pointing back the way she had just come.

Taking only a few seconds to recompose herself, Chelle pulled up one arm to her side in the air, pushed ff with the other in a hand-spring, flipped a 360degree turn in the air before landing upon the floor and facing back the way she came.

Breathing out and smiling, she held her arm in the air to show her finish and then walked gracefully off the stage, head held high with a smile upon her face

Katie approached the end of the runway. This was her worst event and was greatful to be getting it over with in this first rotation. The wetness on her hands reminded her to at least try and relax. She did her vault over in her head once more before she took a step forward and raised her hand in the air. The judges knew she was ready. The light was the only thing Katie had eyes for. She stared and stared never blinking, waiting for it to switch from red to green. It did.

Instinct took over from all the years of training and before she even thought about it she was barrelling down the runway. She swung her arms as fast as she could, trying to gain the best momentum. The vault was getting closer and closer but she knew she had to wait just one more second.

Now! She launched herself forward into a roundoff backhandspring, hoping with all her might that she did it at just the right time. Otherwise, her hands wouldn't land on the vault in the right position: they did. She pounced up and pushed of the table with all the stregnth she had left. Twist, twist, roll, roll. Was all she could think in her mind. With less than a second before she hit the floor, she was finally able to spot it. She pulled out of her tuck and landed, knees more bent then she would have liked. However, as she straightened up quickly, with hands in the air she couldn't help but smile with ecsatsy. That was her most difficult vault, she had trouble with it during training that same day. But when it mattered most, she landed it well - she even stuck it! With a wave to the crowd, she ran off the floor to go hug her coach.

Max had woken up early so he could get ready and pumped up for the Gymnastics he was in, in the HE Olympics. Once he got dressed, in his tight green and silver jump suit, he headed into onto the platform. He looked over at the judges so once they gave him the ok, he would run and jump. They give him a nod and he starts to run off. As he runs, sweat starts to bead from his forehead but he ignores it. Then once he is by the jumping board, he jumps on it, flying into the air, he pulls his legs to him and once over the top of the horse, he pushes them out. He spins and lands perfectly on the ground.

Rose squealed and bit her lip. The audience was too loud! The noises scared her. She was used to Quidditch crowds, but they where nothing compared to this! Scared stiff, Rose watched as each contestant went by, one after the other. She spotted quite a few wizards and witches she knew, and many she didn't. Remembering what Skie had taught her about breathing so she wouldn't hyperventilate and pass out, Rose drew in a gulp of air, held it for a few seconds, then let it out. She repeated the act until she herd the crowd scream once, almost jumping right threw the roof. She couldn't take it. Her poor little Japanese heart wasn't meant to be in front of so many people.

Rose heard her name called. Closing her eyes and whispering to herself, she stepped on the runway. He face flushed bright red, and she took her deep breaths, in and out. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might explode. The buzzer sounded loudly beside her, and Rose's eye flew open as she darted forward like a spooked horse. She didn't even think about what she was doing before her feet where back on the ground.

Rose had dug her sharp nails into the horse vault, pushing off with incredible force. The air rushed around her face and body as she tucked her legs in and rolled threw it. Once, twice....three times! Gravity had caught up to her and was now pulling Rose back down to Earth. She uncoiled her body, letting it twist around in an elligant manor. Her bright green eyes zoomed in on the mat, and her wolf-like instincts let her one last twist-flip in before her bare feet lightly touched the ground. For what seemed like hours she herd only the beating of her heart, and then the crazy cheering of the crowd. Stunned, and turning red in the face again, Rose bowed before the judges and ran back, rather clumsily, to wait with the others.

The whole world had stilled.

Mel took a deep breath, and took in the preternatural stillness around her. It was always like this, when she was about to perform. About to compete. About to live. The world slowed down until everything just…stopped.

Her lips stretched into a momentary smile: This was what her life was about.

The crowd was a mass of convulsing, cheering, faceless people. Flashes captured the moment, and all the while all Mel could focus on was the intense atmosphere. The excitement. The expectation. What she had to live up to.

Her heart had accelerated in her chest, and she took another breath as the butterflies in her stomach threatened to exit through her oesophagus.

It was time.

Closing her eyes, Mel fell into the well-practiced stance, and without further hesitation, launched herself into action.

Her feet hit the mat, one after the other after the other, the vault coming closer and closer as she closed the distance between. Her hands burned with anticipation - she knew this routine in and out, like the back of her hand.

And then she was there – Mel jumped onto the springboard - her hands hit the vault – she felt the thrilling surge of momentum rocket her into the air – and her mind went calm as she lead her body through the glory of the motions.

Her muscles were taut as she moved through the handspring and turned into the backwards salto. It was a common enough routine, the Cuervo, but Mel felt that the beauty was in the execution, in the precision, and as she moved through the air, kept herself rigid and positioned her body into the layout, she knew that she had done the best she could, and that was all anyone could ask of her.

Her feet touched the ground, sticking it with grace, within the bounds. Mel raised her arms in triumph and complete content: this was her stage, her audience, her moment.

Outfit: clicky!

Shausto struggled to even out her breathing. She wasn’t even up next and she was already hyperventilating. in, out. in, out. She turned away as Rose began her own vault routine. Instead, Shausto concentrated on the wall she was now facing. How had she never noticed just how perfectly aligned the cement blocks were?

She must have been concentrating on staring at the wall rather hard, for she jumped like a madman when her coach tapped her before turning to watch where her coach was pointing. The stadium was too loud to hear the words he was attempting to shout to her. She saw Mel preparing to perform a vault. Why did her coach think watching others would help her before she had to do it herself?
She turned around again and focused on her breathing.

In last minute nervousness, Shausto’s hands flew to her head, running over smooth hair pulled back into a bun that felt as if it were going to wrench out her scalp. The hairspray she had sprayed on just a bit ago held the hair firmly in place and a jumble of unnoticeable pins held each and every stray hair to the side of her head.
This did nothing to dispel Shausto’s nervousness.

She heard the crowd grow quiet, then erupt in sudden cheering, signaling that Mel had finished, and done rather well from the sound of it. Sighing, Shausto turned around again to face the crowds as her coach held his hand out for her jacket. She slipped out of it and looked down to adjust her annoyingly tight leotard. She doubted she would ever get used to the skin-tight feel of those things. Shausto tugged down on the long white sleeves and adjusted the lower half, making sure it looked right.

Taking a deep breath, she waited until her name was called, and stepped out onto the mats. The chalk bucket seemed so far away, Shausto looked down and used all her attention on keeping her feet moving forward. Right before the vault was always the worst time. Shausto happened to glance up right before walking into the chalk. That would not have been good. She dusted some on her hands and stepped away. Then she stepped back to the chalk, dusted some more on her hands, and stepped away again. Then, feeling somewhat paranoid, she stepped back next to the chalk, poured a bunch on her hands, and stepped away, forcing herself to walk to the edge of the runway, brushing the extra chalk off onto her feet as she went.

breeeaatthhheee. her lungs didn’t seem to be working. She closed her eyes as the difficulty of her vault flashed on a screen and opened them just in time to see the okay to go. Pausing for a moment on the runway, Shausto went through a last minute review in her head. She planned to do a vault from the Tsukahara family, of the Phelps variation, with a half turn onto the vaulting table, a half turn off, and finishing with a front layout. One last deep breath, and she raised her hands high above her head and brought them back down to her sides. As her right foot shot out to start running, instinct took over from the many times she had done this in practice. She bent a bit lower to gain more momentum, pushing her legs as hard as they would go.

Just a few feet before she reached the springboard, Shausto gave a low jump onto the springs and forced her legs to push off her body towards the vaulting table in pre-flight. The entire stadium seemed to go silent as she rushed through the air, however her mind was screaming only two words: legs together. Her body slowly finished the half turn as he hands rushed closer and closer to the vaulting table surface. As her arms palms hit the table, she felt her arms automatically contract to absorb the impact, but she forced her arms to use all of their strength to push her body off the table and into the air again.

This was always the best part. It was like flyyyying.

Everything seemed to slow down during the post-flight. Though she was still soaring through the air and she probably should be somewhat concerned with not completing her turns by the time she landed and most likely breaking her neck, all she was thinking about was perfecting the timing of her turns and keeping her form throughout the double layout. And about the awesome way the rest of the world blurred around her, the natural high that vaulting gave her, and the feel of the cool air rushing against her face as she spiraled ever so quickly towards the ground. Shausto could never quite figure out how the entire vault only took seconds to complete. It felt like hours to her.

As her lower body twisted towards the ground again, Shausto felt her legs bend a little to account for the landing. And then in a second, her feet hit the floor, bringing forth a tingle of pain that lasted for just a split second in her ankles. She looked down at her feet that were still together in the same position they had just hit. She was waiting for that tiny step she knew she always took during practice to steady herself. She always took that step, no matter how many times she told herself she wouldn’t.
Shausto just kept staring. Her feet weren’t moving.

After a while of probably looking completely idiotic just staring at her feet, Shausto finally looked up with surprise. She had stuck the landing. All the sound came rushing back to her ears, hurting her head, as she raised her arms first to the front of her, then to either side and did a weird little dance thing as she stepped away from the vault. Shausto stood there completely stunned as her coach ran over to give her a hug.

Part 1 of the gymnastics are now closed.

All of the members who have participated within this part are still eligible for winning those medals.

Anyone who signed up for this event yet did not participate in the first round can still participate in other parts yet are not eligible for winning the medals, only points.

All points for all parts will be recorded and added up. Please check the points possible for how various parts work.

Part 2 will be opened in two days time

Points for this first round are below.

Gymnastics part 1

Eligible for medal winnings
jennifer Williams: 285
Raistlin The Wizard: 285
Gemma_Cullen-Malfoy: 280
Shausto-la: 280
RhiannonMei: 205
Etta: 185
Rigby Dumbledore: 185
Shadow Granger: 180
polly: 175
Snape_Luffer: 175
FaerieOfDoom: 175
Ellemanae: 170
KatieBellaTrix: 170
Elana: 170
Herbaceoustraitorous: 170
Belldandy: 165
kathrineee_anne: 165
Pickles: 165
Violetriddle: 165
Samantha Granger: 165
P h o e n i x: 165
Alice Cullen: 165
Jamoki: 155

Not eligible for winning medals though may still earn points in this event
Drkangelcat
Stephy
ag167
Snapes_girl
alice lovegood 13
weasleybrother08
ElladoraZeller
Dracomionelover
dracofan89
Ziggy
Agatha Black
Puppet_Master
x_cookie-monster_x