Rough Draft Essay 1

The fresh smell of the gym and chalk dust hit my face as soon as I opened the doors to the gym. I was training at Joan’s Olympic Gym for a little over a year now and working on improving my difficulty in my routines. My weakness at this point was the vault. I had the power and I knew what I had to do but I couldn’t gather the trust in myself to land my move off of the vault.

My coach Alexis greeted me “Hey Jasmine, ready for the vault today?” I wasn’t. I haven’t landed the dismount off my vault and I was extremely nervous. My palms always got sweaty thinking about the vault. My biggest fear was my blind spot when landing. Time after time I fell flat on my back on the mats. I swear there was nothing more frustrating slamming into the mats and not sticking my landing. “I guess so,” I responded gloomily. Alexis threw me a smile as all of us girls gathered for warm-ups.

After The second rotation, I ended up on the vault. I dreaded waiting for my turn on the vault. Victoria was before me and the coach wanted all of us to watch her and find what she was doing wrong. She showed us her vault two times. She ran up to the springboard, did a little stop and jumped onto the vault horse. Victoria landed her dismount with ease. Coach asked what was wrong and one of the girls said the spacing of her hands when she lands onto the vaulting horse. That wasn’t what Coach was looking for. I said “The way she slows down before she gets to the springboard makes her lose the power she needs to gain height over the vaulting horse.” I was right and it was my turn now.

Right after left foot I ran towards the springboard, and did my round off only to land on my back. “What is she doing wrong?” The coach waited for a response from the girls and the only thing they came up with is she is not landing her dismount. In frustration which earned me another chance to humiliate myself on the vault, I yelled “Isn’t clear that I haven’t landed a dismount, yet?” Coach Alexis pulled me to the side and said “If you’re going to yell, yell about achieving something. Get up and try that vault again. Don’t think about the landing, just feel it.” I got up and started walking towards the chalk bowl. After chalking up I proceeded to the vault, ran as fast as I could, did a round off the vault horse and BAM. I landed my dismount on my back again. After two more times I couldn’t land my dismount.

As a gymnast it is so frustrating when you can’t land a move. A move is made of keys parts which all result with a clear beginning, middle and clean end. In competition, points would easily be taken off when any of those three parts are messed up. The ending is most important because it shows that you can do the power moves but also finish them strong. Compared to a story, the ending always wraps things up. It leaves the lasting impression. That’s why I need to stick this landing.

Coach Alexis suggested I take a water break. With heavy steps, I walked towards the water machine right outside Coach Joan’s office where she was sitting at her desk on the phone. She smiled at me through the window and signaled for me to come in. Slowly opening the door, freezing air from the air conditioning hit my bare skin where my leotard didn’t cover. She finished up her phone call and proceeded to ask me the question I was dreading, “Why aren’t you landing your vault?” “I don’t know. When I start I have so much power but when I know I’m getting close to the round off, I tense up because I’m afraid of my blind spot. I don’t know where my feet will land or if I’m too close or too far.” Coach Joan then gives the best advice in my gymnastics career, “You have to stay positive no matter how many times you fall. When you first started with cartwheels, I remember when the coach walked you through each step until you were doing 4 cartwheels in a row. Not only does it take practice and power but you have to be prepared mentally. If you tell yourself you are afraid it will show. I want you to repeat to yourself ‘I can do this’ and keep a positive mindset so you will surely land your vault. One thing that helped me on the vault was visualize my feet landing right before I land. Now get out there and try until you make it.” I gave Coach Joan half of a smile and walked out of her office.

Hesitating I walked towards Coach Alexis and asked her if she would watch me on the vault. We walked over to the vault and I took a deep breath. I said to myself “stick the landing, stick the landing.” As I ran towards the springboard and approached my round off I looked for the mat but I wasn’t there yet so I fell again and again. After my 5^th time I said “I can do this” and there you have it I successfully landed my round off vault. This accomplishment taught me to set goals and push for them. After the help of my team, coaches and training, I had reached my goal.