A loud clap of hands shakes me out of my head.
“Alright, gather around the team.” Coach Miller booms. Everyone inches around her, as she stands with hands on her hips. “We have a lot of work to do today because of the reformations we did last week. So, we’re going to make this quick.” She gestures a hand towards me in the back of the crowd. “This is Serena, our new teammate. She will be filling in for both Imogen and Alli’s tumbling parts. I expect everyone, and I meaneveryone, to be kind and lend a helping hand as we’re still trying to figure things out.”
“Yes, coach.” The team says in unison. Some are offering a friendly smile and a wave, here and there. But others are just staring at me, soaking up the new person’s presence.
“I heard she made the team because the coach is her godmother.”
I whip my head so fast to my right as soon as I heard that. I see quiet snickers from Cassie and a girl with wavy auburn hairstanding next to her, head down as she quietly laughs along with her.
Cassie catches me staring and shrugs like I didn’t hear what she just said. Coach is too busy running down the new formations for the basket tosses so I make it quick. I flip Cassie off with my middle finger and return my attention back to the front. I can hear Cassie gasp at my silent clapback.
I’m a lot older now so I refuse to be the same little girl who couldn’t handle her bullies. I can hold my ground now.
Coach Miller claps her hands once again. “Let’s start. If you’re in the basket tosses, get to the center.”
Everyone disperses, heading over to the center. I grip Alli’s elbow, “Where do you want me? I’m not in the basket toss.”
Alli sent me a few practice videos over the weekend, to familiarize myself with formations, timing, and where I fit into this chaos.
“Just take a seat on the side for now. We’ll move to tumbling towards the end of practice.”
I do as told, moving to the side of the mat and plopping myself down. I lean back in my position, both hands laid flat behind me. I watch my new team gather around in the center, groups separating amongst themselves for the basket tosses. There are a few people who aren’t involved sitting with me or standing in the back for moral support.
Once practice officially starts, my eyes are fixed on the center, where the team is gearing up for basket tosses. I watch my friend Alli in dead center being elegantly tossed in the air, only to perfectly land in the arms of her base group.
Perfect form as always.
In the next rounds of tosses, I observe the other four top girls. Two of them are slightly sloppy in their landing, their base groups struggle a bit but manage well. Practice is what they need to hit everything and then it’s smooth sailing.
One girl in the basket toss formation is scrambling. I watch the girl, who I recognize to be Cassie, in the group on the right of Alli struggling–for a lack of better words. The team counts down and executes the toss, but it’s so clear that Grant and Alli’s words from earlier are true about her skills.
Cassie’s body struggles in the air, her limbs flailing as she fights to regain control. Tension is in the air as her teammates on the ground clench their fists, urging her to stay steady.
A few more rounds pass by and Cassie’s struggles are becoming more evident. Beads of sweat run down her forehead, and her voice shakes as she tries to match the rhythm of the catches.
I can see she’s a hard worker. Her face has a mixture of fear and determination to execute all the motions. I might have just flipped her off but at the end of the day, it’s a team effort and Ican’t help but cheer her on and admire her dedication to mastering those basket tosses.
“You got it, Cass!” I shout from my spot, in an attempt to lift up everyone’s spirits.
Cassie looks confused with me encouraging her. I would be confused too but teamwork makes the dreamwork. Coach Miller blows the whistle, snapping everyone’s attention to her. Hands-on her hips, “Great work, everyone. We’ll work on the basket tosses more throughout the season and we’ll even try to do them at next week’s first home game.”
Everyone nods in acknowledgment, panting and wiping their foreheads with their hands or the ends of their t-shirts.
Coach continues, “We have about twenty minutes left, I want everyone to get in line so we hit the ground for running and tumbling.” Coach walks away towards the bleachers and pulls out her phone. She taps on her screen for a bit and music envelopes the gym.
Starships by Nicki Minaj blares throughout which signals all of the team to get in line towards the back end of the mat to run and tumble. I linger towards the back with Alli and Grant joining, both looking ridiculously tired as beads of sweat drip down.
I pat both their shoulders, “You guys did great,” I compliment.
Grant angles his head towards me and lowers his voice so only Alli and I can hear, “It would be even better if Cassie can fucking fly in the air not looking like a fish out of water.”
Alli pokes her head out, brows snapped together. “Grant, we’re at practice. Keep it down.”
“Like you weren’t just complaining about her,” Grant retorts.
I wave a hand between the two’s stare-off. “Okay, let’s not do this. Can you tell me what’s going on?”
Alli shakes her head and reverts her eyes to mine. “Right, this is a tumble drill. You throw whatever, it can be simple or hard, doesn’t matter. We allencourageeach other by saying hit, hit, and hit.”
