Madeline stood in front of the springboard. She raised her arms and demonstrated what she meant. “You see how my shoulders are up with my chest, but back? You’re too open up here, there’s too much space between you and the board. But if you lean toward the springboard, when you rebound out of your round-off, you’ll get the power you need to get the perfect flight. Let’s try it into the foam pit so you can see.”
Madeline looked over at Holly. “Can you practice on your own for a bit? We’ll be right back.”
An innocent smiled splayed her lips. It amazed me she was friends with a bitch like Reagan. “No problem.”
“Use a cushioned mat, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Okay.”
We walked over to the runway with the foam pit where Kova was with Reagan. It was the same foam pit I hid in days earlier. Our eyes locked for a split second and his jaw
set tight before he looked the other way. My nerves climbed with each step that brought me closer to him. When he looked at me again, he visibly tensed. Reagan looked like she wanted to vomit at the sight of me.
“Mind if we share with you? I want Adrianna to try something new.” Madeline asked.
Kova stepped aside and waved his hand in front of us. “By all means.”
Madeline turned to me and went over what she wanted me to try while Kova watched intently. His presence was powerful, and standing this close, it was hard to ignore him like I had tried pitifully to do this morning. He made me extremely nervous and I started chewing on my bottom lip, a habit I needed to break.
“Remember, slow at first, and stay low near the end. Got it?”
I swallowed, my eyes sneaking a glance at Kova before I nodded at Madeline.
Standing at the end of the runway, I took a deep breath and exhaled. I focused solely on the vault and what she told me to try. One last breath and then I took off running. My heart raced, not from the coaches, but of my love for vault. Adrenaline pumped through me and my feet pounded into the floor as I neared the springboard. The pain in my calf was back and stronger than ever, but I pushed through it. My nerves were on edge, but with Kova and Reagan standing there, I knew my legs ended up looking sloppy in flight, and if it hadn’t been for this pit, I would’ve eaten shit when I came down.
“What the hell was that?” Madeline asked with shock in her eyes. “Thank God you landed in that pit.”
“Let me try again.”
Kova reached down with an opened palm and without thinking twice, my hand slid into his strong, calloused one. Heat shot up my arm and through my spine. Shit. This wasn’t good. He gripped my palm and yanked me out. Before Madeline could say anything, Kova spoke up.
“May I?” he asked quietly, and she nodded.
“I see what Madeline is going for. Slower start and a deeper angle near the board, yeah?” he asked her but was staring directly at me.
I groaned inwardly. He should never use the word deeper in my presence. My mind traveled back to the night in the gym, and the things he said and did.
“Yes, more acute,” Madeline responded. Acute sounded better than deeper. Kova and his stupid Russian accent.
Gripping my arm lightly, he guided me to the board. When he placed a flat hand to my stomach and one to my back, I tensed. His eyes narrowed at me knowingly, telling me to get my shit together.
He cleared his throat. “You need to use your core for what you are doing. Chest back.” He patted my stomach, and continued. “We may need to focus on building more muscle here to help you carry though. Prepare for a cartwheel.”
Using his hand on my lower back, he leaned me over so I was head first toward the board and my back leg was up.
“You want your hurdle long and low, but your chest and arms up tall. Push off your back leg hard.” He tapped my leg, as if I didn’t know which leg he meant. “It is quick and fast and it takes time to learn, but this is where you start, so when you rebound off the board, you will have the power you need to go back and off the table for a strong block. From there, you know what to do.” He paused and then asked, “Does this make sense to you?”
“Yes.”
“Good, now do it, but just do a layout.” A layout was no problem. No twisting, just straight as a board, stretched out body, flipping back once.
I walked and stood behind the chalk line, mentally picturing myself doing it correctly. Looking at Kova, he gave me a small nod. Leaning forward, I lifted my knee and took a few of the longer running steps and then went full force and ran as fast as possible. There was that burning again in my calf that seemed to make an appearance when I ran. When it came time for my round-off, I got low, knees to chest like he said, and felt my pelvic muscles tighten. Kova was right. I could tell I was going to need more muscle there from the strain inside.
He was also right about the exploding power I’d have if I got lower. I eyed the foam pit for my landing and saw how much extra height I had.
I came up, wide eyed and looked at him. “I wasn’t ready for that kind of power!” I yelled enthusiastically.
He nodded, tight lipped and turned to Reagan and Madeline. “Would it be okay if we swapped gymnasts for a bit? I have a few things I want to work with her on.”