The noise in the background dulls. I can still hear my teammates' cheering voices but it's like they are yelling through a closed door.
I look down at the gray, carpeted floor, the gymnastics floor. There are little pieces of material that have come off from years of people flipping and falling. I imagine all the people who stood right here, in this very spot. I think of all the people doing what I am about to do.
I close my eyes and picture myself doing a flawless back handspring. My toes pointed, my knees locked out, and my hands reaching back and then landing on my feet.
I swing my arms forward and the few hushed voices I can still hear fade away.
It’s just me and my fear.
The thing I have been scared to do, the thing that has been holding me back from getting first place, the thing I want to be able to do so much.
Then I fling myself backwards.
I look down at the gray, carpeted floor, the gymnastics floor. There are little pieces of material that have come off from years of people flipping and falling. I imagine all the people who stood right here, in this very spot. I think of all the people doing what I am about to do.
I close my eyes and picture myself doing a flawless back handspring. My toes pointed, my knees locked out, and my hands reaching back and then landing on my feet.
I swing my arms forward and the few hushed voices I can still hear fade away.
It’s just me and my fear.
The thing I have been scared to do, the thing that has been holding me back from getting first place, the thing I want to be able to do so much.
Then I fling myself backwards.
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