Staring at the judges as if they were my worst enemy, waiting for them to give me the green flag that it was okay to start tumbling and showing them what I can do. Seeing the judge wave the green flag into the air, saluting them and getting into my starting position. Hearing my music starting and putting a smile on, feeling the rush of energy go right through me. After it’s done, moving to the next event and catching your breath, waiting for the score to pop up to see what I have gotten. Seeing my name pop up and waiting nervously to see; questions wandering through my head like, did i point my toes? Did I forget anything? My instinct went through, I smiled and moved on. After that event my family would stand up cheer, give me a thumbs up, and normally my brother was out walking around getting food or a drink. Walking to the next event with confident and knowing where I stand with my competition isn't always the best feeling. Knowing makes me feel cocky and that I don't need to try my best because, i'm too far ahead of anyone to beat me. Seeing the same people at every meet and witting what they have against me and what skills/event they were better at. My mother used to tell me my scores after every event and told me where I was placed. Knowing that always messed me up; same with cheering. Having parents or my team members always made me smile and even laugh sometimes. On vault they always had a cheer ready for me, it went like this “run, run as fast as you can hit the board, and land like a champ!” I would always look back smile and suddenly feel the rush again.
Good teammates were the ones that would always cheer for you because, they wanted you to do good and there were the ones that were against you like a war, except this war was a lot cleaner than any war that happened. On meet day, you never really talked to one another and always had their game face on, you always had your game face on and never goofed around because, no matter what, the judges were always watching, and used that against the way they would score you. Laughing often and mostly cheering or warming up but, always having a smile on your face.  Smiling was one of the judges favorite things to see, the nice white smile, smiling at something that they loved, even if the smile was fake. Judges loved to see you have fun but, the thing was they really just brought your confidence down by the store they give you. Low score to me meant I wasn’t good enough to compete with the top competitors, until I started to get better at something I truly loved. Loving something this much meant hard work and dedication, giving everything you have and more.
My parents were always supportive about anything I have ever done or started. The times she has cried, and the times she has noted all the horrible things about a specific event and then we died laughing, their are also times we have made fun of something I have done. Making fun of me when I ran into the vault and didn't go over the vault. Remembering the funny moments like, when my mother was videotaping me on floor and says “Oh wow, that really sucked”. Arriving home later on that day watching it thinking to myself why? Was I that bad? How? Saying “thanks mom!”
“I never remember saying that outloud”
“well you did mom” I said. It was probably the funniest moments i’ve had with my mom. After that my mother never said another word while videotaping besides “GO BELLA” and would tell me after.  My life was all about gymnastics, until a year and a half ago I decided to quit because, it really wasn't my thing anymore. I thought to myself for a few days, then finally I went downstairs, and asked my parents to talk to them, they really weren't sure what I was going to say, all for they knew I had loved gymnastics.  Sitting down in front of them, thinking about how I was going to approach this I said “I don't want to do gymnastics anymore” I remember seeing the disappointment look on their face. Waiting for them to respond they finally said, “well if your heart isn't into it theres nothing we can do about it I guess.”
“wait what?” and then they started to say what I had thought they would say all along “why, your an amazing gymnast and you're just gonna throw it away for nothing. You could make it somewhere if you keep working hard enough.” After an hour talking, they finally gave up and realized it’s not what I wanted to do.