On Saturday, September 10th, at nine am, beam was our first event. I efficiently flew through my skills on the high beam with hardly any mistakes. I’m becoming more consistent, I thought. Clearly Coach Cassie agreed seeing as when I finished with plenty of time to spare, she let me stretch until beam was over. On a typical day, I would either get another assignment when I finished or I would have to continue the assignment until it met her strict standards, but not today. I was so productive and I was excited to see what else I could improve on at our next event.

Our next event was floor. We started off with some basic drills. On the rod floor, we did four round-off back-handsprings up onto the resi. Then, we did two round-off back-handspring sets onto the big resi on the real floor, and two layouts up onto the resi. Once we completed the drills, we moved on to double backs. Coach Erin had given us the option to do our double backs on the rod floor, or on the real floor, where we would land on the in ground resi. 

Whenever our coach gives us the option to go on the rod floor, I usually go on the rod floor. The rod floor is easier on your body, but competition season was around the corner and I wanted to get myself prepared. By going on the real floor, I would be able to adjust my bounce before we did our passes on the floor in a full routine. Carrying over the efficiency and motivation from beam, I decided to go on the real floor into the in ground resi so that I could have the advantage that my other teammates didn’t have of the hard floor awareness.
I had already done four doubles that were decent, but I knew I had more in me. I decided to do a fifth double back. This was the biggest mistake of my life. As I hit the floor coming out of my back-handspring and into my double back, I thought the floor broke. I heard a loud snap! It was as loud as a tree falling in a thunderstorm. I landed a tiny bit short and felt an excruciating pain shooting from my heel to my calf, like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I had realized that the loud snap that I had heard wasn’t the floor breaking, but my Achilles snapping. I started yelling and screaming to mask the pain. I’m going to die because of the pain in my Achilles. Tears started rolling down my frantic face. 

Coach Erin ran over to me on the mat, even though she was almost nine months pregnant. Coach Erin helped move me onto my back, and away from the pit so I wouldn’t fall in. Coach Nathan ran over from the bar area to me. 

“Where does it hurt? Just your Achilles? Do you have any pain anywhere else?” Coach Nathan asked.

“It’s my Achilles. I feel pain all the way up into my calf,” I cried. 

“Was it on the takeoff or the landing?” Coach Nathan asked.

“It was on the takeoff,” I replied.

As he examined my leg, he yelled to Coach Cassie to call my parents. That is when I realized that this was a serious injury. As I laid on the resi, it felt like my world had stopped. I felt like I was laying on the mat for hours before my mom finally came. It was like everyone was a statue. Everyone fell silent. I looked down at my leg to see it just dangle in the air. A million thoughts crossed my mind as I waited. What exactly is wrong? Will I be able to compete? What will Penny say? Why did this happen to me? How did this happen? It’s probably not that bad.  I’ll be back in the gym in no time. But I wouldn’t be back in the gym anytime soon. I got surgery about a week later. Everyday I get to sit and watch everyone at practice instead of being the one doing gymnastics. I’m the new water girl at the gym. Now I’m finally allowed to put some weight on it, five weeks after surgery.

After I had finally calmed down and stopped crying, Coach Nathan helped me move over to a red stack of panel mats by the garage door. Before we moved, he wrapped my Achilles and calf with ice packs and ace bandages. Then I stood up, with the help of Coach Nathan, and hopped on my right foot, all the way over the the stack of mats. 

“Guess this means no powderpuff for you,” Coach Nathan said chuckling as he walked over to me. I wished that missing powder puff was my biggest worry, but instead I was more worried about bigger problems like my gymnastics future and college. My life was slipping through my fingers.

My mom finally pulled into the parking lot. I got up off the mats, and started to hop again with Coach Nathan’s help. Well we didn’t get to far before he picked me up and carried me to the car. Once we reached the car, Coach Nathan put me in the back seat of my Mom’s white Touareg. Before Coach Nathan left, he told me to make sure I’m watching what I’m eating, and to rest up.

I realized that I needed to change my eating habits. I couldn’t be eating anything and everything I laid my eyes on. I used to be able to eat anything I wanted because I would just burn it off at practice. But now I wouldn’t be training everyday for four hours anymore. I started including more fruits and vegetables in my diet so I wouldn’t gain any weight while I was out of the gym. Whether I’m in class, at the gym or at home, I’m always dreaming about gymnastics. Injuries happen in every sport. You can look at injuries in a positive or negative way. But the way you look at an injury, will determine how you come back from it.