Handsprings and Homework

by Jane Lawes

  About Handsprings and Homework

  Gym-mad Tara still can’t believe she’s part of the Silverdale Gymnastics Club – and that she’s through to a National competition! But Tara’s homework is starting to pile up and when her teachers notice that her school work is sliding she’s in big trouble... Can Tara finish all her work on time and win a gold medal?

  For Katie

  Dear Reader,

  Like Tara in Gym Stars I dreamed of becoming a world-class gymnast and joined my local gym club. Tara’s story reminds me of my early days of training and the thrill of entering my first big competition.

  I hope you enjoy reading about Tara as much as I have and if you want to become a gym star too – go for it! With focus, talent and dedication your dreams really can come true…

  Love,

  Dear Reader,

  When I was growing up, I used to live, breathe and dream gymnastics – like Tara, I loved working and working on new moves with my coach as I wanted them to look absolutely perfect!

  Gymnastics is a fantastic sport, and with hard work and determination, can be extremely rewarding. It can also be very dangerous however, and without the correct supervision and equipment, can easily lead to injury. Because of this, it’s so important to make sure that you practise everything in a gym, where you have the right equipment and supervision.

  Since these books have been published, I’ve loved hearing all your stories about new moves you’ve tried and competitions you’ve won, and can’t wait to hear more! I just wanted to pass on what my coach used to tell me – always make sure that you practise everything in the safe environment of the gym!

  Keep trying, keep working and most importantly, be safe!

  Lots of love,

  www.janelawes.co.uk

  CONTENTS

  About Handsprings and Homework

  Dedication

  Foreword by Beth Tweddle

  Letter from Jane Lawes

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Glossary of Gym Moves

  Q&A Session with Jane Lawes

  About the Author

  Gym Stars series

  Ballet Stars series

  Usborne Quicklinks

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Tara Bailey stood in the middle of the springy blue floor at Silverdale Gymnastics Club and shivered. It was her first day back in the gym after Christmas and outside it was icy, but the tingle running down Tara’s spine wasn’t from the cold. It was a shiver of excitement.

  “Ready?” asked Clare, her gymnastics coach. Tara bit her lip and nodded. She was definitely ready. In her mind, she’d been ready to do a backflip for months and months. But actually doing it was something different. She looked down at her feet, positioned neatly together on the floor. She could do backflips – or flicks, as all the gymnasts called them – with support from Clare, but she’d never tried one on her own before.

  The last few minutes of the training session were ticking away. It was now or…well, not never…but she wouldn’t get another chance until Friday, and two days away from Silverdale Gym seemed like for ever.

  “Go, Tara!” whooped Megan. Tara grinned down at the floor. The other members of her Acrobatic Gymnastics group knew how desperate she was to do a flick by herself. She’d hardly talked about anything else since Regionals two months ago – the first gymnastics competition she’d ever taken part in. Not only had she won her first ever gold medal, but Tara and her partner Lindsay had also won the chance to compete in the National Acro competition for their level in a few months’ time. Tara still couldn’t believe it…and she was training harder than ever to make sure she was ready.

  Standing very still, with her arms held by her sides, she prepared to try her first unassisted backflip. She kept her legs straight and leaned her weight back until she felt like she was about to topple over. Then she swung her arms up and pushed herself backwards, off the floor and onto her hands. Another push with her hands, and she was back on her feet again. Tara could hardly believe what had happened. She’d done a backflip without support, and she hadn’t even landed on her head!

  “Well done!” said Clare. “It was messy, but it’s there. Work on keeping your legs together.”

  Tara nodded, breathless. It had been so quick that she hadn’t had time to think about being neat or any of the things she remembered to do when she practised on the trampoline. She tried once more and got all the way over again. But her legs would not stay stuck together like she wanted, and Clare said her knees were bent.

  “Brilliant,” whispered Lindsay, as their coach went off to help Megan and Sophie practise punch-front somersaults. “Clare’s just being picky.”

  “No, she’s right,” Tara replied. “I’ve got to keep practising until my flicks are better. Just getting over isn’t enough.” But she smiled at Lindsay to show that she didn’t mind Clare’s criticism, and she felt secretly pleased that Lindsay thought she’d done well. Besides, she’d managed two flicks in a row for the first time – nothing could ruin her day now.

  They watched Megan and Sophie, two older girls in their group. Tara couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous when she saw them take a run-up, jump onto both feet and whip their bodies round in tucked somersaults. One day, she promised herself…one day she’d be doing that, too.

  “That’s enough for today,” Clare said to Sophie, and Tara looked over her shoulder at the clock high up on the wall. The hands had reached six o’clock and training was over.

  “Nationals gymnasts!” Clare shouted, as the group began to leave the gym. “I want to talk to you before you go.”

  Tara still felt butterflies in her stomach every time she remembered that she was one of the Nationals gymnasts. Megan and Sophie were going to the Nationals too, as well as Jasmine and Sam, the most advanced girls in their squad.

  “Your routines looked great at Regionals,” Clare began, when they’d settled themselves on the floor. “You’ve had a bit of a break over Christmas, so I hope you’ve all recovered from the competition and are ready to work hard again! I’m glad to see that most of you have kept up with your stretching, even when you weren’t at the gym.” Clare paused and looked directly at Megan, who had complained more than anyone about being stiff during their first session back. “It’s important that you do at least a little bit when you have time off.”

  Tara caught Megan’s eye and exchanged a sympathetic grimace with her. During the week away from Silverdale, she’d loved being able to relax and spend more time with her best friends from school, Emily and Kate. But after a few afternoons watching Christmas films she’d missed the gym, and she’d made a big effort to do half an hour of stretching at home every day. She hoped she’d still be able to fit it in when she went back to school.

  “There’ll be extra training sessions for the National competition, just like there were for Regionals,” continued Clare. “They’ll start again this Sunday at 9 a.m. I’d like all of you to get working on some new balances for your routines.”

  Excitement rippled around the group and Tara hugged her knees into her chest. Learning new balances was so exciting! In Acrobatic Gymnast
ics, gymnasts performed routines in pairs and groups of three or four. They had to do balances as well as floor skills like backflips and somersaults. Tara had only been doing Acro for half a year, but balances had quickly become her favourite challenge.

  Now all her dreams were made up of spectacular routines full of things she’d seen the more experienced gymnasts at Silverdale doing – breathtaking balances and amazing throws and somersaults that she and Lindsay would learn to do sometime in the far-off future. Instead of imagining what it would be like to be a famous singer or a glamorous actress like her school friends sometimes did, she dreamed of being a famous gymnast like Beth Tweddle.

  “Wow, my legs ache so much,” groaned Sophie, when they’d wrapped themselves up in coats, scarves and gloves, and were walking out to the car park.

  “Mine too,” agreed Megan. “It was nice to have time off for Christmas, but we’re paying for it now.”

  “We’ll get used to it again soon,” said Lindsay. “Especially with the extra training for Nationals.”

  “Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and now Sundays too – if Clare had her own way we’d be in the gym every day!” said Megan.

  “All day, every day,” laughed Sophie.

  “That would be so much better than school,” Tara said, smiling as she imagined it. Nothing but gymnastics – it sounded like heaven.

  Chapter Two

  On Saturday morning, Tara woke up to discover that while she’d been asleep, a glittering blanket of pure white snow had covered the whole town.

  “It’s so white!” gasped Anna, her little sister, who had been looking forward to snow for months and months.

  “Will we be able to get to the gym?” Tara asked Dad anxiously, peering out of the window at the icy road.

  “We’ll soon find out,” Dad replied cheerfully. “Wellies on, Anna, if you’re going outside.”

  Anna hopped around, trying to pull her second welly boot on. Tara sat on the bottom stair, watching her. She already had her shoes and coat on, and her gym bag at her side. She’d been ready for ages, knowing that it might take longer than usual to get to Silverdale.

  “Shouldn’t we leave soon?” she asked. “We’ll have to drive really slowly because of the snow.”

  “In a minute,” said Dad. “I’ve got to scrape ice off the car windows first.”

  “We’ll help,” said Tara. This was progress, at least. “Won’t we, Anna?”

  “I’m making a snowman,” declared Anna, and ran out to the back garden.

  “Sure you don’t want to stay home and help with the snowman?” Dad asked Tara.

  “No,” she said firmly. “I want to go to the gym!”

  “Okay, okay,” laughed Dad. “Just checking!”

  There was a layer of snow on top of the car that looked like thick white icing on a Christmas cake. It took ages to scrape the windows clear and by the time they’d finished, Tara’s fingers felt frozen, even though she was wearing gloves. She jumped into the passenger seat.

  “Let’s go!” She looked at her watch. If they left now, they’d still have enough time to get there before training started.

  But the car wouldn’t start. Tara groaned and leaned her head back against the seat. Dad tried again. On the fifth try, the car rumbled to life. Tara and Dad grinned at each other.

  “Silverdale, here we come!” cried Dad. He reversed the car slowly out of the drive. Tara felt the wheels slip on the ice. She looked across at Dad. He was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were bony and white. He inched around a tiny bit and the car slipped again. He pulled the car up to the kerb and stopped.

  “I’m sorry, Tara,” he said. “This road’s like an ice rink. It’s too dangerous.”

  “That’s okay,” Tara mumbled.

  “Never mind, eh?” said Dad, undoing his seat belt. “You can help us with the snowman now!”

  “Great,” Tara said flatly.

  When she got back inside, she phoned Silverdale and spoke to Clare.

  “I’m really sorry,” she said, when she’d explained.

  “Don’t be silly,” said Clare. “I don’t want you getting hurt trying to get here. Anyway, you’re not the only one. Sophie and Jack are both snowed in, too.”

  That made her feel a little better, but she couldn’t forget that she was letting Lindsay down by missing a whole training session, just when they needed all the practice they could get. During their Friday session, the others had told Tara all about what the Nationals had been like in previous years and how high the standard would be. She felt thrilled to be taking part, but she was also scared that she and Lindsay would look rubbish compared to the other gymnasts competing. They only had two and a half months to make their routine perfect. Now it was two and a half months minus one day!

  “Tara!” shrieked Anna, tumbling through the back door. Her cheeks were bright pink and her brown hair had snowflakes stuck in it. “Come and see my snowman. You can help me finish it!”

  Tara couldn’t help smiling. She put her coat and gloves back on and grabbed her wellies.

  “Shout if you need my help,” said Dad. He was making a cup of tea for Mum, who was in bed with a horrible cold.

  “Okay,” said Tara, following her sister outside.

  Anna had rolled snow into one giant snowball and one smaller one. “Can you put the head on?” she asked Tara.

  “Sure,” Tara said, bending down to pick up the smaller ball of snow. It had leaves and grass stuck in it, so she turned that side to face the back. It wasn’t too heavy, but Anna was only six so she couldn’t have reached. Tara held the head in place on top of the giant snowball, while Anna stretched up to pat handfuls of snow all around to stick it on properly.

  “It’s good, isn’t it?” Anna said, standing back to look at it.

  “It’s great,” Tara agreed. “I’ll go get a scarf for him. You find some stones for eyes.”

  When she came back outside with one of Mum’s old scarves, Tara couldn’t see Anna anywhere.

  “Anna?” she called. “Where are you?”

  “Here!” screeched Anna as a snowball hit Tara right between her shoulder blades. Anna might have been small, but she could really throw a snowball.

  Tara let out a sound that was half a scream and half laughter, and ran to get some snow off the bushes. The battle was on!

  Later, to give Mum a bit of peace, Dad took Tara and Anna for a snowy walk in the park. On the way they stopped at Emily’s, who came out to join them with her two little brothers. Adam was in the same class as Anna at school, and they pelted each other with snowballs all around the park, until one accidentally got Luke, Emily’s youngest brother, on the head and he burst into tears.

  When Emily had finished fussing over Luke, and he had finally stopped crying, Anna, Adam and Dad carried on with the snowball fight. Tara and Emily wandered along behind them, swishing their feet through the snow and chatting while keeping an eye on three-year-old Luke, who was running along with the others.

  “I can’t believe we go back to school on Tuesday,” said Emily. “The Christmas holidays went so fast!”

  “I know,” Tara said. “I’m kind of looking forward to it, though. I haven’t seen anyone from our year during the holidays except you and Kate.”

  “Me too,” said Emily. “But I’m not looking forward to all the homework!”

  Tara laughed and kicked at some snow. “Don’t remind me! I’ve still got a bit of holiday homework to do.”

  Emily pulled a face in sympathy. “If you’ve finished by tomorrow evening, come round to mine and watch a film,” she suggested.

  “Definitely,” agreed Tara, and she decided she would start on the last piece of homework as soon as she got back from the park. Last term, she’d spent so much time training for Regionals that she’d hardl
y got to see her friends. Tara, Kate and Emily had been in the same class all the way through junior school, but now that they were at secondary school, they were all in different forms and hardly had any lessons together. They tried to make sure they always watched a film together on Sunday evenings, but Tara had missed out a few times because of training for the competition. They’d had arguments and tears, and she’d been so afraid that she was about to lose her best friends. She looked at Emily and felt a rush of determination that it would never happen again.

  They were catching up with the others, who had stopped to roll more snowballs. Emily nudged Tara and pointed at Anna, who was sneakily putting snow in the hood of Dad’s coat, while he was crouching down to help Luke with a snowball.

  “Hi, Dad!” laughed Anna, then tipped the hood over his head. Dad jumped up and grabbed his younger daughter, swinging her high into the air and tickling her. Anna screamed and laughed at the same time. Tara and Emily hovered, giggling, at the edge of the group. One of Anna’s pink wellies fell off while Dad held her over his shoulder. He winked at Tara and gave her a secret signal to fill Anna’s welly with snow. Tara darted forward, still giggling, and scooped snow into the boot with her gloved hand.

  “Here’s your welly, Anna,” she said, through bursts of laughter, when Dad finally put Anna down. Anna balanced on one foot and reached for the welly Tara held out to her. She shoved her foot in, and the look on her face when she felt the cold, sloppy snow soaking into her sock made Tara collapse against Emily, laughing so much she could hardly stand up.

  “Yuck!” screeched Anna. “Tara!” She took the welly off again and tipped it upside down so the snow fell out.

  “That’s what you get for messing with me,” Dad said, grinning.

  “My foot’s wet.” Anna pouted.

  “Here,” said Dad, pulling a spare pair of socks out of his coat pocket. “Put these on instead.” Anna hopped over and held his arm for balance while she pulled off the wet sock and changed it for a dry one. She stuck her tongue out at Tara, who was wiping tears of laughter away from her eyes. “It’s probably time we went home,” said Dad. “Let’s go and see if Mum’s feeling any better.”