Handsprings and Homework

by Jane Lawes

  “Jealous?” Tara asked, surprised. “But you’re a much better gymnast than me.”

  Sam shrugged. “It’s stupid,” she said. “On your first day, I overheard Clare talking to one of the other coaches. She said you were the most promising gymnast she’d seen in a long time.”

  “What?” gasped Tara. She felt like she was so far behind everyone else. Did Clare really think she had that much talent?

  “When we messed up today,” said Sam, “I realized that I’ve been an idiot. I thought I was better than you, but I’m not. I’ve just been doing gym longer, and I still make mistakes. Anyway, I know your first big competition is really scary, but you’ve got a chance at gold here and I wanted you to know that Clare believes you can win…and so do I.”

  Tara couldn’t believe it. Sam had been mean because she was jealous. Clare thought she could win. Even Sam thought she could win. Tara didn’t know what she thought herself. “Thanks,” she managed to say, finally.

  “We’d better go back in,” said Sam. “It’s your turn soon. Tara, win this for Silverdale.”

  Tara nodded.

  “Here you are!” exclaimed Lindsay, coming into the room. “We’ve got to start warming up.”

  “Good luck!” said Sam, heading for the door. Tara smiled.

  Lindsay looked at her curiously. “What was that about?” she asked.

  “I’ll tell you later,” Tara replied. Right now they had to focus on the most important performance they’d ever done. And suddenly, instead of dreading it, she couldn’t wait.

  Tara and Lindsay took their places on the floor. Even though she was still nervous, Tara knew that this was where she was meant to be. They stretched and presented to the judges and then their music started, louder than it had ever sounded before.

  These few minutes mattered more than all the hours and hours they had spent working towards them. They began to dance, stepping and jumping lightly into the positions their bodies knew so well. Bouncy handsprings, steady arabesques, a smooth forward walkover… Tara stretched every movement to the limits of what her muscles could do. She felt instinctively that she was perfectly in time with the music and with Lindsay and she knew without looking that their movements matched exactly. The music and the routine swept her towards her partner and she felt as if she almost floated up onto Lindsay’s shoulders. She held her head high and her smile sparkled. After a graceful and silent landing on the floor she was off again, twisting and weaving across the floor in a pattern they had worked for hours to create. The straddle lever balance was next.

  Tara stood behind Lindsay’s up-stretched arms and tried not to think about how impressed her parents would be when they saw her balancing on Lindsay’s hands.

  Focus, she told herself silently. She took Lindsay’s hands, which felt as steady as ever. If Lindsay was nervous about this, she was hiding it well. Tara stretched her legs out, with her feet pointed beautifully. She held the balance, counting slow seconds: one…two…three… As she hit that magic four seconds, she felt like saying “Ta-da!” Instead she grinned and enjoyed the burst of applause. Then she swung back a little to bring her feet down together onto the floor behind Lindsay’s head.

  They both relaxed a bit after that, and moved smoothly through the rest of the routine: walkovers, the wonderful round-off flick she was so proud of, and a pretty pirouette… Then it was all over. They finished an almost perfect performance, held their last positions for a moment, and then walked off the floor to their tracksuits and a long wait.

  “How was it?” Tara asked the others anxiously, brushing chalk from her hands.

  “I’d say you’re in the running,” said Clare. “We’ll have to wait and see how the last pairs do.”

  They didn’t have to wait any longer for their own score though. 27.9 put them in the lead so far. Tara gasped. She grinned silently at Lindsay, but didn’t want to say anything – they hadn’t won yet. She finally spotted her parents near the front in the audience and gave them a wave. They waved back excitedly. Dad looked like he’d never seen anything so brilliant in his whole life, and she was sure she could see Mum brushing a few tears away.

  One pair and then another got lower scores than Tara and Lindsay. Josie and Nikki, the final pair, were given 27.7. It was the silver medal score. Tara leaped up from the bench and clapped her hand over her mouth. She couldn’t believe it – she and Lindsay had won! Megan was bouncing up and down on the bench, shaking Lindsay’s arm. Sophie and Jasmine got up and hugged Tara at the same time. Sam gave Lindsay a quick hug and then she hugged Tara. Tara and Lindsay could only look at each other in disbelief.

  “We did it!” Tara finally said to Lindsay, when their National gold medals had been hung around their necks.

  “Well done,” said Nikki. “You two deserved to win.”

  They smiled and chatted with her and Josie while the crowd clapped and cheered for all the medal winners. Megan and Sophie were a little bit further along the floor with their own gold medals.

  A man from a newspaper came to take photos of the winners from each level. He also took one of the four Silverdale gold medallists together. He told them to smile, but there was really no need. They couldn’t have stopped grinning even if the end of the world had come.

  “Wait,” said Tara. “This isn’t our whole team.” She dashed over to Sam and Jasmine and dragged them onto the floor. “Now we’re ready!” The photographer took a few more shots.

  “You know,” said Megan, “it still feels like someone’s missing…”

  “Clare!” called all six gymnasts at once. Their coach laughed and came over to join them. They could see how pleased she was and it made Tara even happier to know that she had made her coach proud.

  After that, they all went off to find their parents.

  “You’re so cool, Tara!” said Anna. Tara laughed and hugged her little sister.

  “We’re very proud of you,” said Mum. “You did wonderfully! I’d be much too scared to try doing any of those things.”

  The gymnasts’ parents all got cameras out and the girls stood together for more photos. Tara fingered the gold medal that glittered against her blue and white leotard. She looked down at it shining there and hoped that this feeling would last a long time.

  “Eyes up, Tara,” said Dad. “There’ll be plenty of time for admiring your medal later!”

  She smiled for the cameras again, but secretly thought that a smile was not really enough to show how incredibly happy she was. She wanted to dance and jump and turn somersaults! Doing gymnastics was the only way she could possibly express the high she was feeling right now. She couldn’t believe that she’d almost let this get taken away from her – this feeling was worth doing all the homework in the world.

  Eventually, everyone decided they had taken enough photos and the girls made their way to the car park. All the gymnasts would be going home with their own families, and Clare was getting a lift back with Sam and her dad.

  Tara skipped along beside Lindsay and Megan. “I wonder what we’ll be working towards now,” she said thoughtfully. Clare had given them a week off to recover from the competition, but soon life at Silverdale would be back to normal.

  “There’s usually a friendly club competition against Central Gym in June,” said Lindsay. “Maybe Clare will enter some of us in that.”

  “And then there’s the summer display, of course,” added Tara.

  “Clare promised Soph and me that we could go to the Elite Training Camp this year,” said Megan. “I’m going to start nagging her about it as soon as we’re back in the gym!”

  “Nag her to let us go as well!” said Lindsay. “It’s a week of training at another gym with gymnasts from all over the country. Acro all day, every day!” she explained to Tara.

  Tara’s whole face lit up. “That sounds amazing!”

  M
egan nodded. “I’ve never been but Jasmine said it’s brilliant.”

  They said goodbye to Megan when they reached her mum’s car. Tara’s family had parked next to Lindsay’s parents. They stood by their car doors.

  “Bye, Tara,” said Lindsay. “Have a good week off.”

  “You too,” Tara said, smiling. “See you back in the gym.”

  Tara settled into the car, so happy now that she was sure she had years and years to come at Silverdale, with all sorts of competitions and camps and displays ahead of her. Today she was a National Champion, but that was only the beginning of her gym star dreams.

  Glossary of Gym Moves

  There are lots of different gym moves. Here are some of the moves that Tara and Lindsay learn. They work together in Acro Gymnastics as a pair. Lindsay is the base so she lifts and holds Tara, who is the top, in different balances.

  Backflip: a move where Tara swings her arms back and pushes off with her feet. She lands on her hands with her body arched then flips her legs up and over her head, then she pushes off with her hands to land back on both feet.

  Backward walkover: Tara bends over backwards from a standing position with one leg raised until her hands reach the floor and her body forms an arch. Her legs then kick over, passing through the splits, to land standing up again.

  Balance: where Tara holds a fixed pose with Lindsay.

  Counter-balance: Lindsay stands with her knees bent and feet apart. Tara stands on Lindsay’s thighs, facing her. They grip each other’s wrists, both then lean back until their arms are straight.

  Front somersault: Tara turns head over heels in the air in a tucked shape to land back on her feet.

  Handspring: a move where Tara lunges into a handstand, then flips over onto her feet.

  Round-off: a fast cartwheel which Tara springs out of and lands on two feet.

  Standing front angel: Lindsay stands up straight and holds Tara above her head. Tara balances horizontally in a T shape with Lindsay’s hands on her hips.

  Standing on shoulders balance: Tara stands with one foot on each of Lindsay’s shoulders while Lindsay holds onto her calves. They can do this with Lindsay kneeling down, kneeling up with one foot on the floor, or standing.

  Straddle: in this position Tara sits on the floor with her legs out wide making a right angle.

  Straddle lever balance: Tara balances on her hands with her legs held in the straddle position.

  Y-balance: standing on one leg, Tara holds her other foot with her hand and stretches her leg out to the side, so that her body forms a Y shape.

  Q and A session with Jane Lawes

  Why did you write Gym Stars?

  My sister and I loved gymnastics when we were younger, but our local library only had one very old series about it. When I started writing Summertime and Somersaults, I just tried to write the book that I would have wanted to read. I absolutely loved writing Gym Stars, and hope you enjoy them too!

  When did you start doing gym?

  I’d always enjoyed doing cartwheels and handstands in PE lessons at school, but I think I was about ten or eleven – the same age as Tara – when I started to practise in the garden all the time.

  Who is your favourite gymnast?

  I admire Beth Tweddle because she did so much to lead Team GB and bring the sport into the spotlight, but my favourite gymnast who’ll be competing in Rio is Claudia Fragapane – she’s so powerful and her floor routines are fantastic. Plus, she’s small like me!

  Who is your favourite Acro Gymnastics group?

  Spelbound, who won Britain’s Got Talent in 2010, went to the same gym club as me – they’re great!

  What is your favourite gymnastics move?

  I always loved doing backward walkovers because I worked so hard to learn how to do them, and once I could it felt great! Somersaults are fun, too, and they look amazing when champion gymnasts perform them with twists.

  What is your gymnastics top tip?

  Gymnastics moves can take a long time to learn, so don’t be disappointed if you can’t do something straight away – keep practising and you’ll get there! Gymnastics is a lot of fun, so enjoy it!

  About the Author

  Jane Lawes studied American Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia and started a PCGE in primary education, before deciding that her real passion lay in books. She currently works in publishing by day, and as an author by night and at the weekends.

  Gym Stars: Summertime and Somersaults

  Gym Stars: Friendships and Backflips

  (Not yet available as ebooks)

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  This ebook edition first published in the UK in 2016 by Usborne Publishing Ltd,

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  First published in the UK in 2012

  Copyright © Jane Lawes, 2012

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