I missed the first day of practice - a shortened-by-an-hour practice announced just hours after the permit to have occupants in the facility was received. I didn't get the memo in time, but the second more than made up for it.
Peak Gymnastics Academy. The words have been dancing on our tongues, the idea floating in our heads for over half a year. It's been open for less than a week, but to the team that has stuck together in some strange places, strange circumstances, and intimidating situations, as long as we can call it our own, it's home sweet home without a second thought.
The facility is gorgeous. It isn't huge, but it is bigger than the no-longer-extant Apex Gymnastics ever was, and the equipment is lovely. Right now, the smell is amazing. It smells of clean foam, new mat, and chalk. There isn't that lingering stench of sweaty feet and salty tears yet, and with the huge overhead doors that we can open to let air in and out, it will hopefully remain this way.
The vault is easy to move up and down, the beams are tall but made of competition suede and are perfectly suited for our slippery feet. The floor is huge, with more than enough room for mistakes during training around the 40 foot by 40 foot limit set by USAG for competitions. The trampoline and rod tumbling floor are both insanely bouncy, and Mr. Robert, the super duper tumbling and soon-to-be tramp coach plans to get harnesses for cooler tricks.
And then we have the bars.
The regular bars, though there is only one set, is much easier to tighten and adjust than any other set any of us had worked out regularly on at least for the past few years. Nice bars at big competitions and nice bars at camp were a rare luxury, and now we had our very own "nice bar." And the pit bar is simple phenomenal.
Click, click, click. Every time a giant goes over the pit bar, a light metallic ping can be heard from around. Before I got on the bar, I watched one of my most petite teammates swing gracefully around the bar, body extended, handstand to handstand, completing repetitions of a skill called the giant. She dismounted and climbed out of the deep sea of blue foam cubes.
"The bars make a clicky sound..." I began.
"Yeah, but they're bouncy and really good! And they don't move when they click." She nodded and me to get on and have a go.
I spit on my chalky grips and rubbed them together to enhance my ability to stay on the bar and jumped. The bar curved down under my weight just as a good bar should, and in just a dead hang, I bounced up and down a little. I grinned, satisfied. The click, click, clicking didn't stop and two bar practices later hasn't changed in the slightest, but it's no longer unsettling.
Peak Gymnastics Academy.
I'm insanely excited to see what kind of future this gym will have, what kind of gymnasts past the time of myself and my current team the amazing coaches will inspire, teach, and mold.
At the risk of sounding sappy, I have to end with this: It's good to be home.
*** Peak Gymnastics: website and Facebook
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| Peak Gymnastics Level 7s with a nice medal haul |
P.S. Still much thanks to Kenney's Gymnastics for being so kind as to letting us stick around for 7 months!
