Vault was mine. I normally excelled at it, I just needed to stick my landing. But since I had come to World Cup, I’d been doing terribly. At least, it felt that way. I needed to be a little tighter, a little faster, a little higher, and I’d have it.
Easier said than done. Nerves and self-doubt got to me, I knew that was playing into my overall performance.
Madeline had mentioned we needed to start working on my alternate vault soon. Gymnasts always had two vaults, usually one that brought more points to the table. The new vault would be front flipping, I just wasn’t sure which one yet. Doing a front vault showed diversity.
“Adrianna. Instead of starting at seventy-three feet, try seventy-five. Do a double and land it. You’re getting there, but you may need more momentum.”
I nodded.
Madeline pulled her arms up to her chest, her hands in fists, and jerked to the left—giving me an example of what she meant. “Pop off the table and pull up high, squaring your shoulders and then twist hard. Got it? You really need to block.”
“Yes.”
“Good. Go for it.”
I walked back to the end of the runway, looking for seventy-five feet. Grabbing a piece of chalk, I drew a line where my toes needed to start and then chalked my hands up good. I raised an arm and then took off running. My arms stayed like sticks by my side until I gained speed, and they bent. I pumped my legs harder than ever about twelve feet away and did a round-off onto the spring board, then a back handspring onto the vault table to complete the Yurchenko, popping off with my shoulders with a loud huff and pulled my twist up and into a double. I had height, a tad more than usual, but ended up taking a huge step forward on the soft practice mat.
Looking over my shoulder with my arms still in the air, I raised a brow at Madeline. She chewed her lips, staring at me curiously.
“Try starting off a bit slower.” I looked at her with a question in my eyes. I needed speed if anything. “Meaning, take a few larger, but slower steps at first, and then gun it around twenty-five feet away. And throw the Amanar instead. The double isn’t helping.”
I got to the end of the runway and chalked up again when Madeline yelled. “Practice a few slow starts first.”
The slow starts had a funny look to them. The knees came up higher, slower, and the step was much wider. It looked like giant skips at first. I knew what she wanted me to do, I just had never done it, and honestly, I didn’t think this was what I needed. But she was my coach so I listened.
I quickly practiced a few off to the side while Holly vaulted twice.
I took a handful of slower, wider steps and performed my vault, but I didn’t stick my landing. When I stood straight, the back of my calf started to glow with heat again, but this time it traveled down to my ankle. Bending down, I rotated my ankle around and massaged the muscle to relieve the warmth.
Her brows angled toward each other. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
I nodded. “It’s nothing, I’m fine.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?” I nodded and she asked, “Okay, so how did that feel?”
“It makes sense to start off slower, I think, and I can feel the change in momentum. I have more power. Can I try it again?”
“Of course.”
I got in line and waited for Holly to go. Once she finished a couple sets of vaults, it was my turn. I took off even slower by pulling my legs higher to the ceiling, but it wasn’t easy. I could feel my stomach clench and the muscles I needed to build in order to run like this. My vault was better, and my height too, but it didn’t feel perfect and I knew it.
“Okay—I know I’m throwing a lot at you right now, but what if we try to get your round-off closer to the ground, too.”
“What do you mean?”
Madeline stood in front of the springboard. She raised her arms and demonstrated what she meant. “You see how my shoulders are up with my chest, but back? You’re too open up here, there’s too much space between you and the board. But if you lean toward the springboard, when you rebound out of your round-off, you’ll get the power you need to get the perfect flight. Let’s try it into the foam pit so you can see.”
Madeline looked over at Holly. “Can you practice on your own for a bit? We’ll be right back.”
An innocent smiled splayed her lips. It amazed me she was friends with a bitch like Reagan. “No problem.”
“Use a cushioned mat, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Okay.”
We walked over to the runway with the foam pit where Kova was with Reagan.
It was the same foam pit I hid in days earlier.
Our eyes locked for a split second and his jaw set tight before he looked the other way. My nerves climbed with each step that brought me closer to him. When he looked at me again, he visibly tensed. Reagan looked like she wanted to vomit at the sight of me.
“Mind if we share with you? I want Adrianna to try something new.” Madeline asked.
Kova stepped aside and waved his hand in front of us. “By all means.”
Madeline turned to me and went over what she wanted me to try while Kova watched intently. His presence was powerful, and standing this close, it was hard to ignore him like I had tried pitifully to do this morning. He made me extremely nervous and I started chewing on my bottom lip, a habit I needed to break.
“Remember, slow at first, and stay low near the end. Got it?”
I swallowed, my eyes sneaking a glance at Kova before I nodded at Madeline.
Standing at the end of the runway, I took a deep breath and exhaled. I focused solely on the vault and what she told me to try. One last breath and then I took off running. My heart raced, not from the coaches, but of my love for vault. Adrenaline pumped through me and my feet pounded into the floor as I neared the springboard. The pain in my calf was back and stronger than ever, but I pushed through it. My nerves were on edge, but with Kova and Reagan standing there, I knew my legs ended up looking sloppy in flight, and if it hadn’t been for this pit, I would’ve eaten shit when I came down.
“What the hell was that?” Madeline asked with shock in her eyes. “Thank God you landed in that pit.”
“Let me try again.”
Kova reached down with an opened palm and without thinking twice, my hand slid into his strong, calloused one. Heat shot up my arm and through my spine. Shit. This wasn’t good. He gripped my palm and yanked me out. Before Madeline could say anything, Kova spoke up.
“May I?” he asked quietly, and she nodded.
“I see what Madeline is going for. Slower start and a deeper angle near the board, yeah?” he asked her but was staring directly at me.
I groaned inwardly. He should never use the word deeper in my presence. My mind traveled back to the night in the gym, and the things he said and did.
“Yes, more acute,” Madeline responded. Acute sounded better than deeper. Kova and his stupid Russian accent.
Gripping my arm lightly, he guided me to the board. When he placed a flat hand to my stomach and one to my back, I tensed. His eyes narrowed at me knowingly, telling me to get my shit together.
He cleared his throat. “You need to use your core for what you are doing. Chest back.” He patted my stomach, and continued. “We may need to focus on building more muscle here to help you carry though. Prepare for a cartwheel.”
Using his hand on my lower back, he leaned me over so I was head first toward the board and my back leg was up.
“You want your hurdle long and low, but your chest and arms up tall. Push off your back leg hard.” He tapped my leg, as if I didn’t know which leg he meant. “It is quick and fast and it takes time to learn, but this is where you start, so when you rebound off the board, you will have the power you need to go back and off the table for a strong block. From there, you know what to do.” He paused and then asked, “Does this make sense to you?”
“Yes.”
“Good, now do it, but just do a layout.” A layout was no problem. No twisting, just straight as a board, stretched out body, flipping back once.
I walked and stood behind the chalk line, mentally picturing myself doing it correctly. Looking at Kova, he gave me a small nod. Leaning forward, I lifted my knee and took a few of the longer running steps and then went full force and ran as fast as possible. There was that burning again in my calf that seemed to make an appearance when I ran. When it came time for my round-off, I got low, knees to chest like he said, and felt my pelvic muscles tighten. Kova was right. I could tell I was going to need more muscle there from the strain inside.
He was also right about the exploding power I’d have if I got lower. I eyed the foam pit for my landing and saw how much extra height I had.
I came up, wide eyed and looked at him. “I wasn’t ready for that kind of power!” I yelled enthusiastically.
He nodded, tight lipped and turned to Reagan and Madeline. “Would it be okay if we swapped gymnasts for a bit? I have a few things I want to work with her on.”
“Of course. Come, Reagan.”
Reagan scowled. I picked my wedgie and asked, “Where’re they going?”
“We switched.”
My stomach churned, excitement falling from my face. “Oh, okay.”
We stared at each other for a moment, my cheeks beginning to heat. Clearing his throat, Kova rubbed his jaw and said, “Instead of running slower in the beginning, I think you need to just take off at your normal speed. I do not think slowing down will help you. Let us get your round-off right and then we will work on squaring your shoulders and reaching for height.”
I nodded. “I wasn’t crazy about slowing in the beginning either, but I did it anyway.”
“If you do not think it will work, you can always speak up.”
I gave him a droll stare. “Really? You once told me not to question you.” When he didn’t respond to my dig, I said, “I wanted to try it at least, but I didn’t like the feel.”
“What is your starting point?”
“I’m at seventy-five feet.”
Coach contemplated for a minute. “Try starting at seventy-nine feet. You need as much momentum as you can get. And just do the double again.”
I nodded and walked to the seventy-nine feet mark. I did exactly what he said to do, and honestly, I couldn’t tell if I did it right or not.
“Again,” he said.
I did a handful more vaults before he finally said, “I see things I want to do to you—” Coach stopped himself when my eyebrows nearly reached my hairline. “What I meant was...” he trailed off anxiously. His voice cracked and he used his hands to talk. “I think I should be working with you more on this, not just Madeline. There are different techniques you would benefit from.” He exhaled with an exhausted sigh, broken almost, and it made me feel bad. “Let us work on this vault and do some layout timers.”
Coach took me to the other side of the gym where there were huge, thick mats stacked behind a vault. They towered high, just roughly under ten feet and they helped with gaining height. It’s where layout timers came into play. It was a back flip, pin straight body and legs, and instead of landing on my feet, I’d land on my back, rotating with a hollow chest.
“Okay. I am going to spot you and give you a little pop. Just land on your back. Yes?”
“Yes.”
I wasn’t sure if I loved the idea Kova was ignoring our little indiscretion or not. I guess it was a good thing since I was here to train. But I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through his head.
I did my vault with Kova’s help and nearly panicked when my heart jumped from my chest and landed before I did. I had so much air my feet came up and I rotated into a back roll.
“That wasn’t a little pop. You nearly threw me in the air. I could’ve hurt myself.”
He gave me a blank stare. “See the height you got?” he retorted, his voice stern. He ignored my comment, because the truth was, I knew my coach wouldn’t let anything happen to me and he knew it too.
“That is what you need in flight. Do it again and keep your legs tighter. This vault, more than others, must have straight, tight legs and body.”
I was well aware how tight and straight my legs needed to be, not just in this vault, but in so many other skills in gym. Hearing it over and over was annoying. I wished he’d tell me something I didn’t know.
I did the vault, feeling Kova’s pop on my lower back. He wasn’t as hard this time and I felt the difference, I barely landed on my back.
“Feel the difference?”
“Surprisingly, yes.”
Kova paused, not expecting my response, then continued. “The key to the Amanar is height, drive, and power. That is where we start. We do this a thousand times if we have to, until I feel confident you can move on,” Kova said enthusiastically.
A thousand times, like he did with me on bars. At least I wouldn’t get rips on vault. But I could break an ankle if I landed wrong.
I vaulted again, ending with a layout timer. After at least an hour or so, I was worn out and in dire need of food. My calf throbbed fiercely, but there was no way I would speak up. Kova’s help and push really made a difference, so I stored the pain away and focused on the conditioning.
Walking back over to the pit, he placed thick practice mats over the foam squares to practice my landing since I wasn’t ready to land on the floor yet.