Abused by Rachel Haines

Author:Rachel Haines [Haines, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2019-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

Rachel Haines, Regionals 2013. USAG

Preparing for my last Nationals was bittersweet. I was excited to be competing in the state I would call my home just a few weeks later, but I was sad to be leaving the place I had made my home for so long. My Minnesota coaches were thrilled about my performance at Regionals and were excited to be the host state for Nationals. They told me a few of my future teammates would even be in attendance since it was so close to campus.

I trained like I was going to win Nationals. I wanted so much to win floor. I wanted to make the National team one last time. I wanted to leave my mark for Twistars and get off on the right foot for Minnesota. I felt the pressure to succeed that came with where I was in the national rankings and how my season had been going. I knew I had already made the colleges that turned me down regret their decision, so I had one last chance to make the college that took me proud.

I remember thinking on the flight to Nationals that I would be doing this travel often over the next few years. I started to accept that my road as a club gymnast was coming to an end. I was beginning to imagine and visualize myself as a college gymnast. I was preparing myself for the next chapter.

The arena was huge and beautiful, right in the center of the city. Again, a big curtain separated the warm-up gym from the competition gym. Still hated that thing. During the practice day, I made a point to go and talk to my new coaches. I was allowed to communicate with them now that I had signed my National Letter of Intent. They intimidated the crap out of me. They congratulated me on the season I was having and said they were excited to watch me the following day. They reminded me that some girls on the team would be coming to watch as well since I was competing with a few other Gopher recruits in my session. This stressed me out.

I woke up the morning of competition very emotional. I was sad to be competing for John and Kathryn one last time. I wanted to make them proud. I wanted to represent them the best I could. My mom did my hair with three thousand bobby pins and gave me my ice cream sandwich one last time.

I never ate an ice cream sandwich before a meet after that.

I walked over to the arena with the girls who had qualified with me at Regionals. We were all pretty close. We were often the same girls who qualified together the previous years, and we frequently competed against each other during the regular season. Competing with them was especially fun because of how well we got along. We all had committed to different colleges and would continue to see each other as rivals for the next four years.

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