Balance Beam Boss by Jake Maddox

Author:Jake Maddox [Maddox, Jake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 978-1-4965-8325-3; 978-1-4965-8451-9; Stone Arch Books; Jake Maddox; Jake Maddox Girls Sports Stories; sports fiction; middle grade fiction; sports stories for girls; illustrated fiction; gymnastics; gymastics fiction; friendship; Emma Carlson Berne
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2019-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

GO TIME

Sofia couldn’t stop shaking. It was the day of the Forest Hills meet, and she was standing next to Rana and the rest of her team.

“What’s wrong?” Rana asked. She touched Sofia’s hand. “Your hands are all clammy. Are you still not feeling well?”

Sofia shook her head. It was all she could manage. Her throat seemed to have closed up. She opened her mouth to say something, to tell Rana how terrified she was, but before she could, the loudspeaker crackled to life.

“All competitors please proceed to the warm-up stations,” the announcer’s voice said. “Coaches to the judging table.”

The Riverside gymnasts trotted to the mats. Sofia’s hands were shaking so hard, she was sure someone would notice. But the others weren’t paying attention, and Rana had been called up to the judges’ table. She had to explain her hijab and leotard, like she needed to at practically every meet.

“Rana’s on the uneven bars first,” Coach Jackson said, bustling up to the group. “Get over there, Riverside, let’s support her.”

“Coach . . . ,” Sofia said, but Coach Jackson had that focused look in her eyes she always got at a meet.

“Sofia, you’re on beam next, OK?” the coach said. With that, she marched toward the bars, where Rana was chalking her hands.

Everyone gathered on the bleachers. Rana took a deep breath. She leapt up to the lower bar, smoothly rotating into her first handstand. Her body was as straight as an arrow balanced on top of the bar.

She swung down, then back up, rotating her grip. She used her momentum to fly to the upper bar, the wood thunking into her palms.

Rana flipped around the bar once, flew back to the lower bar for a rotation, then flew back to the upper. She did a perfect handstand on the upper, followed by another rotation, flipping her grip.

She flew to the lower bar next and rose into a standing position for one brief second, then reached for the upper bar in a straddle-back release. She whirled around and around the upper bar and flew to the lower, completely airborne for a moment.

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