Meet Six: GTC (The Meet That Wasn't)

We are now only a few weeks away from state meet, which means training gets a lot more intense. A LOT more! Now we get to the point of fixing the littlest details, and while I was doing this on floor, the unthinkable happened.

I was doing my leap pass on floor (a switch leap, switch side, straddle jump) when I landed wrong and rolled my ankle. At first, I didn’t think it was that bad. I stretched it out, walked away to go get ibuprofen, and walked all the way upstairs and back to get tape for my coach to tape me up. It didn’t hurt very much, but my coach noticed that it had swollen up. A lot.

She sent me home, which was devastating. I had a meet the next day and I was missing my last day of workout before it! I knew it was a good thing, though, because I didn’t want to risk hurting it any more, making it so I wouldn’t be able to compete at state.

It hurt more after I left gym. My dad, who is a doctor, and my cousin, who is a sports trainer, checked it out. They both agreed that I had a sprain, but they both said that if it wasn’t bothering me much in the morning and if I taped it up really well, I could try to compete at least one event at the meet the next day. However, my mom talked to my coach and she said that this was a bad idea. She thought it would be better for me to just take some time off to make sure that it healed properly. 

I still decided to go watch my teammates compete, though. It was a good thing, too, because they all did really well! As a team, it was definitely one of the best meets this season! Two people won the all around in their age groups, and everyone placed on at least three things! I was really proud of everyone, and it made me realize just how much fun competing is and just how much I missed it. This meet was hosted by Gymnastics Training Center, and I have some good friends on their team that I would have been competing with. Even though I didn't get to see them, I had accepted that not competing was the best thing for me.

My wonderful team after they competed!

After the meet, Taelor, Monkey, Elise, my friend Breanna, and I all went out to eat at Bucca di Beppo. We were all starving and it was a good thing because none of us realized how HUGE the portions are there!

Monkey posing in front of a statue at the restaurant!

Monkey and Elise with another statue outside!

Four days later, my ankle doesn’t hurt much at all. I can walk perfectly normally without it hurting, and today my parents let me go back to gym. I did bars, and nothing, including dismounting, hurt it! Tomorrow, I hope to at least add beam, if not everything, but I will definitely be doing everything by the end of the week.

Even with this little bump in the road, I feel like I am prepared for state. I am confident in what I can do, and I feel that having had this injury will give me more confidence because I know that I can get through anything!