Sushi (gxg)

Chapter 18

I don't think I'd ever been angrier at Coach McGinty, or more impressed with Kit. Other than doing the preliminary warm up dives during the week, the only other dive I'd seen her do was the one that she'd been forced to do over and over again until she was hurt. But now that she was working with Janine, the changes were amazing. It turns out that the other dives that she could do were just spectacular.

               I'm not a dive expert, but the way she flipped and tumbled through the air before nailing the landings on the other dives looked phenomenal. Sometimes she was spinning so fast I couldn't even tell how many times she twisted or somersaulted, and then she hit the water with a delicate little splash that I knew was a great sign.

               Janine was cheering each time, and I could tell she was excited about the dives that had been hidden away. I was so proud of my beautiful little Sushi, even if I couldn't call her that, and the smile on her face was visible even when she was up on the tower. The best part was, after running through each dive twice, they wrapped things up so that Kit didn't get overworked, and we ended up all sitting poolside discussing the dives while others practiced their swimming and diving. The constant squeaking, splashing and yelling didn't bother us though.

               "Kit, if we can get one more dive into that line up, you have a chance to win a medal," Janine said earnestly. "I'm not just saying that either. Those are four great dives, and each of them would get great marks from the judges. So, you already have one inward dive, one reverse, one forward and one reverse with a handstand. To show off with the judges, it would be great to get one more good dive since we're already showing all the disciplines. I just don't know if we have time to try a completely new dive, so we may have to work on one that's close."

               "Like the one I was doing before." Kit said grumpily. "I know."

               Janine reached over and ruffled her hair. "You do realize that the inward dive is the same 3.5 somersaults in the tuck, just with a different takeoff, right? And you already have the forward dive in the pike position, which is similar too. So, it isn't the dive that got you, it was just the mental aspect of it. Now, we can replace some of the somersaults with twists if you like, or we can try to work on the takeoff to see which you like more."

               I liked the way Janine gave her options and let Kit control her dives. She was going to feel better about them if she had a say in what she was doing, and not just told to do it over and over. Kit was thinking about it for a bit, then looked over at Janine. "I get nervous with that dive, because the forward takeoff is how I hurt my shin before Tokyo, and I know I already have the pike so that makes two of them. Do you think the workouts I've been doing would help with the takeoff?"

               "Absolutely," Janine said. "I think they helped already with the ones that you just showed me. Your entries were all perfect, and your body position was tight throughout the spins and twists. Even the takeoffs had plenty of height for what you were trying to do. If you wanted to try it again, I'd say go for it, and if it doesn't work, then we can try something else."

               Kit looked happy about that, and of course that made me happy too. "Can I try now? Or should I wait?" Kit asked her.

               "If you feel good about it, try now, otherwise we can do it tomorrow," Janine assured her.

               I reached over, gently squeezing her knee. "Don't push too hard, okay? But if you feel good, I know you can do it."

               Kit looked between the two of us, and then nodded. "One try, and we'll see how it goes. Like you said, I already do the jump from the other direction, so I know I can do it!" She popped off the edge of the pool, striding quickly towards the tower, and got in line with a few other divers that were doing some practicing.