Superstars: Irish Courage

Irish Courage - Chapter 27

The day of the tournament had rolled around before Alice could even comprehend how far away it was. She continued to argue with Gavin that she didn't believe the children were ready but he insisted and eventually so did the children. She had to believe in them.

She was nervous herself and had brought Bryanna for luck, they had made up the day after her emotional break and were better than ever. Alice had never thought that she would be on the other side of the gymnastics field, never thought she would coach anyone once she left the sport. She was so nervous she had put on one of her old leotards underneath her Atlas gym tracksuit to try and calm her nerves as it did to her all those years ago.

Gavin had managed to hire a van to transport the children in as their parents followed in their own cars if they could get the time off. From the looks of it most of the town was joining them to support the younger ones, something Alice was quite impressed with. However, she could tell she was going to be under scrutinising eyes as they tested her mettle. Only Rex and the boys along with Bryanna knew of her Olympic history.

"The ride shouldn't be too much longer, the city's only about an hour away from town." Gavin explained as skyscrapers came into view in the distance.

Ali nodded and looked back at the children, watching them. They all had looks of excitement on their faces but she could tell they were nervous, as every sportsman was in any competition. She turned back in her seat and continued to watch the scenery pass by her.

They arrived in record time at Nashville International Sports Centre and unloaded the children quickly to avoid losing any of them in the crowds of people that had gathered. Ali felt her nerves spike as she took in the matching tracksuits, braids and illuminous leotards that surround them as they entered the arena and prayed to god that no one noticed her. It had taken Gavin merely minutes too.

She guided the children to sit down at their first station, the vault, and prepare themselves as she sent Gavin to go and register them. She had brought Brie along to motivate the children and keep morale high and so far it was working, despite her own internal panic attack that she was experiencing just looking at the arena around her.

She looked up at the scoreboard as she watched each of her five children's names that had decide to compete appear. Sophie, Chelsea, Mia, Rose and Rachel. Ali was leading the women's coaching while Gavin represented the boys who were competing later on.

Ali let her gaze move from the scoreboard to the crowd that filled the arena, it was filled to the brim as most gymnastic events were and Ali noticed that an entire corner was filled with dedicated members of Melody Hills that held numerous banners for the children. She also noticed a familiar group that looked a lot like Rex, Annette, Henry, Levi and most of Rex's family, including Tate and Tallulah.

She waved back as Tallulah waved at her and then turned back to her team as a team from Washington took to the vault first. Ali watched them carefully, noticing faults they would be picking up and watching for any problem with the vault table. There were gymnasts competing that were her age, trying to climb the ladder she once did, and she only wished they knew what they were facing.

Before she knew it the time had come for her children to take to the vault table, Brie got them pumped up with words of encouragement as they each stood excitedly in their leotards.

Ali began to bite her nails as each of the girls vaulted one after the other, perfect run ups but with faults picked up by holding their hands too long on the table or jumping forward after their landings. It was what she had expected, but she was proud as they still picked up eights that could easily be turned into nines.