On top of the world

Push up contest

Our morning group class was a spin class taught by Tracy Wilson. I was pleased with that because I thought my spin positions needed some work. We went back to basic positions initially: the camel, sit, and upright scratch spin positions, working on both forward and backward spins in the basic positions. Javi, Yuzu, and Nam also demonstrated some of the level 4 combination spins they used in competition.

After the spin class, I did a runthrough of my freeskate program to prepare for the competition that will happen this weekend. It was competition ready, so I felt confident as I performed it for the imaginary audience in the stands. I also happened to notice Yuzuru watching me closely at times while I was doing my runthrough. So I also imagined he was part of the audience and performed for him too.

Before our off ice conditioning class, Javi pulled me aside and asked me something: "Lyuba, exactly how old are you now?"

"I'm 12, and I'll turn 13 in September," I answered. "¿Por qué?"

"I think Yuzuru finds you...interesting, for some reason only he would know. He's been watching you a lot this morning."

"I'll be watching you..." I sang in a deep voice like The Police. We tittered, but Javi became all seriousness again.

"I've known him for a year and he seems like a good guy to me but...if he ever tries to do anything to you or hurt you in any way, all you need to do is call me over and I'll set him straight."

"I think he's too scared of you to do anything to me, guardian angel," I said naively.

"Ok...but seriously, do let me know if he makes you uncomfortable in any way. I just want you to be safe."

"Ok, Javi. I'll let you know if anything happens. But now we have to get ready for off-ice!" I reminded him.

*****

"Ok everyone, push-up contest!"

Javi was the only one among us who was visibly excited; everyone else looked scared. Come on Brian, really? How is this contest going to make us into world-class skaters?

"Two people face off at a time; the rest of y'all will split into two groups and work on either jumps or spins off ice with Tracy and Ghislain! Any volunteers to go first?"

I raised my hand. The sooner I get this over with, the better.

Javi also raised his hand, so we were going to face off.

Brian turned on a pre recording of someone counting so we wouldn't cheat on the push-ups. We began.

"Down, up one. Down, up two. Down, up three..."

After about 30 reps, I was really feeling the burn in my arms. But I kept going.

"Ahh coach...I'm not used to...going this...lento!" Javi complained about how slow the guy's counting was. I smiled slightly to myself. I was used to his counting speed because it was the exact version that my middle school gym teacher used for the push-up fitness test.

Javi collapsed after 45 reps. But somehow, I found a little bit of reserved strength within myself to squeeze out 5 more reps. I crumpled after 50 whole freaking push-ups.

Katya, Alena, and everyone else cheered for me. "You beat Javi!! Yay!" Katya said. Alena congratulates me in Russian. Everyone else gave me high fives and "Wow!"s.

Javi stood up and faced me. "Well, chica, you won!" he said. I could still see him visibly shocked. I was shocked at myself. "You have really competitive spirit."

"Gracias," I breathed out in between my pants.

"Ok who's next?" Brian called out.

Nam and another camper went next. Nam barely squeezed out 40 reps.