Ann Martin - Jessi's Gold Medal

"Oh, that's my lunch period," I said, disappointed.

"It's all right," Ms. Walden said. "You could take your lunch fifth period, instead of regular gym. That would be easy for me to arrange with the administration — if you want to do it."

Swimming with dancing — and no gym class? It sounded too good to be true. How could I say no?

"Sure!" I said to Ms. Cox. "I'd love to try it."

"Wonderful!" Ms. Cox replied. "Our next practice is Thursday, right here. See you then!"

Chapter 4.

Well, Thursday came.

I felt more excited than nervous. But still, when I showed up at the pool complex during fourth period, my stomach was rumbling.

It was a little embarrassing, I have to admit — and I couldn't figure out why it was happening. After all, I'm used to performing in front of crowds.

Then I realized my poor stomach was being faked out. Usually fourth period meant lunch — no wonder it was complaining.

I saw Ms. Cox running toward me (maybe she heard the rumbling). "Jessi, hi!" she called. She had a huge grin, and seemed full of energy.

"Hi," I said.

Ms. Cox turned around and said in a loud voice, "Girls! We have someone new in the class — Jessica Ramsey. Jessi, this is Abby, Monica, Hannah ..."

She mentioned fifteen names altogether, and after she was done I didn't remember a single one. I guess I was nervous.

"Hi," I said again and again. I was really showing off my vocabulary, huh?

"Oh, this is wonderful," Ms. Cox went on. "We finally have an even number in the class. You see, Jessi, we do a lot of work in pairs. With only fifteen girls, that means someone is always switching around. Right, Elise?"

A pretty, raven-haired girl smiled and said, "Yup."

"Elise Coates has been partners with just about everyone in the class," Ms. Cox went on. "But not any more. I'm going to make you two a permanent pair, okay? I think you'll work well together. Take a few minutes, get to know each other, and then Elise can catch you up on some basics." She turned to Elise and said, "Go over the side stroke and the crawl, and show her the standard scull, the tub position, and maybe the tub turn and the back tuck somersault if you have time. I'll be around to help you out."

Huh?

Tub turn? Back tuck somersault? What had I gotten myself into? This was nothing like my first ballet class, where all we did was first-and second-position plies for an hour.

Ms. Cox must have noticed how I was feel-

ing, because she gave me a confident wink and said, "It's not as hard as it sounds." Then she shouted, "Come on, girls. Let's do some warm-ups!"

Elise smiled. Her dark brown eyes warm and friendly. "It's really nice to meet you. Have you ever done any synchro?"

"Uh . . . what?"

"I guess you haven't," Elise said with a laugh. "Synchro is short for synchronized swimming."

"Oh." Boy, did I feel stupid.

"Don't worry," Elise said. "I only started a couple of weeks ago. I'm, like, one of the worst in the class — so just think, with my help, you can be, too!"

I laughed. Thank goodness Elise was so nice. She put me right at ease.

"I have an idea," she said. "This will start to give you a feeling for synchro. Can you do a side stroke and a crawl?"

"Yes!" It felt so good to know something.

"Good. Let's do two laps of side stroke and two laps of crawl together. Try to stroke at exactly the same time I do."

"Okay."

Elise stood at the edge of the pool. I stood next to her. "Ready?" she asked.

"Ready."

She jumped in, feet first. So did I.

We swam our four laps, and I was able to match strokes with her pretty well. The trouble was, she was a stronger swimmer and kept getting way ahead of me.

"That was good," Elise said as we climbed out of the pool. "Your presentation is fantastic!"

"Presentation?"

"That's Ms. Cox's word for style. She's always trying to get us to move gracefully. Her big saying is, 'Work hard, but make it look easy.' That's my weak point — but you do it naturally."

"Thanks," I replied. "I guess that's because of my ballet classes. I wish I could swim as fast as you, though."

"Oh, sorry," Elise said with a guilty grin. "I shouldn't have gone so fast. It's just that I'm on the SMS swim team and I'm used to racing."

"You're on the swim team?" I said. "But you said you were one of the worst — "

"Synchro's much different than racing. I have strength, but no style."

"And I have style but no strength," I said with a sigh.

"See? It's perfect! That's probably why Ms. Cox put us together. We can coach each other."

I could tell Elise and I were going to get

along — and I was right. The rest of the hour was fun. Exhausting, but fun. First Elise showed me how to "scull." That's the way you support your body in the water. While you're lying on your back, you sort of sweep your arms away from your body and then back in, keeping your fingers together. To move headfirst, you keep your wrists "hyperex-tended" (bent upward). To move feetfirst, you keep your wrists "flexed" (bent downward). It's actually a little more complicated than that, but that's the basic idea.

Anyway, we practiced sculling for a long time, until I got the hang of it. Then Elise taught me the "tub" position, in which you lie on your back and draw your knees up close to your chin. It's like a sitting position, only you're facing upward. Sound easy? It's not, because you have to scull at the same time, to keep your body near the surface.

We never got to the somersault, but it didn't matter. I was hooked on synchro — and I had a new friend.

Ms. Cox could tell, too. She came over to us three times during the hour. At the end, she said, "Jessi, you look fabulous. You're going to be ready for competition in no time."

I started to say "competition?" but the word stuck in my throat. I mean, synchro was fun, but I was just beginning. I learned ballet move-

ment fast, too, but I didn't have my first recital until after a year of classes!

Before I could say anything to Elise, Ms. Cox was making an announcement to the class: "Girls, I have some good news! I just got word from the school. It's official — we're going to be a part of the SMS Sports Festival!"

"Yea!" screamed Elise (and all the other girls).

"We're going to do a demonstration in two eight-member groups," Ms. Cox continued, "and then pairs will compete with each other for medals."

There was another burst of happy screaming, and everyone started talking excitedly. "Isn't that great, Jessi?" Elise said to me.

It was great. I honestly did feel excited. I also felt like I was in over my head. "I guess," I answered.

Elise looked concerned. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just that, well, I'm so far behind everybody."

"Oh, Jessi, you are such a perfectionist!" Elise said with a laugh. "The way you learn, you're going to have no problem being ready. I can tell."

"You think so?" I said.

"Think so? I know so! Jessi, this'll be so much fun!"

You know what? I believed Elise. Her en-

ergy was so positive. And to tell you the truth, deep down inside I feel pretty confident when it comes to anything physical. (I get that confidence from ballet lessons — dance is similar to sports in many ways.)

I knew it would be a lot of work for me — and for Elise, too. But there was something else I knew. I knew we could do it.

When I returned home after school that day, I couldn't wait to tell everyone the news. The first person I saw was Becca, curled up in front of the TV. A car commercial was just ending.

"Becca, guess what?" I cried.

"Ssshhh!" Becca said. "Watch this with me, Jessi! It's the Olympic trials."

I sat down and watched some incredibly fast women running a hundred-meter sprint.

"Wow!" Becca exclaimed. "They look so muscle-y!"