It was time to start serious training at the Rock. Sasha Belov knew that well because his elites that were now apart of the Olympic team would be joining his junior elites and level ten girls today at practice. Not only would Payson, Kaylie, and Lauren be coming back, but they were being joined by Jordan Randall and Colleen Evans. He knew his focus needed to be on the Olympic athletes, but his whole gym would want and need his attention. That is why he had two wonderful assistant coaches as well Coach MacIntyre who would continue to train the girls but now alongside Sasha. Sasha stood in his office that overlooked the gym. Mrs. Keeler was sitting at her desk getting ready to start the process of sending the girls to London. Sasha peered out the glass window to see his junior elites stretching on the mats. His level tens were now chatting as they enter the gym and headed towards the locker room to get out of their street clothing. He checked off each of their names as he took attendance. Everyone was here today, so it was a bit startling when Sasha saw the Rock door open one more time. This time Coach MacIntyre enter, but he was not alone. All five of the Olympic female gymnasts followed behind him in a straight line. They all had their game faces on as they were ready to train. Coach Mac veered to the left to walk up to the steps to the office, so Payson took the lead to finish the march into the locker room. All the level tens were now stretching with the junior elites. Every single gymnast on the mats were gossiping while stretching. It would not take a rocket scientist to realize they were talking about the people who just marched in the door. A handful of the girls stretching dreamed to be one of those five one day, so the fact they were training with them was an honor as well as an experience that would give them an edge when they qualified for Olympic trials.
Coach MacIntyre met all five girls outside the Rocky Mountain Training Center. They had agreed to walk in together as a team to show their pride for their country. He led the pack into the gym, but he ventured off to join the one and only Sasha Belov in his office while the girls changed. Coach Mac entered the office and shook hands with Sasha. "Quite a nice gym you have here, Belov. I am glad that the final training will be conducted here" Coach Mac complimented as he looked at the girls stretching below them. "It is my pleasure. My other gymnast will benefit from such a strong example around." Sasha insisted as he motioned for his coworker to follow him down the stairs where his assistant coaches were awaiting instructions. "Sarah, can you work with the level tens in the auxiliary gym? I want them all to be working on their new tricks I gave them yesterday. John, I want you to work with the junior elites on beam and bars during the first rotation. That is where they need the most work. Coach Mac and I will take floor and vault first rotation to work with the Olympic Five." Sasha ordered. And like that, the level tens and Sarah left the main building to go to the auxiliary gym out back. John gather up the elites and split them into two groups. Group one worked on the beams, and group two was on bars. When the chalk dust had settled, Sasha saw the five girls he would be focusing on till the Olympics exit the locker room.
"Keeler and Randall, you will be on vault. Evans, Tanner, and Cruz hit the springboard mat because you're up on floor" MacIntryre shouted. The respected gymnasts began to stretch out, so they were limber and loosened up before training. Five minutes later they headed to their apparatus. Payson began to chalk up her hands and feet. Payson did well on vault, but vault was Kaylie's new specialty. Payson was preparing an Amanar for her Olympic vault. Actually, everyone would be doing an Amanar if they could all land it consistently. It was one of the toughest vaults out there, and it would give them an edge over China and Russia if all five could do it. Payson waited until Jordan was chalked up and ready to spot her before she began sprinting down the runway. She then did her round off that led into her back handspring onto the table. Payson did her two and a half twists in the air before landing on the mats. She stumbled two steps forward after making contact with the ground. She looked at Jordan for feedback since Coach Mac was working on a trick with Lauren, and Sasha was telling Kaylie how to improve her height on her first tumbling pass of her floor routine.
"Your legs were slightly bent in the air, and you need a little more height once you push off the table and start your twists." Jordan critiqued as she carefully monitored every aspect of Payson's vault. Jordan did not hold back on what Payson needed to fix. If she did, Payson would never improve, and Jordan expected Payson to do the same thing. Sugar coating did not produce gold medals. With that, Payson simply nodded and went back to the beginning of the runway. She did the vault again with what Jordan had told her in mind. Payson focused on pushing with all her might off the table to get as much height as gravity allowed. Once she was in the air she locked her knees to ensure they would not bend. She only bent them at the last minute to brace the impact of her landing. With the extra height, her landing was improved, but she still faltered. "How was that?" she inquired after saluting the imaginary judges.
"Your legs remained straight and managed to get the height you needed that time, but you did not have the face that makes it look like it is easy. Your confidence is not there. If you cannot make it look easy, you're not reaching your full potential. Stop thinking about performing it perfectly. Think about how easy this trick is for you, and that is why you can preform it perfectly. Understood?"
Payson did not even have to look to realize Jordan was not the one who said that. The sexy British accent gave it from the first word. "Understood!" Payson shouted with all her confidence she could muster up at that moment. She walked to Jordan's side and nodded for her partner to do her attempts at the Amanar. Jordan took into consideration what she just told Payson as well as what Sasha yelled from across the gym. She sprinted down the runway with less speed than Payson had. She preformed her Amanar, but she could only manage to preform two of the twist instead of the full two and a half. She landed with only one tiny step forward. Jordan already knew she did not do the full trick, but she acted confidentially as if she had.
On the other side of the gym, Colleen was taking a water break. Lauren and Kaylie took Sasha's shouting with stride. On each repetition of tumbling passes, they pushed harder and harder. They didn't seem to break at the tenth time of hearing do it again. Lauren, of course, was doing easier passes and not pushing it to the extremes. Her recovery from heart surgery still kept from working at the same level as the rest of the elites. Still, her and Kaylie left her behind in the dust. Colleen came from a laid back gym that was not thought to produce Olympic contenders. Her family could not afford to send her to one of the top gyms. By a miracle, Coach MacIntyre invited her to the training center. His style was cultural shock, and she worked hard to not let his bullying get to her. The infamous Sasha Belov was worse. Colleen didn't know if she could handle the pressure of it. Her cookie cutter clean routines were no longer able to secure her spot. The only thing she had going for her was the NGO.
[Author's Note: Colleen was never talked of in the show seriously until they announced who the Olympic team was in the final episode, so I am completely running with the freedom of creativity. As you will see, her coach was like Darby from season two. Please leave reviews. They help improve the story.]