I felt empty. Cold and shaky sitting on the concrete floor for hours and hours. Waiting. Waiting for one word for my name. I had just got done competing for the winter cup gymnastics meet. I had traveled all the way to Tennessee just to hear my name so I could get called up for a medal. And this would be my last time ever competing and if I didn’t do as good as I thought I knew I would be disappointed in myself. Everything I could possibly think of was running through my head. My hands clammy as I reached down to readjust my seat. Every thought I had appeared to be negative. After a while I could feel the sweat dripping down the side of my cheek as I looked around at all the people. In an instant I was becoming hot and trapped from everyone's voices cheering their teammates' names. The scent of old equipment and chalk still lingered in the air and burned the inside of my nose and stung my throat. The whole experience felt so repetitive the names of the girls walking then cheering over and over and over again. Like I was being forced to watch a video on repeat that I could never stop. I watched the dusty clock hanging on the big brick wall. I stared at it closely but it never seemed to move. The thought of failure still haunted the back of my mind. The more I thought about it the more sweaty my hands seemed to become. My leotard felt itchy and rough from all the gems and rhinestones on the sleeves which made me uncomfortable. In the end I couldn't think once about the routines I had just completed without correcting myself and thinking  negatively about them. All the girls looked so much better than me but I know no one would ever tell me that. I started to panic and suddenly just wanted to run out of that room as fast as I could.

       The young girl on the loud microphone begins to say, “ok time for age group B” that was my age group. My words begin to tremble as I say “that’s us” to my other teammate. My heart was beating so fast I didn’t know how to stop it. I could again feel another light drip of sweat run down my back. I really hoped the other girls didn’t notice how nervous I looked. My heart dropped down into my stomach, waves of heat were rushing up to my head and down my arms to my fingertips. I could feel my hands shaking again as I checked the time to distract myself. My feet were cold against the chilled concrete we were sitting upon. My eyes were wandering many different places but I couldn’t quite focus on one thing. I suddenly closed my eyes for a short moment. I hear they announce the top three now. For the event floor. I looked back at my coach and she smiled almost as if she knew something I didn’t. Floor was my best event so I really wanted to prove my strengths. The room immediately went loud from all the girls cheering for third and second place. It suddenly quieted down a bit as the girl announced the first place winner. The room we were in was so quiet I could hear a pin drop. I could almost feel the anticipation which gave me goosebumps up my arms. Then I heard what I was waiting for since I got here. She called my name for first place. As I stood up from the large crowd of people I felt out of place. Then I carefully stepped over everyone’s bags and stepped up onto the podium. My heart finally came back up from my stomach. It felt as if I could breathe again. As I stood up in front of everyone I spotted my coach. Smiling ever wider than before. I was really proud of myself and what I accomplished. I never should have doubted myself and shouldn’t compare myself to other girls. When I walked down from the podium all my teammates hugged me. I will never forget this moment because I realized how hard I’ve worked to achieve everything I have earned over the years and how much I’m going to miss the thing I do best.