by Shawn Keys
As such, it was with pride that he watched Cadence flash down the run-up, flow through her leap and leave the bar untouched. Daniel hummed in satisfaction. She had at least another .2 in that jump. Maybe more. She looked good. Fit. Confident. Exactly what she needed to be.
He strode over and held out a hand, helping drag her off the crash pad. Her smile said it all, but 4.2 meters was too easy for celebratory hugs. Daniel was a little amused; less than two years ago, breaking into the 4.0 meter club had evoked rightful tears of joy in her. Now it was just another day at the park.
They cleared the area and watched as Cindy completed her jump. That wasn’t a surprise. She was the highest ranked vaulter in the Caribbean. She was still fresh, having started jumping at the 4.0 mark. The British Virgin Islands didn’t have a huge population, nor was it connected back to the UK in a way where they received a huge influx of money. But the connection was strong enough that certain things like teachers and techniques could migrate there easily. Cindy had benefitted from that.
She wasn’t alone. A lot of the athletes hailing from Puerto Rico benefited from their ties to the US. Curaçao’s connection to the Netherlands aided them. Martinique and a few of the other islands in that archipelago had links to France. Those factors helped the smaller islands compete against the larger Central American countries and their larger populations.
Portesara’s link to France had diminished since the island’s independence to where it was now virtually non-existent. French names of the cities and influence on their food was pretty much the extent of it. The French language remained one of the official languages, but Daniel felt more comfortable wandering around the other islands in the region which didn’t speak the same language as people did in Paris.
Over the next several minutes, the minor drama at the 4.2 mark continued to play out. Anita, Teresa and Eva all failed to make any of their three attempts. Two of them had achieved similar results at their national level competitions, while Anita’s finish still allowed her to celebrate her entry into the 4.0 meter club, a significant milestone no matter how you looked at it.
Julie scratched her second attempt and was fuming in a way that made Daniel think she couldn’t possibly get it together again. He half-expected her to storm off the field and not return. Against all odds, she channeled her anger. Part of Gordon’s teaching? Or her version of mastering her emotions? Whatever the case, she went over the crossbar with her face locked in a mask of angry determination. Even after impacting on the pad, she scrambled free without looking mollified at all.
“Still all three of us in the mix,” Daniel said softly as Cadence stretched beside him. “Good for Portesara. Good for us, too. We needed to look like superstars if we’re going to get the commission to commit to this sport as its thing.”
“They’ll get a medal for sure,” Cadence noted.
“Yeah. Cindy and Carmen can’t keep all of you off the podium.”
“We could block them out. Wouldn’t that be something? All Portesaran flags?”
“Focus on getting your cute butt over that bar, hmm?”
“Do you know what a directional microphone is?” Cadence joked.
“Yeah. And once you’re famous enough for people to point one at you, I won’t be able to use the crowd noise to cover flirting with you. But for now…”
Cadence shot back, “For now, you need to let me focus on vaulting!”
He snickered, then met her eyes steadily. “You’re amazing. No reason to be distracted by that. I watched you jump. You looked steady. Better than steady. Strong. Ready. In the zone. Does it help or hurt to know I love you?”
“Helps,” she shined a smile back at him.
“Good. Because I do.” He glanced over and saw Carla scratch at her first attempt. All the others had been defeated by the 4.4 meter mark on their first try as well. “And now you’re up. Your chance to be the first over. Go show them how it’s done.”
Restraining herself from pecking him on the cheek, the brief flash of desire in Cadence conveyed what she felt well enough. Then she was past him, striding up to take her place on the line.
She did so with a little more caution this time. No, Daniel realized. Caution was a bad word. Awareness. Prudence. Precision. She isn’t relying on instinct. Exactly as we practiced, she’s measuring the distance in her mind and adjusting to being in a different place.
Switching over to his critical side, Daniel analyzed every aspect of her start. Foot placement. Posture. Angle of the pole. Her focus. Her breathing pattern. He ticked off every box. It was too late to change anything now. She was committed to the run and it would happen however it happened. But whether this one went right or wrong, there would be lessons to learn for the next one. That was his role. Look to the future.
Cadence launched from her mark, using crisp, bounding strides. Daniel loved this type of run. Filled with energy and explosive potential, yet also timed and measured to cover the exact amount of distance. Every footfall was planned and given a role in maximizing the energy she would be able to impart upon the pole and then snap into flight.
She soared. Daniel followed her every movement and he couldn’t see anything he would want to improve. Cadence was rapidly getting to the point when the only way she was going to get better was added strength training and stripping away wasted motion. They had honed her into a weapon until she was sharp and ready. Now it was going to be all about her learning how to wield her skills like an expert. Hours upon hours upon hours of repetition until going over that crossbar was second nature.
She went over the 4.4 meter bar like she was born to be in the air. He had never been that comfortable with the motion and this had been one of his favorite events. It was beautiful to watch. He could do it all day long.
This time she showed a little more joy as she came off the landing pad. Beyond the victory of a great jump, she knew she had truly put pressure on the others. When competitions got tight, the judges would start working upward in smaller increments to help differentiate the athletes. But the athletes had to all agree they couldn’t hit the next 0.2 increase. Now that 4.4 was cleared, that wasn’t going to happen for them. It was either hit that mark or the gold was going to be out of reach.
Trying to contain herself, Cadence drifted over to one side, retreating into herself and hunting down that absolute focus she would need to keep herself on the cutting edge of her performance in her down time.
Daniel walked over to MK’s side. She had been leaning against the back of a bench, watching the other athletes try one after the other. Daniel joined her scarcely in time to watch Cindy fail her first.
Both of them restrained themselves from cheering; that would hardly be the mark of good sportsmanship. But Daniel saw MK bounce a fist off the wood of the bench and heard her whisper, “One down.”
Daniel kept his voice low, also not wanting to be heard cheering for anyone’s failure. “Too early for thinking that she’s out. She missed one of her steps. Not quite a trip but enough to throw her rhythm off. Cindy has been over 4.4 plenty of times.”
“Finally got the hang of looking into your opponents, huh?”
“Took a while for me to figure it out, but I heard that’s what coaches are supposed to do,” Daniel mocked himself. “Here goes Carmen.”
They watched as the young Guatemalan made her best effort but nudged the bar off its posts. Two attempts down, one left.
When Julie and Carla both also failed their second runs, the two of them were practically vibrating next to each other. Cadence was doing her best to keep warm, but she had to know as well as anyone that if the jumps kept going this way, hers was going to hold up as the winning score.
Cindy crushed that hope with her next effort. Daniel wasn’t too surprised when she went over the bar. The woman had talent, that was for sure. But he would still put Cadence’s form in a category above.
He peered over to meet his protégé’s gaze, beaming his support from a distance. His encouraging nod earned anot
her smile from Cadence. She became more active, knowing that vaulting again was going to be necessary. She still had the advantage, having gotten over on her first attempt, but that could vanish if she didn’t stay sharp.
A minute later, Carmen took her third run and failed the attempt. She was out.
That brought up Julie. Hot emotion rolled off her shoulders and Daniel swore he could see steam coming out of her ears like a cartoon. Gordon was standing well back, giving his volatile student all the space that she apparently wanted. Her eyes were fixated on the vaulting apparatus like it was the incarnation of all that was wrong in the world.
She took off like a rocket, bounding down the run-up and jamming her pole aggressively into the pocket. It really shouldn’t have worked, but Julie powered through, denying the probable in favor of what she demanded. Snarling with a final burst of effort, she snapped free and over the crossbar. The swell of one breast brushed ever so slightly against the fiberglass. As her hands whipped over, the bar rattled… rattled… and stayed up.
Julie pumped a hand as she plummeted to the crash pad. She didn’t rest, popping back to her feet before the sound of her impact had echoed around the stadium. Clenching her fist tightly, she dropped to the grass and stalked away. She deliberately didn’t head over to Gordon or Carla.
Daniel felt bad for the guy. He could see the small flicker of pain on his face. He might say that training Julie was nothing but a paycheck, but it wasn’t easy to invest time in a person and then have them reject you. Worse, to have them suggest what you had given them wasn’t worth anything because it wasn’t ‘the best’. He gave due credit to the athletes. He had been one. It was the athletes who put in the blood, sweat and tears to get to this point. But he was absolutely sure she wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Gordon’s guidance. Reason number 356 why I wouldn’t want to teach her. Did Gregoire poison her to be like this? Or something else?
In the end, he didn’t know enough to judge her. He’d simply avoid her. The surface impressions he did have were enough to make that call. Let someone else dig into the murky depths that had conjured her attitude.
Maybe I can buy Gordon a drink. Toast him for dealing with her, something I certainly couldn’t do.
Without having to tend to Julie, it left Gordon free to do what the rest of them were doing: focusing on Carla and her last attempt. The woman took a bead on her target, heaved in a final breath and then launched into her run. Bounding steps… charging sprint… tilting pole…
The tip hit the backstop of the pit a little too high. The contours of the pit were meant to be somewhat forgiving, guiding the pole into its seat at the base. Carla’s did precisely that, but the skidding motion jarred her out of her perfect rhythm. At anything under 4 meters, she would have been able to recover. But this was right at the edge of her skills. To hit this mark, she needed to do it better than she normally did. Everything had to flow right.
It hadn’t.
So instead, the pole loaded with energy a little too late. Carla felt it happening, so she let go. Jumping aside, she avoided physical injury but also gave up her chance of reaching the height. It was her third attempt. She was out.
Off to one side, Julie gave a small “Yeah!” through gritted teeth, as if watching justice get served.
Daniel’s gaze flickered from her over to Carla. She was squatted down, cradling her head and trying to not to break down as she realized she had so narrowly missed the podium. Gordon was at her shoulder, warm hands inviting her to lean against his leg as he patted her back in consolation. No doubt his message would sound the same as Daniel’s would if he were in his place. To remind her that getting fourth place in the Central American and Caribbean Games put her in a realm of achievement that few could ever hope for. She had been second in all Portesara. Now, she was fourth across the span of two dozen countries and millions more people.
Seeing that she was being well tended, he glanced back over to Julie. She was already prowling around near the warm-up area like a tigress waiting for her next hunt.
“Wow,” Daniel exhaled, stunned by her treatment of a teammate. Reason 357.
“Oh, you can go ahead and say it,” MK growled. “If you won’t, I will. She’s being a bitch.”
“A bitch who could still top the podium,” Daniel reminded her.
“No way. She’s taken three jumps at each of the last two heights. She barely made it over that last one!” Clearly MK wasn’t in any mood to be charitable.
“Barely making it still counts,” Daniel said.
‘We’re about to see. There she goes.”
With Carla eliminated, the official had done his rounds. Cadence and Cindy had both indicated they would try 4.6 meters. All the remaining participants would have had to agree to take smaller increments, which meant despite her close calls, Julie had no choice but to join them or settle for third. The start order put her up first.
Julie resummoned her spirit of anger as she lined up for the run. She needed this to take the pressure off. She missed twice at the previous height, which meant any ties were going to go to her competitors. Working herself into wrathful state, she charged at the launch.
This time, her frenetic energy wasn’t enough. Julie took out the crossbar. Nothing about her arc suggested that she would have or even could have gone over it. It was a near thing that she avoided banging against the large pole on the way down. Furious with herself, she stormed off the landing pad.
“There it is,” Daniel whispered, locking his eyes on Cadence. “This is her chance. Come on Cadence. Kill it.”
MK didn’t say a thing, intent on beaming strength and good will toward her friend.
Cadence had taken her spot on the run-up. She wasn’t looking at them. She was in the zone, staring down a mark that was the highest she had ever cleared in practice. Daniel had watched her do it ten times. He had counted. But only ten times. This was her working height. He decided she was fifty-fifty if he was considering only mechanics and percentages. But there was more at play here. She wanted it. He could see it painted on her face. She was visualizing herself going over.
There was no telling why she chose the moment she did. Everything fell into line and she kicked off the mark. Her legs flexed powerfully. Each footfall was another thrust of acceleration. Her pattern included 21 steps, bringing her over 9 meters per second by the point she planted her foot and flung herself into the air, riding the kinetic energy that the pole was waiting to give back.
She soared. Her hips twisted as her legs kicked upward in two bursts aimed at keeping her momentum building. Transitioning from being upright to inverted, she arrowed feet-first over the bar. Her extensive, flexibility training took over as she folded herself over the barrier, then flung her hands to generate the last bit of spin needed to avoid the bar completely.
Daniel stood straight, clapping in delight. “Yes!”
MK bounced her hands off the bench again, “Alright, Cay!”
His intention was to intercept Cadence as she came off the crash pad, but she scrambled too fast off the canvass-covered foam. A dozen running steps later, she dove against him while he wrapped his strong arms around her. The temptation to kiss her had never been so powerful. He made do with sweeping her off her feet and laughing.
The only thing that brought them down from their joy was the thought that it wasn’t over yet. Coming out of their brief euphoria, they reached out and brought MK into a slightly-less intimate hug. Together, they retreated to the bench, waiting for the rest of the drama to play out.
By then, Cindy was into her own pre-jump routine. She rotated the pole exactly twice, scanning it up and down for flaws, even though there was no chance of that. Daniel suspected it was one of a hundred mini-superstitions, many of which might not even be visible. Certain things she had to do in order to feel right about her next attempt. Most athletes had their own, always unique to each person. When ready, she canted the pole to the proper angle and drew her own focus.
This time sh
e didn’t miss a step on her run-up. It was a clean approach. Daniel held his breath as she took off.
She was close, but she clipped the bar with her knee and an elbow. The first made it jump while the second carried it off the rungs.
As she climbed off the pad, Cindy didn’t lose her cool. That wasn’t to say she was happy. She scowled, falling into a whispered conversation with her coach who had rushed up to her.
Julie flashed Cadence an evil glare on her own way up to the starting point. Once the lingering stare had gone well past uncomfortable, she got serious about what she was doing.
“I’m beginning to think she has a problem with me,” Cadence sighed.
“There’s no pleasing some people,” MK joked.
With nothing else to add, Daniel merely watched. He hoped it wasn’t what some would call dread fascination. He wasn’t watching to see if Julie was going to make it. He knew she wasn’t. He couldn’t stop himself from wanting to see how she was going to handle the loss.
It didn’t go well. Carla was taking a moment alone, so that freed Gordon to try one more time to show he cared. None of them were close enough to hear what Julie hissed back at him, but whatever it was made her coach’s face turn red. His mouth closed in a tight line, holding in what he craved to scream back. In the end, he simply stalked off while Julie paced angrily into the waiting area, looking like she wanted to chew nails or jump immediately without waiting for Cindy to take her turn.
Cadence folded her hands behind her head, stretching her back. “This is killing me. I’d jump a dozen more times if it meant no more waiting.” She bounced on the balls of her feet, a token effort at keeping her muscles awake. If either of the other women nailed their jumps, she would be going again after her muscles tightened during this long, cold break.
