It was our first practice at our new jump rope studio. Before, we had always practiced at this kindergarten building in Coronado. It was nice because it was only 15 minutes from my house.
But now my jump rope coach, Melissa, had decided to open up her own jump rope studio. It was nice because we could have long practices and have jump rope workshops, but it was kind of upsetting for me because the new location was 45 minutes away from my house, an hour with traffic.
It wasn't as upsetting for me as it was for my mom, though. She had to drive to practice to get me there by 4:30, and had to pick me up by 7:30. Also, my brother Matt and my sisters Addy and Katie were young and had to get to bed early.
We usually go to Nationals in June and then have a break from jump rope in the summer and are jumping again by September.
But last year we started our own jump rope reality show. We didn't go to Nationals to focus on our show. The building we had been using before for practice had become unavailable, and we had nowhere to practice.
Then came the day that Coach Melissa had the idea to open up her own jump rope studio. I remember it like just yesterday.
She was teaching a jump rope class at my school. I'm the only person on the jump rope team at my school, but there are some younger kids who take a class to learn how to jump rope, including my younger sister, Addy.
I am a junior instructor at the school jump rope class, because I am on the jump rope team. This means that I help teach.
That day at jump rope class, we were stretching before we started jumping when Coach Melissa said, "Guess what! I found the space and might be able to open the first ever jump rope studio in the country!"
"Wow," I replied. "We wouldn't just use it for practice," Coach Melissa continued, "We could hold workshops and competitions. And I could have classes there. Like a dance studio, but, you know, for jump rope."
That day at jump rope class we continued to talk about the studio. When my mom came to pick me and Addy up, Coach Melissa told her about the studio. "Where is the studio located?" my mom asked. "Claremont Mesa," Coach Melissa answered. "Oh," my mom replied, and her voice got real quiet. "I know, it sucks for the Coronado people, but it's such a great opportunity, I just can't pass it up."
Now here I was, 2 months later, getting ready for the first jump rope practice of the season.
I was so excited to see my teammates again. The last time I saw them was August, when we went to a going away party for our friends the triplets. Summer, Sierra, and Savanna were going off to college. They were still going to compete with us at Regionals and Nationals, but that wasn't the same. The team wouldn't be the same without them.
Coach Melissa had given us the address of the studio, but we still got lost a few times trying to find it. Boy, would this take some getting used to.
We finally found the address that Melissa had given us, and it turned out to be a run down old building that looked like it used to be a car rental place from the outside.
I walked in to find an empty office space. It was small and darkish. Then A door opened and Coach Melissa walked out. "Hi!" she said. "The jumpers are in here." And she led my room with raised wood floors over what you could tell had been concrete floors before. The walls were an ugly green. It looked about three-fourths the size of our old practice place. I honestly thought that the place looked hideous.
But I didn't really care about how bad the place looked, because my friends were there! "McKenzie!" I called and went up to hug her. Then I saw some of my other friends, Lilah, Emmie, Jenny and Rosie.
After everyone had said hello, Coach Melissa had us all sit in the center of the room and talk, like we used to at the kindergarten building.
"So, isn't this place awesome?" Coach Melissa asked. "Yes," we all replied, even though I thought it was terrible. We started talking about practice and everything else that we would do here. "I think we should call this place the Double Dutch House, unless someone else can think of a better name for it in the next week."
"Secondly, I've been thinking about new uniforms. They would make us look so much sharper. We need a logo, though."
New uniforms would be awesome. So much better than our ugly old red jump rope shirts.
"I think I have an idea for a logo," McKenzie said. She's great at art. We all watched her draw a cute little person with a jump rope. It was similar to our original logo, but it looked better. In a circle around the person she wrote, "San Diego Speed Skippers" our team name.
"I love it!" Coach Melissa said.
"Oh ya, I should have told you guys this first, but our show has been put on hold for a while. The first season was very successful, and we'll be continuing with season 2 in a couple months, maybe next year."
I looked at McKenzie. "My aunt is doing a layover show in Australia. She'll be back in a couple months." "Oh," I replied. McKenzie's aunt, Ms. Menville, was our show director. While I liked being famous, I was kind of relieved that the show was on hold. We could focus on competition this year. And besides, I liked McKenzie, I really did. She was my friend. But her aunt was kind of pushy when it came to the show. She liked to create drama. She had even gotten me and my friend Rosie into a big fight.
The practice continued pretty well, except I missed the triplets! They really completed the team.
There were a couple of new people on the team, who I met that night. There were two sisters named Ashlyn and Zoey. Ashlyn looked about my age, but Zoey was tiny. She could be six or seven.
There was also a little boy named Joey. Before there was only one boy on the team, Jake. He must be happy to have another boy on the team now.
I was so happy to see my friends again, even if it took me an hour to get home.
And I was happy enough to not even mind the ugly green walls.