Gaby Book 17 - Seasons

 
 
“I don’t know how you managed it,” Mand mumbled.
“Managed what?”
We were stood with a couple of other members of the All Stars waiting for Hannah and the bus. Its not the greatest of mornings, about five degrees and threatening rain – I guess it could be worse; we aren’t out on the bikes!
“You know damned well.”
“Job?” I suggested.
“Hmmm.”
“Here’s the bus.”

There’s too many of us for the club minibus, we’ve got a few parents besides the squad and all our gear so we’ve got a proper coach from that lot up at Nurburg to take us. The dark green Krämer behemoth pulled up and we climbed aboard just as the first drops of rain descended.

“Hi girls,” Han greeted, “you gonna sit up here Gab?”
“Er morning, I…”
“I’ll sit with Pia,” Mand decided before heading down the bus.
“Guess so,” I allowed before attempting to swing my bag up onto the rack.
“Just put it on the seat behind, no ones sitting there,” Han instructed.

Leonard, that’s the Busfahrer, set us moving as I settled into my seat. Coach travel, even buses, isn’t something I do very often, okay there’s the team minibus but that’s hardly the same as a proper coach. Everything looks so different from your elevated position and unlike even the minibus; you have room around you, its almost like flying along the road.

“So, everything okay?”
“Think so,” I replied, “you?”
“I thought I’d forgotten something, I’m so used to having a ton of stuff with the Garde.”
“Yeah, a box of poms is hardly the same,” I agreed, “so when do we erm, you know?”
“We’ll have a run through when we get there, don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”

Famous last words.

Its almost more trouble than it’s worth using the autobahn between the Ahr and Koblenz, I wasn’t surprised that Leonard elected to use the nine alongside the Rhein. Our destination, whilst addressed as Koblenz is actually at Niederwerth, a few k’s north of the town so using the river route actually makes some sense. It was a bit busy around Andernach but we pulled up along the street from the ‘Gertrude Scholl Schule’ just shy of an hour after leaving Dernau.

“Okay girls, Frau Förstbacher, can you sort out the curtain please, Gaby and I will go find out what’s happening, if you can get yourselves ready please.”

It was drizzling incessantly now, coat and brolly weather; even so we were quite damp by the time we reached the school entrance. The organisation was of course very er, German and efficient even if the level of organisation was somewhat less than I’ve experienced at the other cheer competitions I’ve been to. It didn’t take long to get us registered, longer to organise a room for warm ups etc – apparently they hadn’t thought of that although the big marquee outside gave them two competition areas.

By the time we got back to the coach Leonard was busy ignoring the cacophony further back in his bus, the rear half now transformed into a reasonably private changing room. Frau Förstbacher had clearly done this before, a curtain was strung across the bus and with the window curtains drawn it made it quite cosy, have to say, I wouldn’t’ve thought of it. Being the coach I didn’t have to change although I had brought my shoes, as much from habit as anything else.

“Ten minutes!” Hannah advised our flock – well she’s better at shouting than me.

I gathered my stuff and waited for everyone to assemble.

“Er if you follow me, we’ll go straight to our practice room, try not to get splashed on the way.”

I led the way off the bus; it was weird being the leader rather than the led. At least the rain had eased a little so whilst there were still a lot of puddles it was only a light mist descending on us. When we got to the school it was much busier than previously, more groups had arrived so there were girls, and it was 100% girls as far as I could see, everywhere.

The room we’d secured was on the first floor, a bit out of the way but that’s not a bad thing. Of course the first job was to move the furniture so we had some floor space, Han and the other adults managed to arrive after that was complete – hmm, have to practice that.

“Okay,” I started, “we’ve got, shitza, er forty minutes before our first set so lets get on.”

It was clear that even Lisse and Kristin had been practicing even if Lisse in particular was still out of step with the rest. Whilst Han and I had pretty much already picked our squad it was still gonna be difficult telling the dropped girls. On the other hand we get two goes today as we’re entered in different categories and unlike in the States they are judged separately – an idea percolated through my head.

“Han!” I beckoned my co conspirator outside.
“What’s up?”
“Which category is the most important for the Tanzklub?”
“Wouldn’t like to say, maybe the open, why?”
“Okay so if we didn’t do as well in small group it wouldn’t be a disaster?”
“Suppose not, what are you thinking Gaby?”
“How about we ‘rest’ say Pia and Nette this morning, give Kris and Lisse a shot?”
“Well you’re the coach so it’s your call.”
“So what do you think?”
“I think that’s an excellent idea Gab, everyone gets to be included, yes I like it, best go and tell them.”

“You fixed it didn’t you?” Mand accused as we all headed down for our first ‘public’ display.
“Don’t know what you mean.”
“I was always gonna be on the squad wasn’t I?”
“Only if you wanted to.”
“And if you’re little scheme had failed?”
“Well you wouldn’t have a job and we’d only have one spare today.”
“Hmm.”

Whilst we had a couple of dancers on the squad for the rest this was their first time being judged and the nerves were obvious, even Mand was clearly a bit stressed as we waited our turn.

“Okay guys, lets all calm down and relax.”
We’ll be pole axed by nerves at this rate.
“Right, eyes closed, now breath in, hold it, hold it and slowly release.”
We repeated it a couple of times, everyone was a bit calmer, some nerves are good – you can be over confident.
“Ahr All Stars?” one of the officials queried.
“Here!” I replied waving an arm, “okay girls, break a leg!”

I was quite proud watching our little squad as they prepared to start their routine, from nothing to this in like six months. When we started the Foresters it was all about having some fun with the girls, competing was never the raison d’etre as they say. The All Stars, though I hadn’t realised at first, were very much supposed to be a competitive team, the Tanzklub revolves around competition in all genres.
The music started and it was out of my hands.

‘And down!’ I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I was holding and started clapping.

It hadn’t been perfect, let’s be realistic here, but I thought they did pretty well. Lisse was better than expected and I only spotted one misstep – not that I could watch everyone all the time. The faces were all smiles when they came off the mat, even the reluctant English girl was bubbling.

“Okay girls, back upstairs, we’ll warm down then get lunch,” Hannah instructed.
Lunch, sheesh, I hadn’t even thought about that, there’s a narna in my bag but that wasn’t going to go far.
“Lunch?”
“That’s what assistants are for,” Han chuckled, “the parents have brought a bit of a buffet, don’t worry, the club stumps up towards it.”
“Right,” I allowed as we followed the others up the stairs.
“You lived through the whole thing down there didn’t you?”
“I did?”
“I could see you counting steps,” Hannah noted.
“I was just following them.”
“It wasn’t a criticism.”
“Er right.”

“Looks like we might have a problem Gabs,” Han mentioned as I picked at my lunch.
“Ot oh, what’s up?”
“We’ve got an injury, Erika has pulled a thigh muscle.”
“Ouch, well I guess Kristin gets a second shot then.”

I guess these things happen, with all the leaping about it’s easy enough to damage yourself, one reason I gave up when I did.The food wasn’t bad – someone had been to the bakery in Mayschoß and got a tray of sandwiches to go with the Lidl Croc crisps and bottled water. Not exactly haute cuisine but I wasn’t paying.

“What’s up with Erika?” Mand enquired, “My German isn’t up to high speed babble.”
“Thigh strain so Kristin gets a second go, you okay?”
“I guess, it’s quite a buzz out there.”
“Yeah, been there, done that,” Mand joined me in completing the line, “got the t shirt.”
“Or leotard in this case,” she added.

Our second appearance was out in the marquee, which despite several patio heaters was still quite cool and loud. Yeah, the rain was still falling, the continuous drumming on the roof providing a continuous background to the action below.

“Everyone ready?”
I looked around the assembled faces, they were certainly calmer than this morning, Pia and Nette both do Garde so they weren’t fazed by the tension. We repeated the breathing exercise, I try to do it before a race, always works for me and it seemed to work for this lot too.

“Okay, make them remember the Ahr All Stars!”

The official called them out and for a second time today I started counting out the programme.

The second take of the day was neither better or worse than the first, there were errors but in different places but nothing serious – well P over balanced in the final split and had to put her hand down to prevent a domino moment! Still I thought we did quite well and having not seen any of the opposition I wasn’t about to prejudge the result.

We didn’t podium in the open category, Pia’s balance issue had clearly lost some points but even so fifth was, I thought, quite respectable. The morning’s efforts were surprisingly a bit more successful taking third spot which everyone was well chuffed with. Not winning we didn’t have to do a reprise but did allow us to see where the opposition were at.

“Well?” Hannah asked as we headed back to Leonard on the bus.
“Better than I thought, I didn’t expect top three,” I allowed, “and we were only a few points off the podium in the open too, I’d say that’s a result.”
“I’m pretty sure the committee will agree, well done girl.”

I glowed in the reflected glory but I suppose the pressure’s now on to improve on today. How much involvement I can continue to put in though, well I guess we’ll have to see and Mand’s involvement – not necessarily a breaker but has today been a one off because of our deal?

“We got a trophy for the cabinet,” I grinned waving the pot at my assistant.

Maddy Bell 26.07.16