5 Rings Academy

Bailey "Baby" Hayes 17
Nicknamed for her tiny 4'10 height
Trampolining



Hayden Matthews, 19
Surfing

Bailey moaned, stopping running as she leaned her head against the wall panting. It was conditioning day, and her body was not used to doing sprints for so long. All athletes were put through the same conditioning to ensure peak fitness.

"C'mon baby! 2 more laps, or you don't see the outside of this gym for the next month!" Her trainer shouted at her from across the room. The tiny girl let out a lows groan and began running again.

Her short hair was beginning to fall out of her messy bun and cling to the sweat on the back of her neck. In trampolining, Baby was usually only used to exerting herself for a strenuous 10 minutes at a time. Burgers squats and suicide runs were not her thing.

She looked around at all of the other athletes, happy to see she was not the only one struggling.

"Group work everybody! Pair off as follows." The head coach began to call out a list of names and she listened carefully over the blood pumping in her ears to hear her name.

"Bailey Hayes and Hayden Mathews" she heard and rolled her eyes. At least she could be sure that he wouldn't show her up, what sort of fitness was needed for surfing? Even Bailey was able to surf and she had only tried for an hour when she was in Cancun. She scoffed slightly and looked around trying to spot him, but being so small she figured it was probably better to just stand still and let him find her.

Hayden had been a beach rat his whole life. He practically lived in the water. He was reasonably new to the Academy, and found it stressful being here. The school was located further from the ocean than he'd ever lived, about an hour and half drive.

He also despised conditioning, sprinting wasn't enjoyable to him, he didn't struggle with it, it just bored him. When the group got paired off, he listened for his name to be called. He had never met Bailey, but was vaguely aware that she was the trampoliner.

He never understood why some sports even had competitions, or were in the olympics, and trampolining was up there on that list. He didn't see what was difficult about bouncing up and down, children played on tramps.

He wondered around the gym looking for her, he spotted a short girl looking around. He made his way over, "are you Bailey?" he asked.

@ KhaleesE16

Baby saw a guy walking over in her direction, and figured that this was definitely him. She vaguely recognised all the surf guys, her and her friends spent most of their days questioning why they were even here, who trains to be an Olympic Surfer?

He had the typical look of a guy who grew up with sand constantly between his balls. His hair was blonde and floopy, his face more tanned than the rest of his body and of course- He walked like he owned the world. "Yeah that's me, Hayden right? she confirmed with him, trying to offer a warm smile.

Bailey had been attending the academy since she was 12 when her parents enrolled her. They were anal about her sport, so proud to be able to tell everyone that their daughter was an olympian. She had been meant to compete in Rio, but an injury had restrained her from doing so. The recovery had taken it's toll on her, so much so that she was still trying to gain back the fitness and strength that she had lost.

She looked the boy infront of her up and down, he was cute in a 'Id probably bang him on holiday' kind of way, but her opinion of him was already low due to his choice in sport. "Ready to get going?"

@ A Drop On the Window

Hayden smiled slightly at her. "Nice to meet you," he stated quickly. He was surprised to see such a short person at the academy, most of the athletes were taller. She looked like a typical gymnastic type person, lean and defined.

He shrugged his shoulders at her question, "what are we even supposed to be doing?" he asked casually. He had been a pro surfer for a couple years, and preferred to do his training in the surf. Being fit meant nothing in surfing if you didn't know how to read the water, and control your board.

@ KhaleesE16

"Core" Baby replied to him quickly and sat down on the floor. "hold my feet down" she instructed as she began to do sit ups. This part she didn't mind. she was actually decent at it, and she needed to build hers up stronger again to stand any chance at placing in the Top three to go to Tokyo.

"So.. how long.. have you been here?" she asked, through strained teeth as she kept count in her head of how many she had done. The should be doing 3 reps of 10, but Bailey insisted on pushing herself and doing 20.

Hayden nodded and crouched down holding her feet, letting her go first. He was not that fussed about actually doing the fitness stuff.

"I've been here about a year now," he said lightly. He watched her closely, "so What's trampolining like?" he asked her. He looked around the room at the other people all doing sit ups.

@ KhaleesE16

She hit 20, and sat up straight taking a 15 seconds breather before starting again.

"Fresh meat then" she joked, and returned to pumping her body up and down. She was determined to lose 3 pounds by the end of the week. "It's great, tough. But being so little helps with the physics of it" she said nonchalantly, looking up into his eyes "what about surfing, isn't that more of a hobby?"

@ A Drop On the Window

Hayden nodded chuckling softly. "It's been hard, I miss the beach," he admitted lightly. He looked at her thinking for a moment, "surfing is great, the thrill of catching the perfect wave is addictive, it can be very competitive," he said lightly.

He looked at her, "Isn't trampolining a hobby as well," he asked.

@ KhaleesE16

Baby offered him a smile, "yeah It's tough when you first start out, it took me almost two years to settle in" she told him, and shrugged. She was only being honest. Often, if you weren't an Athlete, swimmer or Artistic gymnast you could get overlooked by the academy.

"Your turn" she Rolled over into her side and sat up, getting ready to hold his feet.

She rolled her eyes and scoffed "have you ever seen trampolining? Not a hobby"

@ A Drop On the Window

Hayden nodded, he got in position and began to quickly complete the sets. "Yeah I'm hoping to settle in soon," he admitted.

He looked up at her, "I've seen kids playing on tramps, and doing flips and things, they seemed to be having fun," he teased, fully aware that there was more to it than that.

@ KhaleesE16

Baby shot him a look, as if to say "Piss off" and began to apply extra pressure to his toes to give him the hint.

"So, are you training for Tokyo?" She asked him, just trying to make all talk.

@ A Drop On the Window

Hayden smirked softly continuing to do the sit ups. He liked annoying people who had no respect for surfing, he could never understand them, what wasn't to like about big waves and beautiful tubes.

He looked at her, "to be honest I'm mainly here because my parents wanted me out of the house. Qualifying for Tokyo would be a bonus though," he said lightly.

@ KhaleesE16
(Sorry for taking ages to reply, I was up all night working on that assignment).

Baby shook her head softly "Youre putting yourself through all of this and you're not even that serious about qualifying? That's mental.." she told him, her eyes wide smiling in disbelief.

If she hadn't wanted to compete more than anything since she was 6, Bailey knew for certain that she would walk out those doors and never return. It wasn't worth the pressure that was put upon her otherwise.

@ A Drop On the Window
(that's okay, I know the struggle! Are you in college?)

Hayden looked at her "It was come here, and surf occasionally, or move to the middle of the country no where near the ocean," he stated. He hated that he needed to be near the ocean to do what he loved.

He smiled softly, "at least trampolining isn't geographically restrictive," he added.

@ KhaleesE16
(It's a course I have to do after college to be employable)

Bailey shrugged "Fair enough I guess, good thing you like surfing so much." She jumped Slightly as the sound of an air horn rang through the air. "Lunch! Back her in 45 to continue doubles!" The head coach shouted. Baby watched as everyone filed out to the canteen.

She looked over at Hayden "I'll see you back here in a bit, I'm not too hungry. Gonna stay and stretch out" she told him. Her real plan was to extend the trampolines while everyone was gone and get in some extra practice on her turns. She needed to get them clean if she wanted to qualify for nationals this year, never mind Olympic trials.

@ A Drop On the Window

Hayden smiled glad it was over, "see you after lunch," he said lightly. He made his way to the canteen with everyone else, he found a seat by his lonesome, and ate quietly.

He finished early and headed back to th gym.

@ KhaleesE16

Jayne pressed the button to extend the trampolines and climbed up on to them behinning to gain momentum. She good do a tuck and double neatly, but she kept extending too late on her triples and not managing to land it.

After 20 minutes had passed, her head was dizzy from flipping in the air so much, but she continued, determined to get this down.

"FUCKING SHIT BALLS!" She shouted at herself, as she once again landed on her back, her knee was beginning g to give in to the strain, and she made a mental note to wear her compression band for the remainder of the day.

@ A Drop On the Window

Hayden noticed her on one of the tramps, he found a bench and sat down watching her. He wanted to work out what the big deal with trampolining was. He watched for ten minutes not getting it at all.

He sat back closing his eyes and waited for the next session to begin.

@ KhaleesE16

About five minutes before everyone was due back, Naby pushed the trampoline back in, if the coaches knew she was doing unsupervised practices she would be penalised.

As she moved to her gear bag to pull her shorts back on over her leotard, she stopped startled boticong somebody on one of the benches.

@ A Drop On the Window