Janice was waiting for Maisha to arrive at the gymnasium that she practices at. She picked her phone and called her.

"Hey! Maisha! Are you almost here?" the girl asked the person on the other side of the phone.

"I've been waiting outside for you. When are you coming?" She asked.

Janice laughed and said to her friend, "Maisha, your finally here! Come inside and let me show you my fun!" 

 The girl came running towards her friend and gave her a big hug. "It's so good to see you again, Janice!" she said.

The two girls went inside the gymnasium. Janice showed Maisha the big rooms where many other gymnasts were practicing. She was fascinated by the easy movement they performed. Flipping, rolling and dancing! Yes! It was like they were dancing in a very fun way. It was very fun to look at.

"So this where you have you fun?" Maisha asked amazed by the gymnast. 

"Yes! This is where I have my fun. Wanna see more?" Janice asked. Before bringing Maisha too a more open part of the gym.

"It's fun right?" Janice questioned.

“It’s very fun! It looks so easy! You can also do that?” 

 “Of course! But not as well as the others. But I can show you what I can do. Want to see?” Janice offered.

Maisha was brought over to the side by Janice. Janice then ran back to the mat and smiled back at Maisha. Seeing that she was looking Janice easily performed a cartwheel. With her leg falling and rising, before finally landing in a lunge position again.

"Did you see that?" Janice questioned.

“Yes! That was so cool! I can't even do that! But you make it look easy!” Maisha said admiring how easy the cartwheel looked when Janice did it.

 “You can try. Don’t worry, I'll teach you. Doing a cartwheel is very easy!” Janice assured her.

Maisha followed Janice on the mat and tried to follow Janice to the best she could but she fumbled  and fell on the ground. She tried once more to do a cartwheel and landed in an awkward position. It seems that her limbs are not very coordinated. She was really upset by this fact.

“I can’t seem to do this right.”

“It’s not just your arm or leg, you need to make all your body parts work together. Let me show you again. It’s gonna be easy when you find the right way.” Janice went back to the mat and once again did a cartwheel.

 “I give up! I can't seem to do it right.” 

Janice suddenly had an idea, “How about we go ask my teacher? She can help us.” 

"Are you sure?" Maisha asked.

“Yes! My teacher is good! She even taught me this.” Janice assured.

The two girls walked out of the gym and went down the hallway when a glass display full of trophies and medals caught the attention of Maisha.

 Maisha looked at the display with awe when she stopped at a huge picture of a woman smiling with a gold medal around her neck. She wondered who it was.

KATELYN OHASHI

“Janice, who is that?”

Maisha was confused by what she meant, “What is a floor routine?”

“It's a huge square where a gymnast does their floor routine. Katelyn Ohashi had a very amazing floor routine that scored a perfect 10!” Janice said.

“That's Katelyn Ohashi! She's a very cool and amazing gymnast! Look here, this is about her amazing floor routine!” Janice excitedly explained.

“Wow, she’s so talented! She’s probably a world famous gymnast now!” Maisha said.

 “Well, she was injured too many times to continue professionally, but her routine is used by gymnasts everywhere. Everyone says that if she wasn’t injured, she’d be one of the best in the world, and she’s only 24!” Janice said

“She’s so cool! I want to be just like her.” Maisha said.

Janice nodded in agreement and showed Maisha the pictures beside the display case. It showed drawings of athletes from the past, and some of the pictures had captions that said Ancient Greece.

“What are these pictures about?” Maisha asked.

 “History!!” but Janice was a bit loss as well,  “I don't think I'm good at explaining, so why don't we read the text?” and she pointed at the little writing under the photos.

The word gymnastics is derived from the Greek word meaning "fond of exercise" or "to exercise naked". The sport originated in Greece and included several sports that are now individual sports today such as boxing and wrestling. While today's gymnastics skills are often artistic and involve equipment such as beams and bars, in Ancient Greece the gymnasts used to perform cartwheels and backflips over live animals! The sport itself was developed as a means of training athletes for hand-to-hand combat as well as any endurance activities.

“Interesting isn’t it? Who would’ve thought that gymnastics had such a diverse group of activities before today?”  Janice said.

 “It’s good to know something new. So does that mean I need to be a bit stronger?” Maisha asked.

 “Maybe, but I think we would understand better when we ask Ms. Sally.” Janice said.

They both walked into another part of the gym. This time many of the people there were just like Maisha. Learning and practicing gymnastic movements.  

“My teacher should be here. Let's go inside.” Janice said.  Both girls entered another part of the gym to see many girls like her practicing gymnastics movements.

"Janice, come here!” Ms. Sally called out to them. Both girls walked towards her.

“Good afternoon Ms. Sally! This is my friend Maisha, she was interested in what we do so I brought her along with me.” Janice said to Ms.Sally.

“Good afternoon girls, and wonderful to meet you Maisha. I hope you enjoy yourself while you’re here. If you have any questions feel free to ask, although I’m sure Janice already taught you quite a bit.” Ms. Sally said.

“She sure did! Although, I don’t have any question for now, I just wanted to watch what everyone was practicing.” Janice said.

“Well, you’re more than welcome to do so. Janice, please put on your gym wear and join your classmates.” Ms. Sally said.

 “Yes, Ms. Sally. I’ll see you later Maisha!” With a wave, Janice jogged over to the changing room and emerged a few minutes later, ready to do her stretches.

Maisha watched them prepare to perform their exercises. The girls started with a few somersaults before they got to Maisha’s least favorite activity, the cartwheel. Watching the class hold themselves on their hands reminded her of a question she had earlier.

“Excuse me, Ms. Sally. I actually had a question earlier. How are we able to do cartwheels and all of these movements?” Maisha asked.

“Of course, I’d be happy to!” Ms. Sally said.

“The muscles in our body work together with our bones and joints to create movement. Our brain sends signals to our muscles that tell them to contract or squeeze together, and when that happens our muscles move across the joints and pull our bones forward.” Ms. Sally began

"Does one muscle do all of that work?" Maisha asked.

 “Not exactly," Ms. Sally said. "For example, in a cartwheel your legs are bent slightly when you're in the starting position, and when you get into the action position you straighten them again.

She continued, "When you start off in a lunge, your rectus femoris is pulling on your fibula, which is in your leg, and your biceps femoris is relaxing. When you push off of the lunge to hold yourself on your hands, your legs are extending because the biceps femoris is pulling your fibula back into its original position. The same thing goes for when you are in the landing position. Your rectus femoris pulls the fibula up, and your leg bends to put you in a lunge again."

Maisha was shocked.“Woah, that’s a lot of information. All of that is happening inside our bodies? But the movements feel so natural!”

"We call those muscles agonists and antagonists. The agonist muscle is the one contracting and doing the majority of the work, while the antagonist muscle is extending and does not do as much work as the agonist.” Ms. Sally explained.

“They are natural. Your body has gotten used to performing such movements, and while you do not put much thought into bending your arms or legs, our bodies go through these movements in milliseconds. 

“That’s so fascinating, I didn’t know our bodies put in so much work for such a quick movement!” Maisha exclaimed in amazement.

Ms. Sally smiled in agreemenet. “The human body is a wonderful thing that is able to do the most amazing things, but only if you take care of it. It’s not easy to do a cartwheel, and stretching and working out are only one part of it.” 

“What’s the other part?”

“Nutrition! It’s very important that you watch what you eat. Too much sugar is not good for your health, and it may ruin the ability to do a great cartwheel.”

"Is sugar really as bad as our parents say it is," Maisha asked sadly

"A small amount of sugar is fine, but if you are not careful of what you eat, your body won't be able to properly develop muscles such as the deltoid and trapezius, as well as the internal and external obliques." Ms. Sally said.

"The internal and external obliques are two muscle groups that work together to keep you balanced. These are important for when you are in the action position, because your arms alone cannot keep your body in the air. If the obliques are not developed properly, the pressure will be on your shoulders and back, and your spine could curve.

"What do those muscles do," Maisha questioned.

"Your deltoid is the muscle in your upper arm, and your trapezius is a large muscle between your spine and shoulder. These two muscles work together to keep your arms and back straight while you are in the action position. These muscles are very important for cartwheels," Ms. Sally said

Ms. Sally took a breath. "Your obliques help you maintain your balance. When you're on your arms, your legs are in the splits position because they're moving you from one side to the other." "If your obliques do not develop properly, all of the pressure will be on your back and shoulders and your spine can curve, which is why it's important to take care of yourself and eat healthy."

"The internal and external obliques are two muscles groups near your stomach that keep you balanced. This is good for the action position, because your arms need help keeping balance and your legs need help to get from one side to another. If the obliques are not developed properly, your back will feel the pressure and your spine could curve, which is very bad."