The Balance by Aimee Boorman

[QuietColours]

Chapter 13

• They were now feeling like Simone just had to stay healthy to make Rio
• After Worlds they were training at the newly opened WCC
• Ron and Nellie were growing something from the ground up. Aimee realized she wanted more than being a gym manager developing someone else's gym. She was careful not to overstep her role, and she admits she never directly talked to Ron and Nellie about her growing dissatisfaction there
• Her husband also wasn't happy at his job, and they started talking about leaving Houston
• Discontent was about her ambitions, not Simone or Ron and Nellie
• Evo reached out offering an equity partnership. They liked the idea of living in Florida and had a good visit there. They decided they would give Florida two years
• Simone had the twisties in early 2016. They tried to make it a non-issue in the gym (besides making sure she had mental health support), and they didn't twist in the gym for weeks
• Skipped Jesolo because it was unnecessary, not because of the twisties
• Twistied had passed by Pac Rims. Simone hurt her calf on her last tumbling pass, so they pulled her from finals
• USAG got a suite for Simone and Laurie to watch the rest of the competition because it would have been too disruptive for them to be in the audience. They got chicken fingers, fries, and sundaes. Sugared up Simone got loud and fans realized she was there and would pass up posters to get signed
• As the hype ramped up, Simone expressed uncertainty abou the expectations placed on her. Aimee's job was to keep her settled
• Aimee found herself getting more superstitious about jinxes as Rio approached. After an incidient where she couldn't find a piece of wood to knock on, the GK VP bought Aimee a wood ring to wear
• No skill was competed that Martha didn't approve. She nixed both a Biles I to immediate front tuck on floor and the double double off beam
• Simone and Aimee tried to keep the mood light at Olympic Trials while the selection committee was meeting, which probably annoyed the people still waiting to hear
• A team exclusively of all arounders wouldn't maximize medals
• She gives an accurate reflection on why Ashton was an alternate, Maggie was skipped, Gabby and Madison were chosen, and Ragan and Mykayla's alternate selection
• The selected team was whisked away; everyone else was left in the holding area

Chapter 14:

• Aimee was most excited to meet Travis Wall at the afterparty
• Preparing for the camp and Rio, keeping Simone healthy through the grueling training process was the focus
• Living quarters at the Ranch were awful. Moldy bathrooms; dirty, stained carpets; painful beds; poor internet until 2014 (then it was serviceable); food was institutional at best. Athletes usually got a yogurt and then ate the food they'd snuck in. Because she lived close, Aimee cooked ahead of time and brought foor with her
• Didn't go outside because of peacocks, donkeys, snakes, camels, and wild hogs
• Remoteness was part of the strategy
• If there was a serious injury, you had hope a cell call would go through or find one of the two land lines, and the person would have to be helicoptered out
• Aimee fought to do what they needed to do, not what Martha was assigning them to do in workouts. She wanted Simone to do as little as necessary, as high quality as possible. Martha didn't like Aimee's pushing back, but she did respect that Aimee had gotten Simone to this point. Sometimes Simone would say, "Martha's going to be mad" and Aimee would respond, "You let me deal with that."
• It made her angry when other coaches said she could only push back because she had Simone, because she'd pushed back before Simone was Simone and faced consequences
• She thinks she was more able to stand up to Martha because she never met her until she was coaching Simone and didn't carry the trauma of dealing with her as a gymnast. She was scared to stand up to Martha
• Skills they were training but which they didn't get competition ready:
  • Moors
  • Weiler full
  • Biles on beam
  • Fabrichnova
  • Shaposh half
• Skills they were working on but didn't push:
  • Biles II on floor
  • Biles II on vault
  • TTY (wouldn't do it because of no one touch)
• Skills she also had:
  • Triple twist on floor
  • Double arabian (rod floor only)
• For fun:
  • Standing double back on the rod floor
  • Round of double back on the beam pad
• In the beginning they'd show up to the Ranch with 7 or 8 passes and Martha would make them pick only four
• As head coach of the Olympic team, she was responsible for meeting the girls' needs, keeping track of time during one touch, making sure start values were correct, submitting inquiries, and being available to media
• At the Ranch, Martha was in charge
• By Rio, Martha's relationship with Simone had improved
• In an elevator before a meet (not Rio), Simone thought it would be funny to tell Martha she'd forgotten her grips
• The Ranch was intense, but practices were short. Every training session was in official line up order. Mihai and Aimee were responsible for setting all equipment, because they'd been on the floor at the games. It was very physically demanding of them
• The coaches send off party with Bela and Martha felt like an initiation and made her feel like she'd been accepted into a secret society of gymnastics