Semana 3 - Memórias

I am twelve years old and we’re on a casual sunday walk next to the river in Parque das nações. My mom is here, my sisters… The wind blowing brings me energy. There are a lot of sports events happening here today. 

We walk to the main pavilion and stumble upon one more performance happening on stage. We stop and watch. It seems quite fun, we stay until the end. 

I’m thirteen now, and today it is my first practice. The little nervousness quickly vanishes after we start, it is like being playing outside, it's fun. I’m fourteen and already feel this is my (second?) family, the time inside the gym flies quickly, I just arrived for practice and it’s already time to leave? Impossible. The weekends, on the other hand, are like two extremely long days, which feel like eternity. There is a competition in that town in the north, an exhibition 200 km south, either way arriving to school on monday feels like last friday was more than one month ago. Is it monday already? I’m in school and in the break in between classes we go to the library to see the performances of our idols on the computer, over and over again. 

Fifteen. It’s an important competition today, I’m with my best friend in the benches, we’re not competing due to an unfortunate team mate injury on the week before. But we’re seeing in front of us the groups we used to watch on the screen during school break. We appreciate in silence. It’s like the time has stopped now. And I have made a decision, I’ll join their team for the next season and the others to come. 

Sixteen, it’s my first practice here. I can’t describe the level of nervousness now. It does not feel like we are playing anymore. We start, I feel observed, I hope I can make it until the end of today. It’s summer, it’s the beginning of the season, it’s the time to give all you got. The trainings are hard, harder than I have ever imagined, feels like testing the limits for human physical resistance, and either you make it or you make it, there is no other option. The pressure though, seems to strengthen the friendship bonds, we are all in this together. 

High-school starts. It’s a bit indifferent to me though, all that matters is that I can get to practice on time. Years of routine followed. Every day, after class, my classmates slowly pack their stuff while chatting. Every day a tiny part of myself wants to stay chatting and laughing with them, joining them for the afternoon snack or the movie night. But this feeling quickly vanishes, as I literally have to run not to miss the train and bus combination. In a glimpse I’m starting the practice and I can’t think about anything else other that what I have to do right here, right now. The weeks are long and tiering, but the weekends are glorious. We are traveling and competing all over the country. The levels of adrenaline reach their maximum, weekend after weekend. 

My arms and legs are tired and injured, maybe I don’t want to keep doing this anymore. 
We are in the united states, just finished the competition and are dancing to the sound of the music at the party, three little girls ask us to sign their little sheets of paper. It is fun to be dancing, my teammates are here, the competition is over, we're just dancing...