The Drop
by Alicia
“Eight counts of spins. Five. Six. Five, six, seven, eight,” Coach K yells to us over the drum line as they go through their usual warm up. “Come on, color guard, get the timing together,” he continues.
“Take the show one last time from the top. We have a couple of minutes left before we get out there,” Coach E announces. Minutes later, he says, “Let’s go, it’s time!”
I can hear my agitated heart beat. Like my coach said before we left the school, “From ordinary teenagers, you are expected to be perfect performers once you step on that floor.”
The music starts, I hear the sound of the drums pounding and echoing on my ears. A small dose of adrenaline spreads throughout my body and the roller coaster ride has started. I can feel my stomach dropping at the fast tempo of the ride and the vertigo of the ups and the downs.
I march to a line, prep the flag, do a mini toss and catch it. We do a ripple across the floor and return to hide behind the props. Then the solos come, where a pair of flags and drums is featured. Everything is going great until I spin, spin, toss, and drop.
We perform until the end of song two and go behind the props. We wait there for the finale which features the drum line only. As the last song plays, I think, “Why did I drop it? Was it just bad luck? I mean, I very rarely drop a toss! Was I just not mentally ready?” I am very mad at myself. I am upset at the fact that my team, my coach, the judges and everyone out there, expected nothing but the best from me, and I let them and myself down.
On the ride back home, I hear Eminem’s voice rap to “Lose Yourself” in the back of my mind. “You better lose yourself in the music, the moment you own it, you better never let it go, you only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime.” As I am sitting there, I feel more frustrated than ever. I had one shot, one once-in-a-life time opportunity to shine and I messed up. However, after a couple of minutes I realize it is pointless to be angry now, because I cannot change what I already did. I learned that the responsibility of being part of any team has some kind of pressure and I have to learn to cope with it so it does not affect my ability to perform at my best.
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