Standing at the bottom of the ladder, Marion's coach whispered to her, "It's your turn Marion!" What was taking her so long to climb to the top? She couldn't help but remember the day she decided o pursue diving. As she stood there for quit a long time thinking, her coach slowly increased his volume, "Any time now Marion!"

Marion was going to be late for gymnastics if she didn't leave in the next five minutes. She burst out the door ad into her mom's car. Her mom asked, "What took you so long?" Marion responded, "I couldn't find my leotard." They pulled out of the driveway as rapidly as they could and rushed to the gym. Marion went to a small gymnastics gym in Hershey, Pennsylvania. However, she didn't always live in Hershey. She was born in Germany, but moved to Canada when she was just 2 years old. It wasn't long after moving to Canada that shs moved to Washington ad then onto Texas. Her parents finally settled in Hershey, Pennsylvania. After arriving at the gym she handed all of her things to her mom then ran quickly to join her class, which had already started. As she did the warmups, happy about being able to make it there on time, she thought abouthow much she loved about gymnastics. The first event they were doing was floor. Marion didn't like floor work too much though, but she did it anyways. Her coach, Mrs. Hendrix, told them to begn working on standing back-handsprings. Marion was a little nervous since she was unsure of whether or not she could do one on her own, but she tried anyway. SStanding in the middle of the floor, she puts her hands above her head, swining them down while jumping back into a back-handspring. She wasn't successful, again. Landing on her head, made her not want to do a back-handspring ever again. WHile her class continued with mor floor work, Marion sat aside with an ice pack on her head. She joined them again as they moved over to bars. While she was walking to the bars, Marion thought about quiting gymnastics for another sport. But what sport? Immediately she saw a poster with a professional diver on it, then bagan considering diving.

The rest of the class went by pretty fast. When she got into the car, she told her mom, "I have some news to tell yu and dad whenwe get home." Her mom said, "Okay." After Marion got home, she raced to eat her dinner so she could tell her parents about her dream to become a diver. She started, "Mom, dad, I want to quit gymnastics." "But sweetie, you have come so far in gymnatics! You wan to quit?" her dad continued, "plus, what sport would you quit gymnastics for anyways?" "I want o quit gymnastics for..." she paused for a moment, "diving." She was nervous about what they would say, though they took it a lot better that she tought they would. "Sure honey. We just aren't sure if there are any places for diving lessons nearby." explained her mom. "Well, I did see a poster on the wall at the gym showing where professional divers trained and it wasn't too far awaay either." Marion said excitedly! "Well, we will see what we can do okay sweetie." replied dad. Hershey, Pennsylvania was a beautiful place and always had the scent of chocolate lurking around in the air. Tht was partly becaue the Hershey Chocolate factory was there in town nearby. She loved it there and never dreamed of being anywhere else.

When she started diving, she was definitely a beginner. Eventually she got the hang of it, moving quickly up the levels until she mastered a bunch of skills off the high dive. Loving diving more than gymnastics, Marion never wanted to quit.

As she climbs the ladder to the top of the high dive, her coach continues to shout out to her, "It's your turn Marion!" she had a big smile on her face! When she got to the top, she remembered again how much gmnastics made her a better diver. She sprinted down the diving board, jumping into the air and doing a 1 1/2 front flip into a dive. When she came up from the water, her coach was proud of her and so were her parents. Even she was proud of herself.

                                    The End