“Go ahead, Mimi, I want to watch this. Let’s see where your coaching is up to.” She crosses her arms and eyes Mimi appraisingly

Mimi takes a few steps backward, measures the distance with her eyes. Then she runs forward, springs into the air, every muscle held tight as she focuses on the rapid-fire sequence: arch body, heels overhead, position for landing.

She lands lightly on the gym mat, bounces once or twice, and lets her arms fall with a tiny sigh of triumph. She’s done it!

There’s scattered applause from the girls nearby. “I wish I could do layouts. They just don’t work for me,” Tehillah says, pouting. She does a quick handspring, leaping to her feet to demonstrate the extent of her prowess. “I mean, that’s easy. Layouts are impossible.”

“Not impossible, just… hard,” Lea says. “I always end up doing a front tuck instead. It’s like my mind can’t wrap around how it’s supposed to work, so my body won’t do it.”

Mimi gives a generous smile. Her body is still tingling from flying through the air, and the satisfaction of having perfected the move they’ve been working on for a while. “Here, I’ll show you how to do it, it’s not so bad,” she offers.

“Are you the coach here, or am I?” Tova asks from behind her. Then she winks. “Go ahead, Mimi, I want to watch this. Let’s see where your coaching is up to.” She crosses her arms and eyes Mimi appraisingly.

Performing under scrutiny is a whole lot harder than practicing on her own, but it also gives her a rush of adrenaline.

“The main thing is to make sure you’re jumping to your highest point, so you have time for the flip, and that your legs are tight when you do it,” she says, backing up and demonstrating.

Tova nods approvingly. “And squeeze. Make sure you squeeze those muscles. Perfect control, perfect layout.”

Mimi flexes her arms, backs up, and performs the flip again.