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Shiro scrolls through the website for Keith’s school, and what feels like the millionth time does he go through the list.
“Football?”
“No.”
“Soccer?”
“No.”
“Baseball? Track?”
“No and no.”
“Hockey?”
“Nope.”
Shiro lets out a dramatic sigh, “Come on Keith. You have to give me something to work with. You need some sort of sport for your PE elective this year.”
“What about ping pong?”
Shiro slams his head back on the worn in couch, “I’ve already told you they don’t offer ping pong. What about Badminton or Tennis? Those are similar.”
“Ugh, no.”
Shiro shuts down the computer, “I give up.”
Two weeks later Shiro is with Adam. The pair are sitting on a bench watching Keith on the monkey bars. Shiro noticed that even though he and Adam have been talking, Adam’s eyes have never left Keith. “Have you noticed how long Keith has been doing that?”
Shiro glances up and sees Keith swinging hand over hand from one bar to the next. “He plays on those every time we come here.”
Adam shakes his head, “No, I mean he’s been using his arms and nothing else for at least the past seven minutes.”
Shiro snorts, “Have you been timing him?”
Adam gives Shiro and incredulous look, “Well of course I have.”
Shiro looks down as Adam extends his wrist and sees the stopwatch at 8 minutes and 46 seconds. It’s still counting as Shiro turns back to watch Keith.
That night Shiro gets on the computer and looks up the sports electives once again. The next morning when he asks Keith about Gymnastics he gets a shrug.
For starting so late, Shiro is amazed at how fast Keith excels in gymnastics. All throughout high school, Keith was top at every competition. He was small but fast. His floor routines were graceful, but when his tumbling passes were powerful. He flew over the pommel horse and vault. But he was flawless at the rings. His arm strength as a freshmen was better than most of the seniors.
When he graduated high school, Keith continued gymnastics throughout college. By the time he graduated college he was the most decorated gymnast at USC in over thirty years.