Nov. 10, 2005

Hi everyone it's time for another MU gymnastics weekly update. This Tuesday we held our first bars and beam team intra squad for the upcoming 2005-2006 season. Intra squads mark an important part of our preseason because this usually means we are at the final stages of putting our routines together and are to the point where we would be able compete them. Although we still have a month and a half until super six, the intra squads that take place now gives the gymnasts a taste of what competition will be like. It also shows the coaches what they might expect from their athletes if put under a similar pressure situation. How you do in the intra squads as well as everyday practice determines your position in the team lineup, so even though we are in preseason, intra squads are very important.

Overall, I think that Tuesday's inter squad was pretty impressive. Everyone did really well especially considering that last year we did not have our first intra squad until later into the pre-season.

Beam had two groups of girls that really put up a good effort. The fight to stay on was definitely there. We saw some new acro-series, dismounts and improvements on skills that some of us had difficulty with earlier on in preseason. Plus I thought it was really impressive to see the girls who weren't in the "beam team" last year rise to the occasion and do an excellent job. I think their performances reflected how hard they've been working in the last several months. All in all, the beam team approached the intra squad aggressively and it's definitely evident that there will be a lot more depth in the lineup this year.

The bars intra squad went fairly well. In the beginning there were some fluke mistakes, so we ended up going through the bar intra squad twice. In the first intra squad everyone did a good job getting through their routines no matter what setbacks they dealt with. Some individuals proved to be mentally tough and did a great job at not letting previous errors that teammates had made affect them. The second intra squad went a lot smoother and like our coach Paul said, "by fighting through routines some girls created momentum for other girls to move on and have confidence in their own routines". Overall it looks like everyone is on the right track when it comes to bars. I think there are a good amount of girls that are looking forward to the next intra squad to prove that they have something to show, I know I am. Well that's pretty much our first bars and beam intra squad in a nutshell. Keep up the good work ladies! Until next time...

Go Mizzou Tigers !!