Jan. 17, 2006
Last week was a very different week for a bunch of reasons - coming off a high at Super Six, it seemed everyone was a little flat and tired in the gym on Monday because, for the first time in almost nine months we felt was it was like to be in season again! College gymnastics is so different than club because we compete 15 weekends in a row, so from January to April, there's no letting up - physically or emotionally. It gets draining after a while, but its every bit as rewarding.
The team had a rough few practices towards the beginning of the week, though things eventually were ironed out leading up to a fantastic performance on Friday night. Monday was mostly spent fixing floor routines, changing tumbling passes or jump series in order to get us all back to 10.0 start values after our confusion from the week prior. Bunny added a whip to her first pass, while I changed my second pass and Whitney added a new jump series for more bonus. Everyone seemed to handle the changes well and we looked to be on track for a good floor showing.
Before I go any further, I would first like to add that despite what my two journals seem to imply, I am not always hurt! On the contrary, I am actually almost never hurt, however my first journal was all about my surgery, and now I find myself writing about hurting again. Ironically, the only two times I have been injured have been when I was assigned to write my two journals! Unfortunately, I took a few short landings on Wednesday during floor and was diagnosed with a mid-foot sprain that kept me out of Pink Out. I was put in a boot for a few days, but I am now out and walking pain free.
Having to watch my teammates do so well without me on Friday was a totally different (and might I add, very difficult) experience, as it was the first meet in my collegiate career I have not competed in. However, the performance everyone gave Friday night was truly awesome, with girls stepping up and nailing routines they hadn't even competed the week prior. We were excited to do so well in our home opener, and elated with the huge turn out we got! Competing with a crowd of 2897 people it really pumped everyone up and helped us all compete to the very best of our abilities. We ended with a 195.1, which shot us up in the standing and put us in 11th place going in to our meet this weekend. Being ranked so high so early in the season is a great feeling and a completely different start than we had last year!
This week, we find ourselves going down to Centenary and looking for a good away score in order to cement our status as a team to watch for this season. We are pumped for the rest of season and hope you all will continue to come out and support us - we'd love to make the huge crowd turn out a consistent thing, as it really elevates the level of our gymnastics. We promise we won't let you down! Also, thanks for helping us raise so much money for such a good cause last weekend! We come back to Hearne's on February 3rd at 7pm against Big XII rival Iowa State and we'd love it if you all came back to see us. We're on the move! GO TIGERS!