Danielle Guider's Gymnastics Journal
11/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Nov. 12, 2008
Hey Mizzou Tiger Fans!!!!
I can't believe it's November already. We are in our eighth week of preseason and everything is coming along really well. We have been doing a lot of conditioning and training to make sure we put ourselves in the best possible position to be successful and we can already see all of our hard work paying off. This week, we had high gymnastics in the gym and low/medium for gym conditioning and the weight room. This means that this week we are trying to focus on pushing ourselves through our gymnastics more than the conditioning. I think that it's easier to break things down by the event:
Vault:
This week, we had two uphill timers then six flipped vaults. Four of those were your competition vaults. Beside that, many of us decided to go up to a higher surface than we had been doing, which is getting us more prepared for vaulting in competition. Everyone is really stepping it up on vault right now and it's awesome. We have Adrianne (A), Sarah (Shi), Lisa (Lap), Lauren (Lo), Mary and I all consistently doing beautiful fulls. Then we have Alicia (Hatch) and Becky doing very nice halves. We did also see Hatch do some full's this week which were looking pretty good. Alex is still doing her pike half and it gets bigger and better every day. Tara is working towards a full, while Brittany is now working a half. Allie decided to switch it up and is working on full onto the vault tuck off and it is looking great. Also Shi and I are working 1 ½ and, I have to say, Shi's are getting very consistent, while I landed my first one this week, which I was very excited about.
Bars:
A lot of people have stepped it up on bars this week, especially with a harder assignment. The assignment was 2 routines and two of each half, but there was a little incentive to the assignment. If you hit your first one, you got to take a set of halves off your assignment. If you hit your first two in a row, you got to take off both sets of halves. So everyone was motivated to step it up and make their first one, which is awesome. Hatch amazes me more and more every day. Her routine is packed with difficulty and she makes it look easier and easier every day. Becky has really been working on her form and handstands, besides being so consistent in her routines. She also twisted her dismount in the belt on Wednesday which was awesome! Mary has a very difficult routine, too, and she has been more and more consistent on it which is great. She has been working really hard on improving her form and it's really showing. Shi has now starting doing some bars. She is working blind 1 ½ along with getting her dismount back. "A" has been doing her routines consistently, working on her form and sticking her dismount. Liz has been working on getting her reverse bigger and doing her bail to handstand every time and she has made a major improvement there. Lap has really stepped it up in the past couple of weeks, making her routines almost every time, and she even changed up her dismount from last year. She is now doing a double layout and it's really working out for her. Al has being working a full routine now that she added a double front dismount. Allie has being really working hard through her bar routine and it is showing, because last week her routines were looking better than ever. Tara has been working on her routine and she has added a straight body board mount and has been working to get her straddle back to handstand, and it's coming along. Brooke is working on her blind full. Last, but not least, I have been working my routine and I am even surprising myself. I made my first two in a row bar routines on Friday, which was awesome for me because I have been really trying to make an improvement on bars this year.
Beam:
This week on beam was about staying in the routines and making every turn count. Our assignment was to make six routines, max seven turns, or, if you made your first five in a row you were done. This means you better go up there and give every routine your all so you could finish the assignment. We also did team beam on Thursday with individual skills, which was fun. Everyone has been way more consistent, and we have been working a lot on small details, so we don't have any deductions to give up. We have some new skills on beam, too. Mary, Lap, and I are doing front tuck mounts, while Shi and Hatch are doing round-off layout mounts. Lap and Al are now consistently doing series on the high beam. Brooke and Becky both have a new leap series. A is also working on changing her series again, which will be a little different then what we are used to seeing. Lo has been working on her form in her series and it's looking great. Allie has been throwing her new series consistently on the low beam. Brittany has been working on her beam landings and staying tight, and her routine is coming along and is packed with skills. With the way we are training on beam, we are guaranteed to be successful on this event this year.
Floor:
As we know, floor has a lot to do with conditioning and endurance. We all know that we can do each pass successfully by itself, but the tricky part is doing it while you're tired throughout the routine. We have been doing a lot of endurance building floor assignments that are really paying off. This week, on Monday, we had three 1-2-3's which are doing your first, second and third pass back-to-back. Then we had two routines, but you had a choice of whether to just do 2 passes and ending with three sprints, or doing the full routine. On Thursday, we had the same assignment, but with a deal. For every full routine you did, you could subtract a 1-2-3, so ideally, you could do one turn of a 1-2-3 and then two floor routines, which a lot of girls chose to do. We also have a lot more variety in our tumbling this year. Shi, Hatch, and Allie are all opening with a triple full. Mary is working on opening with a front full through to double tuck which you won't be seeing by a lot of other gymnasts out there, which is awesome. Lauren is ending with a 2 ½ this year instead and it's looking very clean and consistent. Alex is ending with a front handspring rudi. Lap is opening with a front handspring to front double full which is very difficult. Brittany is working a rudi into a back layout which is very difficult. "A" is working her double layout again, and it's looking big. Mary, A, Tara and I are all ending with double tucks while Shi is upgrading to ending with a double pike, and it's getting easier for her every day. We also have a lot of new choreography which Amy has worked very hard on, and it looks great.
So make sure you're looking out for the Tigers this year because we are going to be the team you want to see. I can't wait to see everyone December 13 for Black and Gold! GO TIGERS!!!
