Nov. 18, 2009
Hey Tiger Fans!
We're in our final week of workouts before Thanksgiving break and looking better than ever! As you all know we've begun intrasquads and I thought I'd take the time to break down each event to inform you of our progress.
Vault: Last Monday we showed off our vaults with our first intrasquad of the year on this event. For the first time since I can remember we were able to put eight, 10.0 vaults in a row on our feet! Becky was solid yet again this season with a strong yurochenko layout half nearly stuck. Also doing beautiful halves are Brittany and Tori. Mary, Tara and Lauren all landed huge yurochenko fulls and Alex threw her always big, front handspring pike half. I am doing a new vault this year and landed a yurochenko half on pike half in the intrasquad. Later in the week D got the timing of her full back and will be stronger than ever on vault this year!
Bars: Tuesday we focused on bars and did a full team intrasquad, putting up 9 full routines! Our team is stronger than ever on this event. Lauren has been consistently nailing her routine that includes a higgens to eagle giant and a strong full pirouette to double fly away. D showed how hard she's been working all year by performing a huge jaeger and great double front dismount. Allie showed her experience from last year by hitting her routine that includes a full pirouette to reverse heck and a double layout dismount (the full out is yet to come ☺) Becky didn't miss a handstand, caught a great gienger and stuck her amazing double layout dismount. Mary has upgraded her bar routine by adding an eagle grip to pike jeager and her always great double Arabian dismount. I contributed with my new hop full to start off my routine and Tara kept things going by showing her full pirouette to reverse heck to straddle back. Brittany showed her power on bars with a huge full pirouette to gienger to immediate bail. We're definitely on track with bars!
Beam: We've been working so hard on perfecting beam routines and decided to challenge the whole team by attempting to make 10 routines in a row on Thursday. Our skills, difficulty and focus are better than ever on beam and everyone is doing such a great job as we prepare for Black and Gold. I thought I'd just go by seniority and run through the highlights of everyone's routines. Brooke has put in so much work to perfect her event. She has added all new dance and looks more confident than ever. She opens with a back handspring, back handspring layout stepout series and finishes with a huge gainer pike dismount that is bigger than ever. D has added a couple new combinations in addition to her back handspring, back handspring layout series including a switch leap to straddle quarter and a front handspring to back tuck. Becky has joined the beam line up adding another back handspring, back handspring layout series and a switch leap, switch leap, wolf ¾. I changed up my series this year and plan to throw a back handspring layout, back handspring layout. I also added a split jump to one arm back handspring. Alex is doing a fantastic job on beam and has perfected her front aerial to straddle jump and a strong front layout full dismount. Mary hasn't missed a beat and is more consistent than ever before. She opens with a front tuck mount, has a punch front on the beam and throws a beautiful back handspring, back handspring, layout series. Allie has joined the line up showing her side aerial to side somi series and finishing with a round off double full. Tara also contributed with her new and improved series (back handspring layout) and a side aerial. Our freshmen are doing a great job as well. Lauren has a beautiful switch leap, straddle quarter, to straddle half and a strong punch front, along with Tori who also has a punch front and a straddle jump to wolf full. Brittany has just recently learned her triple series (back handspring, back handspring, layout) and has a great front layout full dismount. Never before have we had this much depth on beam!
Floor: We've come so far on floor. I know all of you have heard about Amy's great choreography but our tumbling is just as good! D is having no problem opening with a double pike and finishing with a double tuck. Becky is also throwing a double pike and double tuck. I am opening with a whip, back handspring to double tuck and finishing with a double pike. Alex is looking great opening with a double pike and finishing with a front rudi. Mary has upgraded by opening with a huge double Arabian and finishes with a double pike. Tara has shown great improvement with her double pike and double tuck passes, as well. Allie is doing better than ever with her 2 ½ punch front and double pike. Brittany is doing a huge double pike and finishing with a double tuck cleaner than ever, and Lauren is doing great with her front double full, punch front and 2 ½ twisting last pass. Tori is opening with a double tuck and also has a whip half to front full and whip half to rudi.
Clearly the length of my journal entry proves how great everyone is doing! We have more depth than ever and are looking forward to our best season in history! Thanks so much for taking time to read about our wonderful team and thanks for all of the support we've received! GO TIGERS!!!
Shi