April 9, 2007

Inside the Locker Room... from the Heart
Regionals Edition
by Blair

We're getting ready in the locker room at the University of Arizona, and I hear the usual noises of weeks past. "Suddenly I See" is blaring through Nikki's speakers, and Liz's contagious laugh is echoing and bouncing against the room's walls. I see the same events reoccurring as they have been, every weekend for three months. The sophomores are stuffing themselves into one locker and taking silly pictures. Sparkling glitter is on each member of SWG's face, warm-up, and hair, as well as every inch of the floor. Mike's concoction has been poured into little Gatorade cups for everyone to refuel. Like I said, all of this is normal and has come to be commonplace for me this year.

But the noises and events happening in the locker room are not the only things that have come to be expected. Every weekend, I look forward to a general feeling of having a great time with a group of girls whom I love, and I love each one just as much as the next. The time that I have spent with them is immeasurable. I guess, technically speaking, I could go back and actually calculate how much time I have spent with them. That amount of time would be an extremely large number, but it would mean nothing compared to what I have learned during that period. Every one of us has each and every girl's back. What we have been through this year, both physically and mentally, has made us all the stronger. We have done the hard work necessary to be successful and completely confident in our abilities, and it is now time to let that work pay off. It's time to show what we can do.

As I sit in the locker room wearing my competition leotard and warm-up with "Stanford" stitched across the back, I remember this scenario as something that has happened many times before, and in many ways it is still the same. Even though it's a regional competition, what really matters is that little extra shimmy, that wink in the middle of the routine right in front of the judge, the look of confidence in what's being done-both by the performer and by the girls cheering her on, and the silly celebratory jumping around at the end of the routine. We're still going to be that goofy team; we're just a goofy team with a purpose. We know we're prepared, and the best part is that all we have to do is what we love with those we love. We love gymnastics, we love our team, and we love to have fun. What could be better?

Blair Ryland