December 3, 2007

First of all, I would like to say congratulations to our football team for winning the Big Game! The game was exciting down to the final seconds, and their victory was a great inspiration.

This was our last week training together before the voluntary period starts for dead week and finals. The energy was great and everyone is continuing to make improvements not only on their skills but on consistency and landings as well. Tabby came up with a great beam challenge in which you had to claim the spot you wanted in the line-up and then compete against a teammate for that spot by simultaneously doing cold sets on neighboring beams. One person from each round advanced and formed the line up for a beam intrasquad that followed. It was great to see how many people we have ready to go on beam, and that nobody let down after securing a spot. The routines in the second round were just as, if not more aggressive and solid than they were during the first round.

We finished our week off with an intrasquad with San Jose State. It was great to have another team in the gym, because it definitely added another element and more closely simulated an actual competition. We started off strong on vault, highlighted again by a huge yurchenko full from Gretchen. We didn't have our best day on bars, but didn't let up and finished well. Nikki's routine was amazing and includes a huge new tkatchev. The beam team made their routines, and floor was exciting with lots of new choreography and big tumbling. It is especially fun to see Weedge and Tab perform their routines and really draw the audience in. All in all, it went well and was exciting to see all the upgrades everyone has made. It was definitely fun to get into the competitive mode again, and it got everyone fired up for season to begin! Thanks for checking in, and GO CARD!

Tenaya