The Tide gymnasts were once again hard at work on Sunday and Pooh Bear's assistants got a chance to see some of the various conditioning techniques the coaches are employing with the team this year to increase endurance and power. For example, assistant coach, Bryan Raschilla, had the team hopping between six mats to increase leg strength and endurance. This was followed up by having the gymnasts walk on their hands in and around these mats to increase balance/coordination and concentration. Sophomore Natalie Barrington was a stand-out in her toe-point and extension, not to mention her ability to never waver as she maneuvered around each mat to the finish line. Fitness gurus would have cringed with envy to see how easy sophomore Andree Pickens makes it look to hang from the bars and do abdominal crunches and straddle lifts. It was great to see the gymnasts attack all of these and additional conditioning routines with determination and confidence, which carried over to their subsequent workouts on uneven bars and floor exercise. Highlights include:

Uneven Bars: Sophomore Alexa Martinez appears ready to enter the bars line-up this year and was throwing a nice Tkatchev release move. As always, her wonderful extension and toe-point were on display throughout this work-out. Sophomore Raegan Tomasek was throwing her new toe-on toe-off on the high bar with confidence and had successfully combined this with a piked Jaeger release by the end of her work-out. Raegan looks great and seems to have a renewed spark and drive in her practice routines this year. Junior Lissy Smith was working on a full-in dismount while Senior Gina Logan was practicing her piked Jaeger with excellent form. Junior Katie Hornecker was observed to consistently land her new dismount, a double layout with a full twist (laid out position) while junior Dara Stewart was working on a second release move, a full twisting Tkatchev! Dara clearly loves a challenge and appears determined to have this release down pat by Halloween! Speaking of challenges, Andree Pickens is looking to add to her already jam-packed bars routine by working on a double layout dismount. Her power during release off of the high bar is almost scary to see. She seems fully capable of throwing this dismount with a laid-out full twist also. Freshman Sara Scarborough displayed beautiful extension, rotation and toe-point during her bars routine but was somewhat limited by a cold on this date with regard to the more difficult skills. Her freshman teammate, Kristen Sterner, was throwing a piked Jaeger release and has a nifty double front dismount. Kristen has a nice style and presentation on the bars and reaches her handstand positions consistently. As always, Junior Robin Hawkins and Senior Lexa Evans were high-flying with their Tkatchev releases. Lexa is also in great shape and appears poised to contribute on the bars and floor this year.

Floor Exercise:The Tide will definitely have a great deal of depth on floor this year. This appears to be an event where fans will see an immediate increase in difficulty as long as the team stays healthy and conditioned. Coach Patterson was working with each girl to map out their leap combinations in preparation for choreographing their floor routines. Sara Scarborough displayed a lovely Yang Bo leap and is working on a Popa. She also has a full twisting Shushanova in her arsenal, which we have been dying to see a Tide gymnast throw for years now! Kristen Sterner is a quick learner and has excellent amplitude in her leaps. She was throwing a double twisting cat leap with confidence as well as a Popa. Lissy Smith has added a whip during her double pike pass and is also working on a double tuck for her second pass. Sophomores Whitney Morgan and Krista Gole appeared to be the most confident on floor with their double pikes. Krista was also throwing a double tuck and a 2½ twist. Natalie Barrington was working on two front bounders to a punch front as well as a 1 ½ twist. Like Raegan, Natalie appears to have an extra spark of confidence this year and will likely show up on several events for the Tide. Robin Hawkins was throwing a nice double pike, double tuck and a double twist. Coach Patterson was also working with her on a full twisting Shushanova but Robin was getting tickled as she tried to visualize this move before executing it; she got her feet tangled up as a result but seemed to have a blast trying it out! Pooh Bear's assistants will report on two more practices.