Bama was hard at it in the practice gym this past Sunday.  Some positive news to report is the reappearance in the gym of sophomore Brittany Comeaux, who was working primarily on the uneven bars and the vault today.  Several Tide gymnasts were working complete routines and fine-tuning their floor choreography on this date.  This was a shorter practice than usual due to the team's scheduled community service visit to nearby DCH Hospital, where some Tide Tykes were eagerly awaiting their arrival.  Highlights from practice included:

Vault

Coach David Patterson is starting to finalize his first and second string on vault. Not every gymnast was scheduled to work vault on this date but from observations made during Ghosts v Goblins and again today, it looks like the Tide will easily be throwing 6 10.0 vaults at the Super Six Challenge.

The following gymnasts were consistently landing their respective vaults on the hard mats as follows:

Yurchenko 1/1            
Shannon Hrozek, Erin Rightley, Ashley Miles, Dana Pierce

Front Pike ½               
Alexis Brion

Yurchenko Full Twist On/Back Pike Off
Dana Filetti

A new vault for the San Jose, California junior that was landed on the soft mats today:

Yurchenko ½ Off - Front Pike
Mari-Christine Bayer

These Tiders were still polishing up their technique on the soft mats with the following vaults:

Hristakieva
Meredith Laxton

Yurchenko ½ on - front tuck - ½ off
Brittany Comeaux

Uneven Bars

Barring unforeseen injuries, Bama will have very nice depth on this event for 2005 and several gymnasts have already trained additional release moves in their routines as well as more difficult dismounts to increase the Tide's scoring range.  We think this will be the first event that freshman Kaitlin White will debut as a Tider.  She is very confident with her release moves (Gienger, pak Salto) and is likely to go with a double pike dismount to start the season.  Shannon Hrozek's new dismount is looking strong (1/2 in front out) and she nailed the first one she attempted.   Ashley Miles was practicing the Shaposhnikova and Hindorff release moves along with her double layout dismount with no problems.  Mari-Christine Bayer is looking stronger than ever with her pike Jaeger release; she has the best toe point and handstands of the Tide gymnasts and the double layout dismount just needs a little more amplitude for maximum scoring. Alexis Brion will be the Tide's secret weapon on the uneven bars if she re-masters the double front dismount.  She has a very smooth style on this event and always reaches her handstand positions.  Dana Filetti was observed practicing the Shaposhnikova release and still has the Gienger release in her routine, along with the double front dismount.  Dana Pierce was practicing both a double pike and a double layout dismount on this date and looks solid.  Brittany Comeaux was taking pointers from Coach Patterson on her body position prior to the double front dismount.  Michelle Reeser was steady with her full turn to Tkatchev release and the reverse tuck off the high bar (dismount).

Balance Beam

Training beam on this date were Rachael Delahoussaye, Ashley Miles, Erin Rightley, Meredith Laxton, Dana Filetti, Dana Pierce, and Michelle Reeser.  Flight series and leap series were being polished and it looks like we will see Laxton performing the round off 1 ½ twist, Filetti the double twist and Miles the double tuck off this event for 2005.  Filetti's double twist is looking super solid.  Delahoussaye and Rightley were working diligently on the wolf Popa with excellent results.  Pierce was struggling with the double back handspring to two-footed layout but she stayed with it until she and the coach were satisfied.  The rest of her routine looked very nice (switch leap to straddle-straddle jump combination; as usual, her switch leap side had awesome extension and amplitude).  The Tide has their best depth on this event along with floor for 2005.

Floor Exercise

Erin Rightley and Mari-Christine Bayer were receiving the most attention on this date from Dana Dobransky-Duckworth, volunteer coach and primary choreographer for the Tide's floor routines.  Mari looks like she really enjoys her new routine and Erin's confidence on the floor this year compared to her freshman year will be noticeable to fans.  She's ready to shine.  Ashley's new routine is funky and fun while Alexis has new dance moves but will keep the same music for her senior campaign. No tumbling was observed on the floor on this date, just choreography refinement.

We hope to post a final pre-Christmas practice report the week of December 20^th.  Roll Tide!