PBAs caught the last major practice before the gymnasts enter final exams this next week.  The gals were working out today on every event and PBAs got a chance to view more of the floor choreography that will be presented this year with the help of Dana Dobransky-Duckworth.  Rachael Delahoussaye had a small air cast on her arm to help with a stress fracture but she was practicing her beam routine and adding new elements that were exciting to see.  Read on for more Tidebits…

Tidebits

We watched a group of seven start off with their vault timers and then the actual vault reps; the strongest performances were by Ashley Miles, Terin Humphrey, Melanie Banville, Kaitlin White and Ashley O'Neal in this group.  Erin Rightley went back and forth between the foam pit and the soft mats in the execution of her Yurchenko 1/1 while Ashley Ford appeared to be still working out the kinks with her front tuck ½ twist in hopes of upgrading to a front pike ½ twist. 

Meanwhile, Cassie Martin was working on her double front Arabian on the floor and had several sit-downs before Dana Dobransky-Duckworth noted that she was opening up just a little too early and cued her to try it again.  Her next attempt was successful.  They also worked on blocking out her choreography for an extended period of time and she later worked vault, bars and balance beam. 

Dana Filetti rotated to the vault to do several reps of the Yurchenko 1/1, the first reps she has done on this event in several weeks because of her earlier ankle injury.  She was running and vaulting without any obvious problems on this date and, barring any further setbacks, should factor in the vault line-up by the Super Six Challenge.  Dana also looked solid on the balance beam and the uneven bars, where she is now landing her dismount (double front) without favoring the ankle. 

Bianca Puello was looking more confident and clean on the balance beam and uneven bars.  You can see her strong technical skills returning week by week.  She had a delay in her conditioning over the summer due to an unfortunate auto accident and is just now starting to perform where the coaches were hoping she would be back in late September – early October. 

Courtney Priess looks like she is ready to go on three events to start the season: uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.  Her reps on this date were very solid and she is in terrific shape.  On floor she will perform to music from Napoleon Dynamite and will throw a double pike and close with a 2 ½ twist.  

Kaitlin White and Terin Humphrey were working hard on all four events as well.  Terin was showing consistent landings of the double layout dismount off the bars and her balance beam routine during the informal intra-squad was terrific and now includes a punch front.   Kaitlin’s tumbling on floor was very confident and her work ethic in the gym overall was impressive to observe; she will likely factor in the line-up on vault and possibly uneven bars at the start of the season; her beam routine is complete but the flight series (back handspring to back pike) is requiring more reps to refine her amplitude and form. 

Dana Pierce appears to have positioned herself best for possibly making the line-up on uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise for 2006.  She threw another strong beam routine during the intra-squad on this date and just seems more relaxed and confident this year in pre-season workouts on this event.  Her floor routine workout today mainly focused on the double twist to punch front pass, which also looked very solid.

Amanda Montgomery worked out on uneven bars, floor exercise and the balance beam.  Her tumbling on floor has shown much improvement in form, amplitude and landings in just three weeks and Dana Duckworth has created some great dance moves for her routine.   Form is still rough on the bars but she is showing more confidence on the balance beam (nice front aerial to side aerial combination and a one-handed back handspring to wolf full combination). 

Rachael Delahoussaye practiced her beam routine without the flight series and has added a straddle full jump and a switch leap to gainer back pike for her dismount.  Rachael was also doing reps on the floor for a pike jump to back tuck.    Erin Rightley looked solid but not as fluid on the balance beam compared to her performance a few weeks ago but she completed her routine without significant errors for the informal intra-squad.  Her leap series is now a switch leap to straddle to pike combination.  On floor she has upgraded her final pass to a front-front full-punch layout. 

Mari-Christine Bayer threw her complete uneven bars routine and her balance beam routine and looks ready to compete.  She is a little delayed with her return to the floor after suffering a broken toe this summer on a water slide.  She was also coaching and encouraging Cassie Martin during her floor reps.

We will have more to report around the first of the year, including our initial impressions of Tide freshman Brittany Magee, who will join the team for official practices when they return from the Christmas holidays.  Until then, Roll Tide and Happy Holidays!