The Alabama Crimson Tide returned to the Capstone on December 26th and back to the gym on the 27th for full practices in preparation for the Oklahoma Sooners, who will be in town to open the season against Bama on January 12, 2007.

Joining the Alabama squad on this first date back in the gym was freshman walk-on Alyssa Chapman from Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Tide coaches report that the first two days back in the gym were "tremendous" for the team in terms of their enthusiasm, focus and hitting of skills; however, as anticipated, the third day saw some muscle fatigue and soreness setting in given the earlier break from training for the Christmas holidays. Junior Kaitlin White was nursing a sore elbow from a bad tumble backwards off the vault the day before while freshman Jac Shealy was rehabbing a sore shoulder that was the result of a scary fall off the uneven bars during one of the earlier practices.  White was back working all four events on this date while Shealy mainly did conditioning and got a lengthy shoulder massage.  Everyone else looked healthy and focused in their workouts.

During a balance beam intrasquad conducted by Coach Patterson, several solid reps were thrown by senior Erin Rightley , juniors Terin Humphrey and Kaitlin White , freshmen Morgan Dennis, Ricki Lebegern, Kassi Price and Casey Overton , and sophomores Amanda Montgomery, Ashley O'Neal, Cassie Martin , and Brittany Magee .  Sophomore Courtney Priess continued to focus mainly on the uneven bars and balance beam in her workouts and the coaches are trying to pace her workouts to minimize stress on her back as much as possible.  Court's attitude remains very positive and motivated in the gym.  Balance beam is a deep event for Bama this season and the rotation line-up is starting to take focus.   We're pretty confident that four of Bama's positions will be anchored by the following in no particular order:  Terin, Kassi, Erin, and Brittany.  Each of the remaining gymnasts have the skills to secure one of the final positions and it will likely come down to those two gymnasts that are confidently and consistently hitting their routines during the remaining intrasquads.

Freshman walk-on Alyssa Chapman has notable power in her tumbling on floor and very solid, unique skills on the balance beam.  She is already working with Dana Duckworth on her floor choreography and the coaches feel that she has great potential.  Some of the skills observed on beam included a two-footed back handspring to two-footed back pike; a switch leap to straddle jump to wolf jump combination; punch front to back handspring; two-footed back handspring to what looked like a timer to a double back dismount.  She actively participated in the balance beam 3 minute touches and the intrasquad as well.

On the floor exercise, early predictions for the first meet's line-up would include Terin, Ricki, Brittany, Kassi, Erin and Ashley O.   Morgan was trying on this practice date to contain her awesome power on the floor during tumbling runs that included an opening pass of a soaring double layout.  She was hitting this skill but landing just out of bounds; Coach Bryan Raschilla reminded her that she might incur a deduction if she lands on the judge in that corner (big grin on her face in response to his comment).  We will certainly revise this line-up prediction after the next practice visit of January 6th if Morgan succeeds in keeping that power within the designated floor boundaries.

A more thorough report will follow this weekend's workouts!  Roll Tide and Welcome Coach Saban!