It's All About One Day in April

At first blush, the first day of official practice may seem an odd occasion for me to be thinking of that 'one day in April' - April 21, 2006, that is, the date of the National Championship team final. Well...OK, perhaps it will only seem odd to those of you who don't know me very well. It's just that, seeing the freshmen running around the gym, bumping into each other, reminds me that the seniors they are replacing, Alexis Brion, Shannon Hrozek, and Michele Reeser, always strove to be at their very best in post-season competition.

The GymTide began official practice for the 2006 season on Tuesday, September 13, 2005 and the Medalist Club was on hand - both to observe and to cheer on the team. Alas, the PBAs were stuck at work and unable to attend. However, those of us lucky enough to be there for the Tide's workout formed an 'ad hoc' committee that was - with considerable help from official sources - able to come up with, hopefully, a little technical information.

The truth is, there is a lot of work to be done between now and that 'one day' - a lot of conditioning, practicing, and competing. Even so, the veterans know that the days will fly by between now and the first meet, the Super Six Challenge in Baton Rouge on January 6th. And for this season's seniors, Mari-Christine Bayer, Rachel Delahoussaye, Dana Filetti, Ashley Miles, and Dana Pierce, every one of those 'flying days' will be special; they will mark their last time through. I don't think it will hurt to take a brief moment to remember their 'first time through'.

The 2002 National Champion GymTide featured a varied, talented, and extremely accomplished group of seniors - namely, Natalie Barrington, Alexa Martinez, Whitney Morgan, Andreé Pickens, and Raegan Tomasek. At the time, I remember thinking that we would never see their likes again. In a way, I was both right, and wrong.

The personalities of the 2002 senior's replacements, the 2003 freshman class, were - from the very start - so different from the 2002 seniors. Where the 2002 seniors were quiet, even reserved, the 2003 freshmen were vocal and fun-loving, almost boisterous. At the meets, the 2002 seniors were nearly always cool and collected, very business-like. The 2003 freshmen, on the other hand, were an 'open book' of emotions, ranging from yippee! to doggone-it! all in the same meet...heck, all in the same rotation!

Some things remained the same, however, between the two groups. Both were collections of outstanding gymnasts, dedicated students, enthusiastic community servants - in short the very epitome of what is has always meant to be a Bama gymnast . So now, as the freshmen of 2003 become the seniors of 2006, I am struck by a familiar feeling: we will never see their likes again.

The gymnasts were in full 'workout mode' when we arrived. As is usual, the coaches had divided the team into groups and they were either working on skills and timing on the various apparatus or were conditioning on the side using the large collection of treadmills, stair-steppers, medieval torture devices, etc. available in corner of the practice gym. We didn't see a group working on floor acrobatics during the time we were there, but I think I am right in saying that the team doesn't tumble every day.

Just to give you a 'visual', the gymnasts were in sleeveless, deep-crimson , velveteen-look leotards with "Bama" stitched across the chest in white, script lettering. Most of them had also donned black, spandex...well, I call them 'compression shorts', but I don't know what they're really called. And, of course, they all had varying amounts of chalk dusted over them, depending on whether or not they had already been through their 'bars rotation'. All except Terin Humphrey, that is. She always has a good, healthy coating of chalk whether she's been to bars or not. (I have it on good authority that Terin 'chalks up' just to drive to practice. Can't be too careful with those slippery steering wheels, you know!)

We were especially impressed with how quickly the freshmen have gotten up to speed and how well they have blended in with the veterans. The freshmen are Melanie Banville of Long Sault, Ontario (Ottawa Gymnastics Center), Ashley Ford of Tuscaloosa, Alabama (Bama Bounders), Cassie Martin of Olney, Maryland (Hill's Angels), Amanda Montgomery of Jacksonville, Florida (Starlight Gymnastics), Ashley O'Neal of Kennesaw, Georgia (Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta), Courtney Priess of Hamilton, Ohio (Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy ), and Bianca Puello of Marion, Illinois (Southern Illinois Gymnastics Academy). The returning veterans are Mari-Christine Bayer of San Jose, California (West Valley), Rachael Delahoussaye of Mandeville, Louisiana (Northshore), Dana Filetti of Chesapeake, Virginia (Excalibur), Terin Humphrey of Bates, Missouri (Great American Gymnastics Academy), Meredith Laxton of Papillion, Nebraska (Nebraska Gold), Ashley Miles of San Antonio, Texas (South Texas Gymnastics Academy), Dana Pierce of Advance, Indiana (DeVeau's School of Gymnastics ), Erin Rightley of Ft. Walton Beach, Florida (Emerald City), and Kaitlin White of Allen, Texas (World Olympic Gymnastics Academy).

It's unfair to compare the gymnasts one to another at this point - especially the freshmen - since all begin practice with such a wide range of experiences for the last few months. In addition and fortunately, although I'm far from being a technical expert on gymnastics, the PBAs have recently provided two articles describing in great detail the gymnastics skills of each of the freshmen. I will most definitely defer to those articles in the area of technical precision. However, keeping that in mind, I will try to point out a few things which particularly stood out to me at practice.

As has been reported previously, Melanie Banville is the reigning Canadian National Champion on floor, vault, and the all-around. Not surprisingly, since she secured her championships only a short time ago, Melanie is in excellent form and fitness. She seemed to be very comfortable and confident while on the equipment, especially the balance beam - which, as we all know, is half the battle.

You may recall that, as the result of a training accident, Mari-Christine Bayer began her freshman campaign with a bandaged-up pinkie finger. She has now come full circle as a senior. As a reminder of a fight she lost with a water slide this summer, Mari is now sporting a bandaged-up toe. However, she is almost back up to full speed. In fact, Mari was participating in conditioning and even worked a bit on the uneven bars, including some work on a double lay-out dismount into the foam block pit. Meanwhile, the coaches are considering purchasing giant inflated hamster balls for the gymnasts to live in during the off-season...

For the most part, the gymnasts were working on skills on the various apparatus. A few skills in combination, but mostly single skills. It's always a challenge to keep up with what each gymnast is doing, especially since at any one time as many as four or five balance beams may be in use during practice, along with two or three sets of uneven bars, and two vault runways. Some things are hard to miss, of course, like when Ashley Miles threw a really nice double layout dismount from the bars or Kaitlin spun a really pretty handstand-pirouette on the top bar. (By the way, since we have three 'Ashleys' on the team, your hard-pressed and over-worked reporters will now have to specify which one by using both the gymnast's first and last name - just as we have been doing for our two Danas for three years, plus.)

Just to try to be systematic, I will proceed in Olympic order, of course beginning with vault. And in order to honor further the Olympics, I will also begin with Canadian Olympian Melanie Banville, who appeared to be working on a Yurchenko layout with 1 ½ twists, the same vault that Ashley Miles uses for her 'second vault' for event finals at Nationals. Dana Pierce was working on timers for her Yurchenko full. Ashley O'Neal was working on front handspring-entry vaults, a la Alexis Brion. Most everyone else was doing timers and working on their 'steps' (you don't want to get to the end of the runway and be too close or too far from the vault table).

Interestingly, Cassie Martin was doing the same kind of vault drill that I remember Kaitlin White doing last year at about this time. One of the vault runways in the practice facility, rather than landing into a foam block pit or onto normally-sized mats, instead lands on a stack of mats that are piled up higher than the top of the vault table. For the drill, the gymnast does her normal Yurchenko entry, or what have you, onto the vault table, repulses off of it, flips and twists, and lands on the mat - in Cassie's case, usually standing up high atop the mats. I mention this for two reasons. First, if Cassie ends up with the same results as Kaitlin, with a gorgeous 9.875 vault in the Super Six final, you won't hear me complaining. And, second, this particular drill is one of those that looks like it would be a lot of fun to be able to try, at least once - if you lived through it!

Bars practice involved a lot of working on timing for everyone, of course, as per usual. Never-the-less, the gymnasts did manage to squeeze in a little work on skills. I've already mentioned Kaitlin White's handstand-pirouette on the top bar, and Ashley Miles and Mari-Christine Bayer both working on double layout dismounts. I nearly missed it, but I think a saw Melanie Banville do a handstand-double-pirouette on the high bar. Cassie Martin was working on a really nice (a difficult!) combination of a Tkachev to an immediate Pak salto. Courtney Priess was working on a pike Jaeger release move and an arabian double front tuck dismount (I can almost hear the PBAs cheering, they love that dismount!).

On to the beam, where most everyone seemed to take a turn while we were there. I saw a couple of surprises from the veterans that I think I'll keep under my hat for the time being. Let's just say that no one seemed to be interested in just standing still and sticking strictly with last year's skills or routines. Bianca Puello was working on some split leaps, as was Melanie Banville. I also noted some unusual beam skills from Melanie (well, unusual to me, anyway!) such as a double turn and a pike leap? (jump?) with a half turn. Cassie was working on connecting a front aerial to a back handspring (a la the first two/thirds of Mari-Christine Bayer's 'flight series'). Cassie was also working on a flip-flop, back layout-stepout flight series. She appeared to be working timers for both a back double tuck and a layout double-twist dismount? (It's hard to tell with timers!) Amanda Montgomery ran through a few of what I thought to be back handspring to a wolf leap with a full turn combinations - not something you see everyday. However, something about that description bothered me, so I went back to the PBA's article on the incoming freshmen and decided that Amanda must have been doing what the PBAs described as a "gainer one-arm back handspring to wolf full".

I sort of debated with myself, then decided in the end to feature Courtney Priess' beam practice, at least a little. It's early yet and, as I mentioned from the start, it's unfair to begin comparing what the gymnasts are doing at this point. With that note of caution in mind however, I am, after all, trying to give you my impressions from practice - and I was very impressed with what I saw from Courtney on the balance beam. While jotting down notes as fast as I could (so some of this may be inaccurate - and most definitely incomplete!), I noted that Courtney was working on a flip-flop to a layout step-out, an aerial (two-foot landing?) to a split leap, a punch front, a switch split leap to a side split 1/4 turn, a split leap-full turn, and a running switch split-leap to an immediate reverse pike dismount. All of which was executed with confidence, nice execution, and a fairly high degree of success on the more difficult elements - under the watchful eye of Coach Sarah Patterson, who was stationed just off to one side of Courtney's balance beam. Perhaps it was my imagination working on me from halfway across the gym, but I could have sworn that I could almost hear Coach 'calling' Courtney's next skill like a square dance fiddler. You know, "Side switch split leap, doe-see-doe, punch-front aerial, a-here -we-go, lay-out, flip-flop, life's a dream, allemande left - now, off that beam!"

The best thing about the 1st day of official practice, by far, was that everyone was able to participate - at least to some degree. That in itself made for a good beginning. With such a large team (16 gymnasts) and such a large freshman class (seven), it is a definite challenge to see, much less to report, more than just a fraction of what goes on at practice. Hopefully, I was able to convey a little of what I saw. Thankfully, as usual, the PBAs will be posting practice reports on a regular basis as the pre-season goes along.

Be sure to keep an eye on the website in the coming weeks for information about some upcoming Medalist Club activities, especially the Medalist Club Membership Drive and Pizza Party at the end of October. This event will take the place of the 'Fall Bar-B-Q' that we discontinued year before last. With the changes we have come up with for the event, we hope it will be much more convenient (and affordable!) for everyone. And, of course, we will also be setting the stage for the first real chance to see the gymnasts 'in action', the annual 'Ghosts and Goblins' intra-squad, also at the end of October. In addition, plans are just about in place for this season's post-meet receptions to be held in the fabulous new 'Club Lounge' overlooking the floor of Coleman Coliseum. For convenience and ease of access for all of our members, the Club Lounge should be a real treat to use. However, just as with our move in previous years from the Indoor Practice Facility to the Bryant Center, there will inevitably have to be small changes made in the format of receptions to suit our new environment. No matter what, it will be great not to have to walk out in the weather to go to the reception. At this writing we are still not completely sure about all the details, so stay tuned to this site for additional information as it becomes available to us. It's going to be another exciting season, I can't wait for January - Roll Tide!!!