Ten Troupe is an student organization that has helped supercharge the atmosphere at UA Gymnastics Meets and is open to any current UA student and is similar to Mark's Madness at Alabama Men's Basketball games. A membership fee of $25.00 will be assessed and membership will be available on a "first come, first served" basis.

The December issue of the Medalist Club Newsletter is heading to print as you read this. This issue talks about the coming season and what to look for from our favorite team!

It will only be mailed to our current membership, so if you haven't (re-)joined the Medalist Club for 2006, now is the time to send in your membership. If you can't find your brochure, don't worry! You can download one from Gymtide.com. Simply click on the menu option for "The Club", then click the link to "Join the Club". Download one of the forms, fill it out and send it in to our membership chairman!

As an added incentive, the first 200 members who join will receive a special "Gymtide.com" shoulder bag.

Finally, all members who've joined by December 10th who have Medalist Club T-Shirts coming will receive them before Christmas!

See you in January!

The Medalist Club

Sarah Patterson and the Alabama Gymnastics program inked four student-athletes to national letters of intent during the early signing period. Morgan Dennis, Kayla Hoffman, Ricki Lebegern and Casey Overton have all signed to compete for the Tide starting with the 2007 season.

"It's Thanksgiving time of year, and a good time to talk about something for which we can all be thankful. In fact, we've talked a lot this fall about the gymnasts, and how well they are coming along, athletically. I'm happy to report that a recent visit to practice found the gymnasts all to be 'up and at 'em', practicing hard, and doing a great job. In addition, another area that the GymTide concentrates on - community involvement - has also had some great success with the recent 2005 Golf Classic and Chopper Drop benefiting the DCH Breast Cancer Fund, which is in some ways an outgrowth of Coach Sarah Patterson's 'Think Pink' breast cancer awareness campaign begun last year and continuing on this season. However, it is the other factor in the GymTide equation, academics, which a recent field trip brought to the forefront."

We got a chance to watch the gals practicing again this past Sunday and have some exciting new "tidebits" to report on upgrades already in several routines. Let's get right to it.

New applications for Tide Tykes and Teens will be accepted after Dec 1, 2005 on a first come first serve basis.

• 2006 Registration form for Tide Tykes and Teens - Adobe Acrobat(C) format
  The free Acrobat reader can be downloaded here

We have a brand spanking new Photo album (and a slide show) for the 2006 Ghosts vs Goblins Intrasquad Meet.

• Photo Album: 2006 Ghosts vs Goblins Intrasquad Meet
• Slide Show: 2006 Ghosts vs Goblins Intrasquad Meet

Here are a few of the Photos:
(Click on a thumbnail to view a full size picture)

103068 bytes 01.Ghastly Signs Portend-Ghosts&Goblins begin

104298 bytes 02.Strange attire amazes Coach Sarah

114208 bytes 03.Coach David welcomes visitors with Arcane Rules

We present the first of two installments on the Crimson Tide Gymnastics Team's projected depth at midway point of the pre-season. Today we are covering the vault and uneven bars and will continue with the balance beam and floor exercise in a few days. The next practice report will hopefully come right before Thanksgiving, depending on the coaches' workout schedule for the team this Sunday. Roll Tide!

Michelle Reeser spent her Alabama gymnastics career excelling in athletics, academics and community service and Saturday night, she was honored for her accomplishments in all three areas.

As a top-10 finalist for the 2005 NCAA Woman of the Year award, Reeser was honored at a banquet that introduced each of the 51 state winner. Reeser and the other nine finalists were celebrated with a video presentation of their honors and accomplishments. Tennessee diver Lauryn McCalley was named the Woman of the Year.

"When you hear the stories told about each one of these girls, and you get to know them, it is amazing," Reeser said after the banquet, held at the Indianapolis Westin.

It was another shocking, awe-inspiring venture into the world of Alabama Gymnastics this past Sunday, October 30, 2005.

The UA gymnasts were going all out during the annual intra-squad to impress the coaches and fans alike. The end result (183 Goblins to 181 Ghosts) was partially credited to David Patterson for coming up with such a balanced team line-up on both sides. The gals came away feeling that each had made definite strides on this date. They also had clearer views of where they need to be in the next two months of practice in order to make the line-up at the Super Six Challenge. This first excerpt will focus on highlights of each gymnast's performance in the intra-squad. Another analysis will follow later in the week that will focus more on how the team is looking six-deep on each event in the wake of this competition.