Back to Work!

I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving and got to enjoy some quality time catching up with friends and family. Our whole team really enjoyed the chance to go home and rest our bodies but it sure is good to be back. It's so hard to believe we only have two more weeks of classes until exams, meaning we'll all be returning home again in another three weeks! It's rather scary how fast the time goes!

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Courtney's Chalk Talk...

Well, everyone survived the past week consumed by academic insanity and we've now made it to the next stop on our journey! I know I've told ya'll Sarah's philosophy on Thanksgiving in regard to the grand scheme of the season: wherever you are gymnastically going into the break is typically where you start off in competition. So here we are and I think all the girls, coaches, trainers, and managers will attest to the fact we have worked so hard to get ourselves to this place. With such an auspicious postion, I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for these next five months.

As a final evaluation of everyone's progress and current status going into the Holiday, we had bars and beam intrasquads on Sunday. We even brought in a judge to give her input on routines and help simulate the pressure of a competition. On bars, our team consisted of Amanda, Ricki, Morgan, Brittany, Kayla, and Kassi. Kayla had a break, but the other five nailed their sets. Usually at this time of year it's satisfactory to have everyone hit and stay on the equipment, but you expect to see hops on dismounts or slightly missed handstands. Not this year. These routines were executed in postseason fashion:) There is such a high standard in the gym this year and each of the girls are making the lineups extremely difficult to break into. We are still without Terin in our bar intrasquads as her elbow is still giving her problems on some of her skills.

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Twas the week before Thanksgiving...

Another successful week behind us brings about the final week until we leave for Thanksgiving. I think I can speak for the entire team when I say this break couldn't come at a better possible time. Yes, the holiday will offer everyone's bodies a nice reprieve and chance to relax, but the break I'm referring to is the five days without classes (including the weekend of course). I've never really struggled much with the academic overload of tests and projects my freshman and sophomore year, but I sure am paying for it this semester!!

With the pressure and stress from classes accumulating by the day, it really is amazing to see so many huge steps forward in the gym. The ability to come into the gym and leave obstacles dealing with family, school, personal struggles, or illnesss outside the door says a great deal about this team. Our team chemistry is truly amazing and each girl is so willing to do what it takes. I'm telling ya'll, the potential in these fifteen girls is endless!

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Courtney's Chalktalk

Walking out of Bryant Denny Stadium Saturday after witnessing such an intense and invigorating football game, I was overwhelmed with this incredible sense of pride and excitment. I realized how glad and fortunate I am to call Alabama home and be at such an outstanding university that has so much support generated throughout the community. Even though we had just suffered a heartbreaking loss to LSU, I was still excited and thankful. I guess when you're slowly dragging your feet out of the stadium along with 92,138 other die-hard fans it becomes obvious that this isn't the norm. Not many people get to enjoy the unity of this eternal Alabama family. As disappointing as the loss was, every single fan knew that our football team was out there giving it 110%. Those boys were fighting their hearts out for their university, for their fans, and for their family.

This realization I came to seems so obvious, but it honestly becomes quite easy to take all these amazing opportunities and everything that seems to come with being an athlete here at Alabama for granted. And for that, I want to take the time to thank all of our fans and all of our readers across the country, and perhaps even the world. You have no idea how appreciative we are of your support and dedication to our university and Alabama Gymnastics. Without ya'll, we wouldn't be anywhere close to where we are today. I know I'm a little biased, but I truly believe that our fans, the 15,000 that come to our meets in addition to the rest of our loyal supporters, are the nation's best!

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