Hey Centenary Gymnastics Fans!
It's Freshman Izzie Plaza here with this week's Gym Talk. The Ladies did amazing this last week despite the upcoming pressures of finals, but I know our Ladies will rock them. We are almost off to Thanksgiving break, but that hasn't stopped us from kicking butt during practice, nothing can stop this team, they are on fire!
This year is definitely weird and not how we planned it, but that hasn't stopped us. We started the week off on Tuesday where our Ladies wore blue to honor the one-year anniversary of the death of Melanie Coleman, a Southern Connecticut gymnast, who left us too soon. Two of our freshman, Rylie Molina and Courtney Tripp, junior, Kendall Sanders and sophomore Taylor Wilson all go brand new floor routines and can't wait to share them with everybody.
Wednesday was a crazy day and unfortunately, we couldn't practice because of Covid Testing. However, we still got up dark and early to get a "Q-tip-up our nose" like champions. But if that is what we have to do to keep our team running then we will gladly do it. We are happy to announce that all 18 of our beautiful ladies tested negative, Go Ladies! Thursday was 6 am at the Jill's and it was no easy feat. Coach Jackie, in all her glory, found a way to turn an innocent Jenga game into conditioning. Four of our ladies had to do a sprint test after it fell, but it is okay because now we are even stronger. That evening we had our last session with Molly Grisham, but she has brought this team so much closer and we are so grateful for what she has done for us.
Friday's practices were great, but what was even more amazing was getting to meet our recruit at conditioning. Saturdays are always amazing and we had our recruit there which made the practice so much better. I know I've only been here for a couple months, but this practice was the best one yet! We had so many great things going on all day long, and the energy was incredible! There are so many shout outs, I know I'll leave someone out, but I'll give it a try! So shout-outs to the following: Si~Si Ponder did her amazing new bar dismount combination (uprise handstand to immediate double lay), and both Taylor Wilson (full-out) and Lacey Wedge (Gonzales) did their new dismounts on the competition landing. The whole bar workout rocked as everyone did full bar routines. Everyone was really stepping it up on floor and we had some of the best floor routines I've ever seen! Jerrica Harris upped her full-in to higher mats, Rose Deshler did her double pikes to hard landing for the first time, Kendall Sanders added a straddle jump to her rudi, Kendall Knaps added a front out of her front double full, and Xian Baumgartner added a stag jump out of her double back! The beam queens killed it over there too – making full routines and sticking dismounts.
Sunday came around and it was picture day! A day we look forward to every year, it's always so much fun to primp and spend girl time with the team. The Ladies all looked so beautiful. We did a location shoot at Coach Jackie's' "Lake Shack", and we had two wonderful photographers Shawn Smith and Penny Sander who did a phenomenal job of capturing the girl's inner and outer beauty. We took outdoor photo's and made sure we were observing our COVID protocols by social distancing and mask wearing. Be sure to check out our social media soon for some previews of our amazing pictures.
The Ladies were strong this week and persevered through any obstacles that came their way. I can only imagine what the future has in store for us this season. Izzie Plaza is signing off and I can't wait to hear from Roxy Myers next week. Tag you are it!
