Hey Ladies Fans! It’s Sophomore Olivia Stratmann here with this week’s Gym Talk!
Although this week was Fall Break for the rest of campus, the gymnastics team returned on Tuesday night, excited for an action-packed week. Before leaving for our team retreat, we had multiple themed team practices. We kicked off the week with a neon themed practice and let me just say… this season is looking BRIGHT for the Ladies!! The highlight for sure was Lacey Wedge CATCHING her Maloney on bars! Way to go Lace. Thursday’s practice was animal print themed, and the Ladies were going WILD as we had a great practice and were excited to get on the road for our retreat.
We took a quick hour long drive out to Lake Bistineau to stay at a beautiful cabin on the lake. We spent the following few days getting to know each other and participating in activities by the lake and around the cabin. As a team, we decided the core values we would strive to live by throughout the year are passion, loyalty, and perseverance and discussed the different ways we could embody these characteristics in the gym, around campus, and in our daily lives. Between having discussions about what the Ladies are aiming to achieve this season and how we feel we can be the best versions of ourselves, we had tons of fun canoeing in the lake, playing card games, making bracelets, sitting by the fire making smores, and watching scary movies with each other. There were many highlights throughout our trip, but a few of my favorites were the pumpkin carving contest as well as our group skits that we performed to the team. The team was split up into a few groups and we all worked diligently to create our own masterpiece. A picture of each pumpkin was posted on the Centenary Gymnastics Instagram account, and it was up to our followers to decide the winner. Congratulations to Mylia Vidtor, Rylie Molina, and Amy Foret on their BOOtiful pumpkin and for winning the contest. Another highlight was our team talent show, where Roxy Myers, Lacey Wedge, Hayden Cagle, and I took an idea from TikTok and made it our very own. AND.. we can’t forget about Coach Joseph’s long ponytail transforming into a marvelous mullet!!! The Ladies had a great time away from campus to say the least!
We returned Saturday fired up for another team practice, and feeling all the love, as each family was matching in their attire. Coach Meg is part of my family, the split fam, and between Kendall Huff, Emma Lavelle, and I, we were able to convince Coach Meg to wear a matching leotard with us. It was definitely a hit amongst the rest of the team. Sunday came very quickly, and although the Ladies had an eventful week, you never would have known from the high energy and FULL SETS that were beginning to be put together! Our practice theme was look-a-like day, where each team member and both coaches dressed up as someone else. After spending so much time together this week, our outfits were spot on across the team. Shoutout to our first rotation beam queens: Sophie Schmitz, Rylie Molina, Emma Lavelle, and Brooke Murdock for their beautiful beam routines! They all deserve multiple gold stars for sure. Our bar stars were shining just as bright though as Sophie Schmitz, Roxy Myers, Isabel Plaza, and Emma Lavelle were killing it on their bar routines, getting more and more consistent every day. Way to go Ladies! To wrap up our practice, Lacey Wedge was a superstar on floor with her sky-high arabian doubles, and I did my double backs on to mats for the first time since surgery last year, which felt amazing!!
To wrap things up, I am excited to say that we are about three weeks away from our first Team Intrasquad!! This is your reminder to come out and support the gymnastics team at 4pm on Sunday, November 5th at Jill’s Gymnastics. We cannot wait to see you all there!
