Hey to all the Centenary Gym fans out there,

This is junior Mack signing on to bring you this week's addition of Gym Talk! Although, every week is an exciting one here in Shreveport for our busy Centenary Ladies, this week was filled with some incredible moments spent all together. While the Ladies continue to work hard in their studies and fight for those grades, we also make sure to schedule in some fun study breaks with friends. These breaks can sometimes be a quick bite to eat following conditioning, or a somewhat crazy scavenger hunt around town to find props for our costumes for the campus Halloween party. Either way, the Ladies always find a way to get our minds off of the stress that comes with being a student-athlete.

With Hallowee{kend} just around the corner we could barely keep in our excitement. However, that wasn't the only thing we were excited about. The Ladies enjoyed the fun, thrilling, and a bit cold adventure otherwise known as team pictures, which kicked off our weekend. Saturday morning was filled with crazy and ridiculous memories that we will always be able to share with one another as we look back on the beautiful images Penny Sander and Shawn Smith took of us all. (Thanks Penny and Big06daddypics!) The morning was filled with moments of laughter and tears from all that were present, and I can't even describe how much fun we had together. If I had to sum up the morning I'd say that it started with a police escort to the Shreveport Water Works Museum, consisted of 16 crazy gymnasts running around in leotards in 40 degree weather, and ended with happy bellies full of pizza. But the day didn't end there: after we all went home, refueled, and defrosted, we were all ready to kick butt at practice Saturday evening. When we arrived and began our breakdown of that evenings practice, we were informed that we were having a surprise beam and floor intrasquad, with a guest judge! Even though we were not aware of the competition, those who were in line-up did an amazing job at staying confident and performing their routines how we knew they could. I am very proud of everyone who competed and it was a great way to show how anyone on the team could get thrown into a competition setting on the spot without warning.

Still, the day was not over for the Centenary Ladies. We finished the day off with a night of dressing up and socializing with friends at the campus-wide Halloween party. With a number of different costumes (Bratz dolls, Boo from Monsters Inc., Greek Goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Artemis, a cat, a devil, an Indian, a bumble bee, a bunny, and the infamous Cristina Yang) we all danced the night away and made our Halloweekend a success.

After a long and exhausting Saturday, we all recuperated Sunday morning in preparation for Sunday evening's practice. We ended practice with another great surprise: a chance to work with and listen to the Shreveport Mudbugs Hockey GM, Scott Muscutt. He spoke with us about how to be our best every day for our team, and how encouraging each other as much as we can is what will make us better than our competition. We will continue to strive to be "The One" instead of the "9 out of 10" that don't make it up the mountain.

Overall, the Centenary Ladies had a very exciting Halloweekend, but that's all I have for you this week! Got to buzz to another studious night with the rest of the Junie bee's (Junior Class), so make sure y'all tune in next week to hear all about the Centenary gymnasts' adventures throughout Centenary's Fall Fest Freak Week!

All the love,

Mack Pack

P.S. Shout out to the amazing Coach Morgan whose Birthday was on Thursday! We love you Coach Mo, hope you enjoyed that surf-and-turf!!