Hello Ladies fans!

This is senior Natalie Scates and junior Cami Bea Austin here to get you up to speed on all of our shenanigans over the last few weeks. Last week was another busy one for the team. As Fall break approaches, the tests are starting to pile on. This of course means hours of our time towards studying, but that's never been a problem for the Ladies. As we cracked down on the books; however, we did not let our gymnastics slip. The team still continued to put their all into every open gym and conditioning to achieve our goals. We also had a big birthday on the team last week. Happy late Birthday to Navia Jordan, who turned twenty-one.

Despite every thing we had going on, we still opened up our weekend schedules to host two lovely recruits. We had a great time hanging out with the recruits and got to know both them and our teammates a little better. On Friday night, Coach Jackie hosted us at her house for dinner. We enjoyed salads, roasted chicken, broccoli, potatoes, and green beans, but the highlight of the meal was obviously desert. Coach Jackie bought a bunch of toppings and let us go crazy making caramel apples. Some of the apples turned out beautifully and some, like mine, ended up a bit messier. Personally, I just took it as a reminder of why I'm a gymnast and not a cook. We played some games and after a few hours we headed back to campus.

But, of course, life is never dull around here and things had to take a slight turn. We all came home to…no power. Most of us were forced to spend the majority of our weekend the old-fashioned way, with books and candles. The Ladies did not let this put a damper on our festivities though, and we still enjoyed a weekend off school and with each other. The recruits were able to sit in on Saturday's open gym, which is always exciting for everyone, but when the recruits left on Sunday, it was time to really buckle down and prepare for the next week. As I'm writing this, I can't wait for y'all to read next weeks gym talk because we have had a good bit of excitement already!

With that bit of suspense, I bid you adieu, until next time.

Love,

Nat

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Hey guys it's your favorite junior Cami here with this last week's gym talk. This week, the Ladies have been focusing on the basics and getting stronger as we head into fall break. The week started with some very hard leg conditioning led by our seniors Liz and Tavia. That conditioning had the Ladies legs feeling wobbly but strong, so we preserved through open gym on Wednesday. Shout out to Kendall Sanders and Jerrica Harris for some very nice Yurchenko halves on vault. In addition, shout out to Aspen for doing blind fulls on bars. What great girls they are!!!!

Thursday, the Ladies woke up dark and early for a 6 a.m. track workout. The track workout was lighter compared to most days, so the Ladies really appreciated it. I also want to shout out to all the good grades we made this week: we are always striving for success in every aspect we can.

This weekend was a busy one, we hung out as a team Saturday and had our team pictures on Sunday. Saturday was a blast – it involved lots of dancing and singing, which you know is the Ladies favorite thing to do. Our team photo shoot on Sunday was an adventure, it was raining most of the day, and since we were doing an outside shoot on the bayou, we had to be pretty creative.  Even though some people's hair was a little messed up, everyone continued to be in good spirits and we actually had a really fun day. After we finished our pictures, we enjoyed a delicious dinner together before heading back to the dorms to prepare for a week of classes. Regardless of the rain, the pictures turned out beautiful, but the holiday pictures were the most fun and showed lots of personality. A special shout out to our parents Penny Sander and Shawn Smith for making the trek all the way to Louisiana to take our pictures! You guys are awesome and we love you…oh and can you come back and take pictures for my senior year, please?

See you next time.

XOXO Cami