Hello again to all of our Michigan fans!! First let me say that I'm sorry it has been so long since I last wrote to you. My hands have been full here, but it is an exciting time for us! Things have been going really well, and I am really looking forward to getting a new season started!
The intrasquad meet is coming up this Friday at Crisler Arena. It starts at 7:30pm, and we hope that you will enjoy seeing this year's team and meeting our 5 new freshmen. The fall has gone by so quickly. It feels like only a few weeks have passed since the team came back to school and here we are preparing to have finals already.
Well, our progress in the gym has been good I think. Our upperclassmen have improved most everywhere and our younger team members have made the transition really well and are getting ready to experience college gymmastics. The team has been working extremely hard, and I think it will pay off for us this year! They are in the best shape that I've ever seen them in physically and that helps so much down the road when the season gets long and the meets just keep coming every weekend.
Our approach to the season will be to start off with routines that we can hit and gain confidence as we go. We want to be continually adding difficulty slowly as the season goes on so that we are not beat up coming down the stretch. I think that we have incredible team chemistry this year and that 100% of the athletes are committed to the team goals. It has been so much fun to work with these young ladies, and I know it is going to be a great year just by being around them!!
I hope you will come out and meet the team and see what we are all about.
We have a lot of great new teams coming into Crisler Arena that you have
not seen before, which should be fun! We will have our K-grams night on
Jan 26th vs Denver. We will also have our alumni reunion as well as our
Maize Out meet Feb 16th vs Big Ten rival Penn State. Our annual coaches
care fundraiser this year will be done in conjunction with the (UMDM)
Dance
Marathon! They will be present at most of our home meets helping us to
promote our fundraiser and selling our 2007 Women's Gymnastics season
t-shirts with ALL proceeds going to Mott Children's Hospital!! So look
for our 2007 shirts and pick up a few for the family. We will be asking
people to wear them to our meets this year just like the students have
done with the football games the last several years. We will have them
for sale at the intrasquad and all of our home meets this year leading
up to the Coaches Care meet on March 16th.
Well I will be putting up my briefings weekly from now on (except maybe over Christmas) so stay tuned for a lot more Michigan gymnastics insider information. We"ll see you on Friday at Crisler Arena at 7:30pm.
Go Blue!!!
Bev
Wow! The summer flew by, and here we are back in the gym preparing for
another season. Well I couldn't be more excited! We have welcomed a new
assistant coach, Louis Robinson, and he has made a tremendous addition
to our staff! We have also welcomed five new freshmen, who are all such
wonderful young ladies. Our team has really raised the bar
this year, and they are really committed! If our season reflects their
work ethic so far, it is going to be a banner year. Let me introduce the
freshmen:
Sarah Curtis is from Flips Gymnastics in Reno, NV. She will bring an exciting level of gymnastics. Her skills are big, and she has been a very consistent performer, so we look for great things from Sarah.
Kelsey Knutson is from Cardinal Gymnastics, which is out of the Iowa State programs facility. Kelsey's strengths are in beam and bars! But she is also beautiful on floor. She epitomizes the "artistic" side of gymnastics with her long elegant lines.
Jaclyn Kramer came to us from Long Island, NY. Jackie will add depth for us on all events. She was a late addition to our class, but we are so glad we have her aboard.
Maureen Moody is a local girl from East Lansing, MI. Mo is coming back strong from a back injury that sat her out of competition last season. We think that as long as she feels good , she will have opportunities in the All Around this year.
Jordan Sexton finishes out our class. She is from Waxaw, NC. Jordan has tremendous potential in all four events. She has all the makings of a great college gymnast. Her best events are hard to determine right now because I really think she could take off in any or all events.
Our upperclassmen came back in very good shape and on a mission. I think
our leadership this year is very good, and I'm excited about the direction
we are going. It is very early and lots of things can happen, but I am
anticipating a great year! I am enjoying this team very much. They are
just such a great bunch of young women and fun to be around and
that makes everything more enjoyable.
We are in the midst of planning our annual booster and alumni tailgate,
which will take place Oct 7th for the Michigan State football game. We
love seeing everyone who comes back for the tailgate and it is always
fun to catch up. We are lucky to have such great and loyal boosters and
alumni. I am also very excited to welcome back to our program an alumni
who left and coached at UNH for 6 years and is now back in the area. Beth
(Amelkovich) Aparo is back working with us as a part time administrative
assistant this year. She has been a huge help! I can't say how happy I
am to have her back! It is our goal to find and get
current information on every one of our alumni. Beth is heading up that
project so if you have any info on any of our lost sheep please let us
know where they are!
Well I must get back to planning practice, so I'll be in touch again
soon. E-mail us through our 'Ask the Team' page with any thoughts or questions
you have, and I will try to
address them in my next Bev's Briefing!!
Take Care and GO BLUE!!!
Bev