Oct. 6, 2003
Thanks for visiting my online journal! I will be sharing my thoughts with you periodically throughout the Wildcat gymnastics season. All the gymnasts arrived on campus healthy, excited, and ready to embark on the upcoming gymnastics season. Practice began on September 8th and it was clear that all team members worked hard this summer to stay in shape and learn new skills.
The freshmen have been very impressive so far with their high skill level and positive attitudes. This year, for the first time, the entire team and coaching staff went on a weekend retreat to the Kentucky River and then to the ropes course at Asbury College.
Our first adventure of the weekend was a 3-hour canoeing trip down the Kentucky River. Before we got in the canoes, our guide, Tom, explained the basics of canoeing and then casually mentioned that we would have to periodically switch canoes while we were on the River. We were all sure that we would be spending more time swimming in the river than in the canoes! We had to work together to complete various tasks while on the river and everyone managed to switch canoes successfully; (although it was a close call with Lucy “Loudmouth” Burgin and the teammates in her canoe). Wow, I didn’t know that gymnasts would turn out to be so good at canoeing!
We then returned to the cabin in the woods, our resting place for the evening. We were then told that we were in charge of making dinner. Michelle Gales took charge and assigned everyone a task in order for dinner to be completed. After dinner, we enjoyed some gooey smores by a camp fire and talked about our goals for the season. We then enjoyed the peacefulness of the country air and the darkness of the midnight sky. The darkness always seems to bring out the craziness in gymnastics coaches. We were scared to death by Coach Mo and Coach Tom when they snuck up and jumped out behind us! Don’t worry guys, pay backs are never fun!
The next morning we arose so early that the roosters were still crowing. (This was much more soothing than the karaokeing in the vans.) The next adventure was the low ropes course at Asbury College. Here our leaders “House” and “Parks” taught us the importance of our team working together as a team through many tasks such as leading our partner through the woods blind folded and learning how to balance a boat through team work. We did some other activities to also help promote teamwork.
The high ropes course was next! These activities took a lot of trust and concentration but were definitely the most fun. There were many obstacles we had to successfully complete in order to reach the zip line. Zooming down that little cord was the most fun! The Leap of Faith was next. Each member of the team climbed up to a platform 20 feet off the ground and jumped out to catch a bar suspended about 9 feet in front of her. The leaders of the course commented that not very many girls ever catch the bar. We proved them wrong as we all caught the bar with ease!
Dinner and a wrap up of the weekend’s events were the completion of the trip. All of the activities made us work as a team and bonded everyone even tighter. We went on this retreat as a team and came back a family! GO CATS!!!
