Recently in Women's Gymnastics Category
Jan. 8, 2012  Enjoy the newest in a series of
entries from the women's gymnastics team's upperclassmen with this entry from Kassidy Stauder!
Hey!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday
Season, I know I did! Spending time with all my friends and family during our
short little break was amazing and much needed. It was super exciting to come
back and get ready for the season! We came back the day after Christmas and
started practices back up on the 27th! It was awesome to finally
start "season" practices. We have been having a lot of Intrasquads to get
mentally and physically ready for the season. The team looks GREAT!! We are all
striving to be the best we can be every day in the gym while having a high
morale, which means smiling faces and lots of cheering. We all support each
other in and out of the gym and are super excited to begin the journey of the
2012 season! This year's team is full of talent and we are ready to show off
what we have been working so hard for. The freshmen have really stepped up,
they are looking great and it will be super exciting to see them out on the
floor wearing the PSU leo!!! We are heading off to West Virginia for our first
meet of the season; it is a tri-meet against Maryland. We will be wearing Royal
Blue ribbon in our hair all year in support of Child abuse. Right after the
meet we are jumping on the bus and heading home to get ready for classes that
start on Monday. I know we all enjoyed the break from school but are anxious to
start back up and reach our GPA goals. We hope to see our friends, family,
alumni and fans at as many meets as possible this year and appreciate the
continued support from everyone so much! WE ARE... Penn State!!! WE ARE... READY TO
BRING IT BACK!!!!
Love, Kassidy
Dec. 23, 2011 Enjoy the newest in a series of
entries from the women's gymnastics team's upperclassmen with this entry from Natalie Ettl and Alex Stine!
Hello again!
The end of the year is slowly approaching,
but the Penn State Women's Gymnastics team is ready to bring it back! 
This past couples of weeks has been going
by really quickly. Since we returned
from Thanksgiving, we wrapped up school with final exams. During final exam
week, we have an "open gym" policy. This
means that we came into practice at our convenience with our exam
schedule. Also during this time, the
coaching staff is not allowed to give us assignments, just provide us with
suggestions.
Saturday, December 17th, we all
gathered at Jeff and Rachelle's house for a holiday breakfast. Yes, we just said breakfast. We all arrived to the house dressed in our
pajamas. We enjoyed a buffet style of
eggs, pancakes, waffles, sausage, and fruit.
After we finished eating, we picked our Secret Santa with whom we would
exchange with after the break. We can't
wait to see who has who this year!
After we all rocked our finals and our
holiday gathering, we had two practices before our Holiday Intrasquad. We used these two practices to get us back
into a routine following "open gym" week.
On Monday, December 19th, we walked into the intrasquad,
marking the beginning of our competition season. The intrasquad turned out to be a huge
success. All the girls came in with
competition day hair and make-up, in order to create a meet-like
atmosphere. We hit 28 for 29
routines! This proved to the whole team,
that we are ready to go for season!
That's all for now,
Your Lion Bar Swingers
Dec. 18, 2011
Enjoy the newest in a series of
entries from the women's gymnastics team's freshmen with this entry from
Krystal Welsh!
Hey
everyone, we are the freshmen this year on the gymnastics team. We have come a
long way and overcame many challenges to get to where we are at, at this point
in our season. We finally are starting to adjust to the demands of school,
gymnastics, and managing our free time. This past Friday we had our first
experience being on the floor in Rec Hall at our Blue and White Showcase. We
were combined with the men's team and divided into the blue and white groups.
We showed off our skills and were judged by our celebrity judges. Although the
competition was tight, the white team ultimately prevailed over the blue team.
After the showcase we signed some posters and got to meet some of our younger
fans. It's amazing to see how much those little girls look up to and idolize
us. The showcase was just a small taste of what our season has in store for us.
We can't wait to actually compete in Rec Hall, represent our school, and show
what a strong team we have this year. 
As Christmas break
approaches we have a few more things planned for the team. Right now Finals are
beginning and everyone is hard at work studying in effort to finish our first
semester in a strong manner. Before we go home for the holidays we will
celebrate with a team Christmas dinner. Our team is like a family and it is
important for us to make time to share the joyous season together. Our last
thing planned before traveling home is our December intra squad. It is our
final opportunity to put our self in a meet like situation before our first
college competition at West Virginia. Until next time, WE ARE PENN STATE
freshmen
Love, Lexi, Krystal, Alex
Dec. 11, 2011 Enjoy the newest in a series of entries from the women's gymnastics
team's freshmen with this entry from Krystal Welsh!
Hey
everyone,
I can't
believe it is already December and the first semester is almost over. It has
been a long road with many different valuable experiences. I have learned so
much in the past semester that I know will help me with the rest of my year.
Pre-season is pretty much over and our season starts right after Christmas
break and I can't wait. The upperclassmen have told me that in our competitive
season, it is a lot of fun with all the traveling and competing. They
especially have said that with all the traveling we do, the team becomes even
more closer than before and I am very excited for that to happen.
This past
weekend we had our Blue and White Showcase at Rec Hall, where both the Women's
and Men's Gymnastics Team showed off their routines to the audience. We split
into two teams with three girls and four guys on one team that competed on each
event. This was my first time competing in Rec Hall and it was an amazing
feeling. I competed all-around and had tons of fun. I can't wait for the first
real home meet in Rec Hall. I hope everyone comes out and supports both the
Women's and Men's Gymnastics Team at all our home meets!
We
Are....Penn State!
~Krystal
Hey guys,
First off I hope everybody had a fantastic thanksgiving! I know I did! It was
awesome to just relax and have some down time. It was much needed. We are back
on a regular schedule now and had a very productive week getting back into the
gym from break and are really focusing on perfecting each routine. We are just
getting ready for our Blue and White Showcase that is coming up on Friday
December 9 at Rec hall! We would love for everyone to come out and support us.
It's going to be a lot of fun! As for school, we have finals coming up next
week so it's getting time to buckle down and study hard. I can't believe how
fast this semester has gone and how soon we will be on the competition floor
competing, I am so excited! It is going to be an awesome year!
Sharaya Musser
 Hello family, friends, and fans,
it's Alex Witt! I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and
hopefully had a nice break from school or work. I know I had a very nice
Thanksgiving break and got to spend it with my family and friends back in
Florida. Both school and gymnastics are really starting to pick up with finals
and season coming up so it was nice to just relax for a few days and get ready
to come back and finish the semester strong. As a team, we are looking really
sharp and are anxiously awaiting the start of the season. On the Saturday
before we left for break, we had a Thanksgiving intrasquad and we looked great.
It was apparent that there was a significant improvement from the last
intrasquad in our confidence level and attention to detail. But, we all have
little things that we can work on these next two weeks before our Blue and
White Showcase we are having on December 9th in Rec Hall. The Showcase is going
to be like an intrasquad but with the team split up into two groups the blue
group and the white group. We will be pairing up with the men's team too which
will be cool because it's the first time we have ever done that. So hopefully
some of you guys can make it out to that, I know it is going to be a show
you're not going to want to miss! That is all for now, We Are...
November 26, 2011Enjoy the newest in a series of entries from the women's gymnastics team's upperclassmen with this entry from Madison Merriam!  Hey Everyone! As you know the past couple weeks have been filled with a lot of emotions for the Penn State family, especially the athletic department. I think we as a team have become stronger and closer through this hard time and are even better prepared to handle whatever obstacles are thrown our way. We worked hard everyday to get better and prepare ourselves for the intra-squad before we went home for break. I think all the girls and the coaches are going to come back relaxed, reenergized and ready to put the last few pieces together in the gym before we start the season in January. We did great in the intra-squad especially since it's only November. There were some short handstands on bars and bobbles on beam but nothing that we cant fix come January and most importantly post season when it really matters. The energy during the intra-squad really amped up when the girls showed off their awesome choreography on floor! Sunday we went to the Special Olympics Bowl-A-Thon and helped out their athletes for a few hours. It was tons of fun! There was pizza and drinks but the best part was spending time with the Special Olympics athletes and seeing their great personalities as they were bowling. The whole team is so excited for Monday night when we have our Mexican dinner at Jeff and Rachelle's house. We split up into groups to make taco salad, quesadillas, enchiladas, tacos and fajitas! It's going to be a great time with lots of good food and team bonding. Penn State women's gymnastics is so grateful for all of your continued support and we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving! Madison Merriam
November 16, 2011
Enjoy the newest in a series of entries from the
women's gymnastics team's upperclassmen with this entry from Lindsay Musgrove
and Stephanie Brock!
 It has
been a tough week here in Happy Valley with everything that has happened. We
are realizing now more than ever how important our Penn State pride is and that
all there is to do now is come together. Especially as a student athlete body
we have been trying to show our support for each other and become even closer
than before. Last weekend, along with many other student athletes, we went out
to send our Field Hockey team off to NCAAS. They recently won Big Tens, but it got
overshadowed with everything else that has been going on. It was nice to see
all the teams come together in their blue and white, cheering and chanting Penn
State fight songs, still just as proud to be Penn Staters.
 As a
team, on Friday night, we also all went out to support our soccer team, who won
against Army in an NCAA tournament. On Saturday, many of us went to the Penn
State, Nebraska football game - the first football game in Beaver Stadium
without JoePa in over 50 years. It was a
"blue out" in support of all victims of child abuse, and the stadium was
completely packed. It was more than just
a game, it was two teams coming together in light of everything that had happened. At the start of the game, Nebraska and Penn State both huddled up in
the middle of the field in a prayer circle, one of the most emotional moments I
have witnessed yet in college football. Also, at every game there is always an
S-zone in the student section, where depending on your seat, you get a certain
colored t-shirt to spell out a big "S" in the stands. At this game, there was also a ribbon next to
the big "S", and we happened to be a part of it. It was a very emotional
weekend, however it showed the world that Penn State is more than just the
actions of a few people, it is an entire university with pride, honor, and
tradition, and that will never change.
With
Thanksgiving break just around the corner, we are all excited to go home and be
with our familes. However, we are still staying focused on practices as we get
ready for season, which is also coming up fast. This Saturday we have our
Thanksgiving intrasquad, which should be a lot of fun and a good indicator of
where we are at. We have really been working on details, consistency, and
hitting under pressure. In addition, both inside and outside the gym, we have
been working on coming together as a team. This Monday we are planning a team
meal - "Mexican" themed. We all split up
into groups and are each cooking an entrée for the meal. It should be
interesting to see how good our teammates are in the kitchen. HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone!!!
Lindsay and Steph
Nov. 12, 2011
Enjoy the newest in a series of entries from the women's
gymnastics team's upperclassmen with this entry from Kristin Blades and
Kassidy Stauder!
Dear Fans,
 Practices this week have been going well for
the team. As you all may know, this week has been pretty hectic in State
College. The team has been handling all of the news well and has been able to
keep positive attitudes while in the gym. We have all stayed focused in and out
of the gym, keeping our minds on the ultimate dream. Each girl on the team has
been working really hard in the gym to get where they need to be. We have
started to move all of our floor routines onto the hard floor and have also
moved our vaults onto the competition landing mat. We have been focusing on
improving the small details to perfect our routines. On Wednesday evening we
all as a team, including Associate Head Coach, Rachelle Thompson, and Volunteer
Assistant Coach, Jillian Monahan, went to the Women's Club at the Oak  Wood
Presbyterian Church for a Welcome Event Auction. We helped distribute beverages
and desserts. We also helped with the auctioning by modeling the prizes and by
calling out raffle numbers. It was definitely quite the experience and we are
most certain that we all enjoyed it. It is always an honor to help out our
community in any way that we can. We will continue to work hard in and out of
the gym. We are looking forward to the November Intra Squad that will take
place next weekend. If you are in town, please feel free to join us at White
building! We are all so excited for Thanksgiving break so we can be
reunited with our families again for at least a few days! We are sure the
freshman can't wait to go home as well. We will maintain positive attitudes and
will continue to keep our heads up high being Penn State Proud.
WE ARE...PENN STATE!
Together Without Limits
- Kristin Blades and Kassidy
Stauder
Oct. 30, 2011
Enjoy the newest in a series of entries from the women's gymnastics
team's freshmen with this entry from Krystal Welsh!
To all the friends, family, and fans...
It is a little past the midway of the semester
now and it seems like it flew by. This past week before Halloween we had a
Hollow-week of fun games and competitions in the gym. We split into two teams,
the black and orange team and every day was a different theme. Monday was
Decade day. Tuesday was Goth day. Thursday was Nerd day and Friday was the
clash of colors day where we had our Halloween intrasquad. Every day we
had chances to earn points by our different assignments, how we dressed and our
team spirit. By the end of the week, the teams were pretty close in points and
at the end of the intrasquad, the orange team pulled out the win. As the team
as a whole, I thought our intrasquad went pretty well. We are definitely
improving every intrasquad and I'm very proud of our team. I know if we keep
this hard work up, we will be amazing by competition season. Our video of the
Halloween intrasquad should be up soon so keep an eye out for it!
~Krystal Welsh
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