As the fall sports season wraps up, the winter sports season is only just beginning: Among the various winter sports is gymnastics.
The Leesville gymnastics team began their season with tryouts on October 31 and November 3. Each participant was required to display their highest skill on each event: bars, vault, floor and beam. The skills displayed were broken into two different levels: gold and platinum, with each level acting as a junior varsity and varsity team, respectively.
The gymnastics competition season, however, does not begin until early December, giving the team members time to prepare and perfect their routines. The team travels to Superior Gymnastics every Monday and Wednesday. Practices are directed by Kari Creech, the coach of the Leesville gymnastics team, with assistance from the two team captains: Kirsten Smothers and Camille Brockschmidt.
“This year Kirsten and I are working to make the team more organized and practices more efficient,” said Camille Brockschmidt, senior and co-captain of the Leesville gymnastics team. “[As a] team we hope to become closer.”
The first competition of the season is scheduled for December 5 at Morgan’s Gymnastics. Each competition is about three hours long. The competitions begin with open stretch which is where each gymnast stretches and warms up. Then, each team moves through each event with only a limited amount of time to complete warm-up routines. After the timed warm-ups, each school is introduced and the competition begins.
“I am looking forward to a fun and exciting season and getting to know the whole team [over the next few months],” said Brockschmidt.
