Hey Illini fans!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! To Jordyn and Sarah's excitement, but to the rest of our dismay, we've had a little bit of snowfall here in Champaign (they're from Texas and have rarely ever seen or lived through snow before, but don't fret - Jordyn took a "Winter Survival Tips" life skills class so she is all set!) While most of our team may be less thrilled about the approaching weather, we are definitely thrilled about the dawn of holiday movies, Mariah Carey music, and all other spirited festivities that the month of December brings! We may even jam out to a Christmas playlist during spinning these next few Tuesday mornings!

Our team is just coming fresh off Thanksgiving break where most girls got to drive or fly home for a few days and spend some much needed time with friends, family, and of course pets for the holiday. There were several Snapchats circulating around with videos of all our puppies back at home and their ecstatic reactions to our arrivals - I think Bridget wins the cutest homecoming award with her two Shih Tzu-Bichon mixes that went crazy with kisses once they saw her! We all enjoyed the special treatment of savory home cooked meals, the comfort of our own beds, and loads upon loads of FREE LAUNDRY - thanks mom!

Before break, however, we had our annual Thanksgiving intrasquad in Kenney Gym featuring Judge Mazza, Judge Chad, and Judge Jake! It was our first official intrasquad getting all dolled up in our competition leos and going through a full meet-like schedule. The whole team brought great unity and a ton of energy to the gym that day and made our overall experience a blast! This intrasquad served as a true assessment of where each of us stand at this time of year and what specific things we need to work and improve on in order to be season-ready. Ultimately, it was a successful and productive performance that fueled us to get back in the gym and focus intently on refining the little details that will make us even better and stronger!

On another exciting note, we only have one and a half more weeks of classes left for this first semester followed by one week of final exams. This makes for a busy next three weeks, but we are motivated and ready to go as it is the last push until our long winter break from school!

Looking ahead, we are concentrating on quality turns and routines this week to prepare for our Orange and Blue Exhibition with the men's team this coming Sunday, December 7th at 2 p.m. where our fellow student-athletes will be our own guest judges for the day. Both the men's and women's gymnastics members will be split up into two teams that will compete against each other in a one-on-one dual battle striving to add to the point total for their team. We are so excited to be back in Huff Hall for the first time since March and get back into the competition atmosphere again. Hopefully we will see you there!!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more updates from the Illinois Women's Gymnastics team!

GO ILLINI!

MJ