Alabama Gymnastics Leaning on Lessons Learned for Success Against LSU

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The No. 14 Alabama gymnastics team hasn’t gotten off to the start it hoped for to begin SEC competition, but it’s easy to see how a positive result in Friday night’s meet could turn some of the squad’s recent fortunes around.

That’s because defending national champion LSU is set to visit Coleman Coliseum, with an 8 p.m. CT first vault. For all the attention that matchup brings, the Crimson Tide gymnasts and staff are focused on tuning out the outside noise and turning to the lessons the team has learned from the season so far.

“There’s no way to gain experience until you just get in there and you start practicing in tough moments,” Alabama head coach Ashley Johnston said on Tuesday. “This team has learned a lot over these last four weeks. There’s been some smoother lessons, there’s been some harder lessons. We’ve faced quite a bit of adversity, some that we could control and some that we just couldn’t control.”

Controllables in sports are indeed finite, and only a small part of what a team deals with throughout the course of any given season. For example, in a detrimental development that the team could not control, Alabama recently lost veteran leader Cameron Machado to medical retirement. She had been given an extra year’s eligibility and was previously expected to return and compete alongside her teammates in 2025.

That’s one of the reasons why the team has a lot of key contributors who are freshman and sophomores, gaining more experience as the schedule moves along. That experience sets those competitors up for meets like Friday's, which are a regularity for the program. In last week's road meet against Georgia, Alabama netted its highest score since the season opener on Jan. 10.

The Crimson Tide (1-3) is yet to win an SEC meet up to this point, also failing to reach the 197-point threshold during that span. The competition is as tough as anywhere in the country, and the addition of No. 1 Oklahoma to the conference is not the only reason for that. Any result, win, lose or draw, comes against some of the best of the best. No. 3 LSU, which is 5-2 overall, is no exception.

Johnston said the week of practice leading up to competition would be about channeling emotion into steps forward, finding a way to be great in uncomfortable moments regardless of what emotions they bring.

“We have a staff that really believes in teaching the self-awareness to be able to acknowledge the moment and then step into it… Take what it is and then find a way through it. But finding a way through it sounds so simple. That’s a really, really challenging process, and I’m thankful for a long season to kind of navigate those different learning lessons along the way.”

Senior Lilly Hudson, who’s seen her share of ups and downs during a decorated collegiate career, sees competing in the SEC as a privilege. As one of the leaders of this Crimson Tide team, she doesn’t see the youth on the roster as a negative, instead reaffirming the whole team's focus on growth from whatever happens.

“That’s a good thing. We’re learning, and all of these meets are just part of our journey this year, Team 51’s journey,” Hudson said. “It all happens for a reason. I think we’re taking every win, every loss, every moment, every lesson, taking all of that and using it as fuel and as fire going into the next couple meets.”

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