Alabama Athletics
Alabama Gymnastics Hopes to Make Big Statement With Season Opener at Auburn
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After months of training and practicing, the University of Alabama gymnastics teams is set to open the 2020 season at Auburn on Friday. (8 p.m., SEC Network).
In addition to it being the "Iron Bowl of gymnastics," the Crimson Tide is just eager to finally have a meet.
“We are all super excited to get out there and get the ball rolling,” junior Kylie Dickson said. “We are all super confident and prepared.”
Dickson in particular is looking forward to competing again. Although she was in the Crimson Tide lineup on the uneven bars nine times last season, the two-time Scholastic All-American has endured a handful of injuries over the past couple of seasons.
“I feel really good," she said. "The (injuries were) just a few bumps along the road. I wouldn’t change it, though. It has made me who I am and made me stronger.”
The 2020 Crimson Tide season is centered around the “Thorns of Transformation” ideology.
Senior Shea Mahoney explains what TOT means to her, “It means your adaptability to the unquestionable adversity and the unavoidable adversity. Life is not always rainbows and sunshine, but it is how you choose to respond to it that makes life beautiful. Our team recognizes that adversity is going to happen. I have never seen a team come back from it and be so ready to find the good in the not so good. TOT truly means how you respond to adversity and it has been pretty impressive to see how this team responds to it.”
The meet against Auburn is the last opener for the senior.
“We are going to start with two vaults and add more as the season goes on. We are doing big tumbling on the floor. We have four out of our six tumbling are going to be an E Pass which is some of the most difficult gymnastics in the country that you are going to see,” Crimson Tide coach Dana Duckworth said. “We are doing that in January with the hopes that we can make a statement and say 'This is Alabama Gymnastics.' Nothing has changed we are still in the program that builds champions in the classroom and in the community.”
Coach Duckworth believes that the one word to describe the team this season is undeniable.
“If you want to be there you better be undeniable," she said. "You have to start in January.”
