The LSU gymnasts finally get a break from competing, but they won’t be going far during the summer.
Rising juniors Sarie Morrison and Kaleigh Dickson said all of the returning LSU gymnasts plan on staying in Baton Rouge for the summer to take classes and train.
For Morrison, that means doing what she can to rehabilitate her ankle, which forced her out of the all-around event this season.
“If there was another meet, I would probably just do bars again,” Morrison said. “I do need the time to heal. I’m still trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with my ankle and why I wasn’t able to do all-around this season.”
Morrison went home to Dallas last summer, but will take summer classes this year to make her fall and spring semesters lighter.
She said the Tigers may not be competing anymore, but it’s not an offseason. The LSU gymnasts still have to stay in shape and perfect their old skills while adding new ones for the upcoming season.
“We like working out together, conditioning together,” Morrison said. “We can see where everyone stands. We do push each other in the summer, too.”
Working on new routines is an essential part of the summer, according to LSU coach D-D Breaux.
For instance, freshman Rheagan Courville had to perform two different vaults at nationals, after perfecting just one during the season. Breaux said Courville will work on a second vault during the summer, which she may start with next season.
“The kids use the summer to make up new routines and work on their choreography and plan their new music and do some things that are time consuming that they don’t have time to do when school starts,” Breaux said.
Much of the gymnasts’ training is on their own time during the summer, but Breaux said she’s not concerned because of how hard the team worked this year.
“If you lay out of gymnastics for two weeks, three weeks, it takes you twice that much to get back in shape and get going, and the kids know that,” Breaux said.
Dickson will stay in Baton Rouge with the rest of the gymnasts but looks forward to going home for a couple weeks in the summer. In the meantime, many of the LSU gymnasts take advantage of open gym sessions at LSU during the week.
Dickson said it’s tough not to relax too much during the summer, but it’s easier to get motivated in the gym after final exams and school finish. The mandatory group practices won’t start until mid-September for the Tigers.
“But before then, as it gets closer, we’ll all start coming in and take it seriously on ourselves to get in there,” Dickson said. “We know once preseason starts, if you’re behind, you’re behind. It’s hard to catch up.”
Breaux said she wants the returning gymnasts to get a chance to relax in the summer and take care of their grades in summer school, but she expects them to be prepared in the fall to compete with the incoming group of gymnasts.
“The new freshmen coming in next year will come in in shape,” Breaux said. “They’ll hit the ground running.”
 
____ Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]