Gymnastics | 1/12/2024 9:51:00 AM

NORMAL, Ill. (Jan. 12, 2024) – Hours before a season begins is often like moments before march-in. A mixture of hype energy and concentrated focus exist in your mind.

Gymnasts await the moment to hear their name called as they take the floor. Today, they await the announcement to take the floor for the first time of the 2024 season. Pre-season has come and gone; every focus becomes present. While time seems to stand still, the moment becomes the focus and being in the moment of all the joy, excitement and nerves of the beginning propels you out of the door onto to the floor – ready to let them know.

The 2024 Texas Woman's gymnastics seniors anxiously await the start of the 2024 season tonight at Illinois State, because they know together this team can break barriers and make history.

"I'm excited for one last opportunity to share success with a team that has been bought in from the very beginning," Daisy Woodring said. "I love getting to build our team identity each year, set our mission and work towards it together. You learn how to lead and listen, take ownership, and then achieve something that you could never do on your own."

For senior transfer Kaitlyn Hoiland, this season and this moment begins the start of a celebration of her journey, all this sport continues to bring her and the amazing team around her.

"It is exciting to look back on how far I have come the past few years and what a journey it has been to get here," Hoiland said. "I am excited to celebrate all my years of gymnastics and show off everything I have worked for."

Every season, the team comes together at the start of the year to create a hashtag and articulate their mission, mindset and goals for the upcoming season. While #M1 represents the meaning of the mission to the student-athletes and they keep the full meaning within the team, Emily Six said they want to utilize every opportunity to "let them know."

"Let them know" means letting everyone know we're coming," Six said. "Letting everyone know we have big things planned and we won't stop until we get there."

Steelie King said the emphasis of the team's mission this year is really on the "we" – leaving a legacy together.

"Everyone is dedicated to the same goal, and this started from meeting in the summer voluntarily, because we all wanted to accomplish the same goal this season."

Madeline Gose, echoed the team mantra, and said the connection of this team will guide them to success.

"We are all so bought into everything we want to accomplish this year," Gose said. "We have worked really hard on our team chemistry and the small details in our gymnastics that are going to make us that much better during the competition season."

Hoiland said the legacy she hopes to leave with this team is inspired by the standing legacy of TWU gymnastics.

"I love the legacy of TWU gymnastics. This team has so much history, and I am so grateful to be a part of it. The coaches and this team are the best things that have happened to me, and I love every second of it."

History, which the 2024 gymnastics team aims to achieve together, is not broken over night; rather, it takes focus in every opportunity and in the process.

For Woodring, trying to be the best can be an overwhelming thought, when she shifted her mindset to what it takes to be the best, she found true peace and joy to bring her best in her final season of gymnastics.

"There have been a lot of emotions going into this last season of gymnastics," Woodring said. "I've done gymnastics for 21 years, so I've had to continually be reminded my identity is not in what I do, but rather in who I am in Jesus Christ. In pre-season, I put a lot of pressure on myself to make this the best season yet since it is the last, but I've had to learn trying to force a result or a goal usually pushes it farther away. Instead, focus on the process of what it takes to get those results. Stay committed to the process and risk failure in order to get better."

As she approaches her final season, Six said she aims to focus on the moment, which is advice she would pass on to the younger gymnasts.

"Give your all. You don't want to finish this sport wishing you would have given more. You don't want to live with that regret, so give more than you think you have."

Giving your all comes with being joyful in every opportunity you have to step onto the floor.

"I went into this year with the mindset of doing gymnastics out of joy and remembering everything I have accomplished to get to this point," Gose said. "I wanted to keep reminding myself how much I love doing gymnastics and competing for this program."

The 2024 season begins tonight. All the work in preseason culminating in the start of an amazing journey. While tonight, the Pioneers will be on the road. All five seniors cannot wait to be back in Kitty Magee Arena in front of the home crowd in 2024.

Both Six and King have memories of competing has a young gymnast in KMA, dreaming of competing in the same arena as a college gymnast.

"KMA means a lot," Six said. "I used to compete in KMA for low level club meets and to be able to compete there as our home arena is a full circle. I have pictures of when I was a level 3 doing gymnastics in the arena I have dreamed about. It has always meant a lot and means just as much this time around."

"Competing in KMA means being in front of our home crowd and getting to finish my career where I started competing in club," King said.

Being in front of the home crowd always means more, especially the final time around.

"It definitely means more now that I am in my final season," Gose said. "Competing in KMA is so special because of the legacy everyone before me has created. Being able to create our own legacy as we go through this program is something you cannot recreate. Competing for a home crowd and in front of our family, friends and alumni is an unmatched experience."

As the hours tick by and the Pioneers await the moment, Hoiland said true love for each other and the sport remain the foundation of this team.

"We have big dreams and are going to do whatever it takes to get there. The team has so much genuine love for each other, and we are committed to this team."

As the gymnasts await the lights and the cheers, their mind refocuses to all they have worked on and all they know they can do – together.

"Be present in each moment," Woodring said. "Do not spend all your time reliving the past or wishing the future would either come faster or slower. Be present in the season you are in. If it is a challenging season, you can learn something from it. If it is a great season and you do not want it to end, you will not truly enjoy it for all it is worth if you are worried about the future."