Greetings Pioneer fans! My name is Tori Cochefski and I am a sophomore from Chicago, Illinois; but my family and I now live in Houston, Texas! Last year I competed bars, but due to an elbow injury I did not get to finish the last half of the season. This year I am however, healthy as can be, training bars and beam with hopes of competing on both events!

I am majoring in communication science and disorders and minoring in Biology. With this path I hope to be either an orthopedic physician assistant or a speech pathologist in a private practice setting.

This week started off with our intra-squad Holiday Spectacular. It was nice to finally show off all the hard work we’ve been putting in these past three months. I believe it was an excellent experience for those who have never competed in collegiate gymnastics and a great reminder of what competitions are all about for those who have. 

Monday we came into the gym with a renewed focus and enthusiasm after our Holiday Spectacular on Sunday. As much as this meet reminded us how great it feels to compete, it also showed us some areas in our gymnastics that need improvement.  Each gymnast went over their routines with the coaches and discussed where we can gain tenths back in our routines. 

Tuesday was our first assignment day of the year! We were given one general assignment for the events of vault, bars, and beam. Each gymnast was able to start on the event of their choice and once that event’s assignment is completed, they could move on to the next event. As we completed all the assignments given for that day, we were able to leave practice early. This helped us to be very efficient with our workouts and gave us a chance to go home, study and get some extra rest as we head into finals week. 

Wednesday, we had our day off. Thursday, we had another assignment day for floor, bars and beam. This gave us another chance to take our turns wisely and have the ability to leave practice early.

Friday, was our last practice, together, before break. We started the day out with team tumbling, and then moved on to bars, beam, and vault.

We finished up the week with our annual team Christmas party. It was nice to all be able to dress up and spend some quality time together. The coaches prepared a delicious dinner for everyone, which consisted of salad, and a baked potato bar with brisket and chicken. The evening continued with handing out our secret Santa gifts and guessing who had each one of us. After handing out all secret Santa gifts, we all decorated holiday sugar cookies. We wrapped up the night with a tradition, listening to the book, The Night before Christmas, read by our head coach, Lisa Bowerman.

I am so thankful to have the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing team! Each and every one of us -gymnasts, coaches, and trainers- add something truly special that makes this team so unique. I wouldn’t give this up for anything!!!!

Good luck to everyone heading into finals week and HAPPY HOLIDAYS TWU fans!