Our journey to the NCAA Central Regional in Baton Rouge Louisiana on April 5th with our experience leading up to it. Input from Head Coach Brice Biggin, Assistant Coach Craig Ballard and Senior Women's Administrator Janet Kittell.
Coach Biggin:
"The two weeks leading up to tomorrow have been really good
and we feel really good about it. The practices and attitudes from the girls towards
the regional show they were determined over the two weeks and I think we got a lot
accomplished in those weeks.
The consistency of the team over the season shows we are
ready and I think if we go out there and try to compete harder, it wouldn’t
benefit the team from what we have worked on leading up to the meet. We just
need to go out there and do what we do in practice every day.
The nice thing about this team, they have mixed together
really well and worked together, and that has pulled them through some really tough
meets this season. As a staff we think they will go out there and have a great
meet tomorrow."
Coach Ballard:
"We have had some exciting travel plans since leaving Kent on
Thursday morning … with three flights
out of two different airports and through six cities to get the team to Baton
Rouge, it was successful and everyone got here with no issues and that is
great.
Then we walked over to Bourbon Street in downtown New Orleans,
where we got to experience a variety of different cultures and to see the life of Bourbon Street during the day and saw the corner where they have a live camera set up - EarthCam.
The
girls were entertained with the different musicians and magicians on the
streets while going in and out of all the shops including a majority of the VooDoo
shops. Some stopped and posed for pictures with different places and random people on the street. 
Fridays practice day was great. LSU is a good host and their Pete Maravich Assembly Center (PMAC) is a great facility. The girls were relaxed and had a great practice leading into our objective tomorrow.
They got use to the environment with the layout of
the arena, where everything was and it got them focused for tomorrow. Keeping that consistency that we've had throughout the season with being
ready to go and well prepared heading into the practice day and carry that over to the meet.
After practice, we went over to go see Mike the Tiger –
LSU’s live mascot that has his own habitat on campus.
You can watch Mike live with their TigerCam.
We then headed to dinner at Boutins which was highly recommended to us from locals and planned out by Assistant Coach Sharon Sabin.
We had a great
experience with some local Cajun Louisiana fare. A great atmosphere, food was
amazing with a Local band followed by a great team meeting before bed.
Barb Knapic, KSU gymnastics alumna and NADC Board member,
met up with us at Practice day at the PMAC and enjoyed the rest of the day with
us.
At the team meeting, we got a chance to regain our purpose
and focus on tomorrow. We got to figure out Logistics for Saturday so we can be
prepared and united heading into the meet."
Senior Women's Administrator, Janet Kittell:
"The trip has been a very nice blend of fun and education and
culture and serious competition -- from Beignets at Café Du Monde to Alligator and
Crawfish at Boutin’s on Thursday night.
The team has had great exposure to a culture and an experience
that will last a lifetime.
They have had fun these past two days and are ready to
compete.
We look forward to the Regional with LSU, Stanford, Auburn, Arizona and Iowa State."
Check back for more information on how our Trip to Baton Rouge, La. has been and the results of the NCAA Regional.
Results from the NCAA Regional - Click Here
Results from the NCAA Regional - Click Here
For more information on the gymanstics team, go to www.kentstatesports.com
Go Flashes!
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