I can’t tell you how excited I was on Friday, Jan. 10 as I looked up into the student section of Coleman Coliseum just moments after the doors opened for Alabama Gymnastics’ first meet of the 2014 season, and saw the student section filling up and fast! Of the 12,971 fans that had the Coliseum rocking Friday night, the more than 2,700 Alabama students in attendance were at the heart of it all, screaming, dancing and cheering our ladies on to the best opening meet score in our history.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, our students are AMAZING! I can’t tell you how much your support means to our ladies. That’s one of the reasons that so many of our prizes and giveaways each week – the iPads, iPod shuffles, American Express gift cards and so much more – are geared toward the student section, we want you to know how important your support is to us.

It’s also why I hope you’ll make plans to join us on Friday, Jan. 24 in Coleman Coliseum for our 10th annual Power of Pink meet, along with each and every one of our five remaining home meets against teams like Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, Stanford and – to finish off the regular season – Auburn! It’s going to be a great season and we need you with us every step of the way.

I want to thank The Crimson White, especially sports editor Marc Torrence, for the tremendous coverage we’ve received to this point in the season. The CW does a remarkable job of keeping the students up to date with everything going on with your Crimson Tide.

So, once again, a big “THANK YOU” to our students for getting us off to such a great start and please keep bringing your passion and support to Coleman Coliseum.

University of Alabama Head Gymnastics Coach,

Sarah Patterson