Alice Vol. 2 No. 2

Backflips for Bama
By Claire Turner
Kiana Winston straightens her
crimson and houndstooth bow in the
locker room mirror, laughing with
her teammates as she adjusts her
bedazzled leotard one last time. She
lines up to walk through the hallway,
the roar of thousands of people in the
crowd growing louder and louder with
each step. Sparklers shoot out golden
fireworks through four illuminated,
larger than life letters: B-A-M-A.
Winston runs out with the rest of
The University of Alabama gymnastics
team, taking in the coliseum with
15,000 seats, four center-hung Jumbo
Trons, two scoreboards and the
feeling of experiencing it all with her
best friends beside her. She feels her
heart swell with pride as she steps
onto the crimson script A on the court,
knowing she’s achieving all her goals
at the college she always dreamed
of attending.
Winston is not thinking about
her homework in her classes for her
psychology major, nor that project she
has due for her human development
minor. Though it is her junior year,
she’s nine hours from her home in Fort
Worth, Texas, and she’s had three
surgeries due to gymnastics injuries,
Winston was focusing on landing
her killer double layout in her floor
routine and nailing her release on the
uneven bars.
“What I love most about competing
is the butterflies that you get,”
Winston said. “And just being one
with yourself, having an audience and
performing for yourself so it’s like, ‘let
me show you what I can do.’ God gave
me these gifts, so I’m definitely going
to use them.”
Winston’s favorite part of being
a gymnast is her ability to do what
others can’t.
“I love setting a goal and pushing
myself to make it. I love that
determination factor of it.”
Her determination paid off at
the 2016 Southeastern Conference
Championships in Little Rock,
Arkansas, when she scored a 9.95
out of a perfect 10 on her bar routine,
achieving an exhilarating tie with
Alice Spring 2017 [65]