The NCAA season is long and intense for athletes in a detail-oriented sport like gymnastics.

But the Bruins have discovered one way to cut through the grind: playing Dungeons & Dragons during vault training.

No. 15 UCLA gymnastics has used a unique strategy ahead of its first home meet against Washington on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion. After the Bruins counted a fall on bars and posted their lowest vault score of the season at last week’s quad meet, freshman Katelyn Rosen said assistant coach Kyle Grable found new ways to lighten the mood while working hard at practice.

“He comes up with little games for us on vault just to get us that much more motivated,” Rosen said. “The improvement is there. You can see it in the scores. We can see it in practice.”

UCLA has already experienced some setbacks in its 2024 campaign.

Two of its first three team scores have been below 197.000, while in 2023, it only posted one score that low. The Bruins have had two rotations where they were forced to count a fall – on beam at the Super 16 and bars in the Denver quad.

As a result, UCLA has slipped 10 spots from the No. 5 rank it held to begin the season.

But instead of fixating on scores and rankings, graduate student Nya Reed said her team is focusing on building a strong core of support.

“You want to look at scores, you want to look at the routines, you want to see who did good,” Reed said. “But you have to stay together. You have to stay as one, as a unit, because at the end of the day, you’re a team, and you’re working to be able to beat that other team.”

Dungeons & Dragons while on vault is not the only way the Bruins build that camaraderie. Volleyball for warmups, dance parties on Fridays and stick challenges throughout the day are all part of the team’s effort to have fun while cultivating an elite squad.

Rosen said though it may look like just fun and games, this method of training serves a specific purpose.

“One thing we talk about a lot is energy is something that we create,” Rosen said. “Those fun little games and moments definitely make the hard parts easier.”

In addition to the games and traditions during practice and meets, the Bruins have another source of energy this weekend: their first meet in front of a home crowd in 2024.

Coach Janelle McDonald, who is in her second year as head coach of UCLA, said the dynamic of Pauley Pavilion is something that she has an increased knowledge of how to leverage.

“I better understand the energy and the excitement that competing in Pauley Pavilion brings,” McDonald said. “The energy that the building has and just the support that our fans give us is something that I’m really looking forward to.”

For Rosen, who is averaging above 9.800 on all of her events this season, Saturday’s meet against the Huskies marks the first home meet of her Bruin career.

She said the liveliness and culture cultivated among her team is at the forefront of her mind going into the matchup.

“What I’m thinking about going into it is just doing what we do in practice,” Rosen said. “When we practice and compete like a family, that’s when we do our best.”

UCLA’s first Pac-12 meet of the 2024 campaign will begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.