Barbells, sleds, kettlebells and jump training — Dawn Staley’s 2026-27 roster is putting in the summer work that championships are built on.
COLUMBIA — Nobody handed South Carolina anything. Not the national championships, not the Final Four runs, not the reputation. Every bit of it was built in a weight room with Gamecock logos on the screens, iron on the floor, and players who showed up when they didn’t have to.
The 2026-27 South Carolina Gamecocks are back in the building, and the summer grind is fully underway. From the program’s training facility, you can see exactly what this team is made of before a single basketball has been touched — deadlifts, sled pushes, kettlebell work, overhead presses, and explosive jump training spread across a roster that may be the deepest Dawn Staley has ever assembled.
Within The Program’s Training facility are players including Tessa Johnson, Jordan Lee, Joyce Edwards, Ayla McDowell, Ashlyn Watkins, Oliviyah Edwards, Kelsi Andrews, Chloe Kitts, Maddy McDaniel, Jerzy Robinson, Alicia Tournebize and Kaeli Wynn as part of the workout group. This isn’t a small group of veterans going through the motions. This is a full roster making a statement before the season even starts.
What The Training Is — And What They Mean
The variety of movements is deliberate and telling. This isn’t a generic gym session. It’s a structured, multi-station athletic development program covering every physical quality a championship basketball team needs.
Barbell deadlifts with different players working through the same foundational movement. Deadlifts build posterior chain strength — the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back that power every jump, sprint, and defensive stance on a basketball court. Seeing multiple players — guards and forwards alike — loaded up on the bar this early in the summer suggests the program is investing in raw strength as a baseline before anything else.
Sled pushes on the turf are one of the most demanding conditioning tools in modern sports performance. The image of a player driving hard into a weighted sled — head down, arms extended, digging into the turf — captures a level of effort that simply cannot be faked. Sled work builds leg drive, core stability, and the kind of physical toughness that shows up in the fourth quarter when everybody else is gassing out.
Kettlebell work on the bench — a player horizontal, executing a row variation with heavy kettlebells — addresses upper body pulling strength and core stability simultaneously. For basketball players who need to battle for rebounds, fight through screens, and hold position in the post, that kind of functional upper body strength is not optional.
Overhead dumbbell pressing, captured with a player seated and driving weight overhead in what appears to be a shoulder press variation, develops the pressing strength and shoulder stability that protects against injury and improves finishing around the basket.
Explosive jump training on the turf, with two players working side-by-side in a deep squat position preparing to drive upward, is perhaps the most basketball-specific movement in the collection. Vertical explosiveness is currency in this sport, and the fact that this work is happening in June — months before the Paris opener — tells you everything about the program’s approach to preparation.
The Full 2026-27 Roster: Everyone Accounted For
What makes these images particularly compelling is the roster they represent. The 2026-27 South Carolina Gamecocks carry legitimate championship expectations, and the names visible across these workout posts represent nearly the entire group:
Returning Players:
- Tessa Johnson — Guard, returning starter
- Joyce Edwards — Forward, returning starter
- Maddy McDaniel — Guard, heir apparent at point guard
- Agot Makeer — Guard, NCAA Tournament breakout star
- Adhel Tac — Forward, interior depth
- Ayla McDowell — Guard/Wing, versatile reserve
- Alicia Tournebize — Forward/Center, frontcourt depth
- Chloe Kitts — Forward, returning from ACL (October 2025)
- Ashlyn Watkins — Forward/Center, returning from ACL (January 2025)
Transfer Addition:
- Jordan Lee — Guard, from Texas
Freshman Class:
- Jerzy Robinson — Guard, 6-1
- Oliviyah Edwards — Forward, 6-3
- Kaeli Wynn — Wing, 6-2
- Kelsi Andrews — Forward, 6-3
- Justine Loubens — Wing, 6-1 (France)
Seeing freshmen like Oliviyah Edwards, Kelsi Andrews and Kaeli Wynn already in the weight room alongside veterans like Tessa Johnson and Joyce Edwards is not a small thing. It means the newcomers aren’t easing in — they’re being thrown directly into the standards that this program has built over years of championship-level training. Sink or swim, and from what these images show, they’re swimming.
The Human Side of Summer Grind
There’s something genuinely moving about looking at these players if you follow this program closely. Ashlyn Watkins — who spent all of last year away from basketball and school recovering from a torn ACL — is back in that building, putting weight on a bar. Chloe Kitts, who tore her ACL in October 2025 and never got to play a single game last season, is presumably somewhere in that facility doing the same.
These aren’t just athletes completing training requirements. These are people fighting their way back to something they love, surrounded by teammates who are pushing them every single day.
That’s what a championship culture actually looks like — not the trophies on the wall, but the barbell on the floor at 7 a.m. in June when nobody is watching. Except now, someone is. And what they’re watching looks very much like a team that has unfinished business.
The Paris opener against Maryland is November 2. The weight room work that leads there starts now.
South Carolina women’s basketball opens the 2026-27 season on November 2 against Maryland in Paris.
