Fill the Dome
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (128835)
Gainesville, Florida
January 29, 2016 9:09am CST
I am an avid gymnastics fan, and I am very fortunate to live in a city with a major university that has a national championship women's gymnastics team. I first got into gymnastics many years ago when my young daughter took an interest. We've been season ticket holders for many years now, and go to every home meet. The last few years have been especially exciting, as the women's gymnastics team has won three consecutive national championships, and is currently ranked #1 in the country this year as well!
There is a home meet tonight between our beloved University of Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide, who are currently ranked fifth in the country. There has been a heavy media promotion this week to "fill the dome," meaning they are trying to sell out the arena where the meet takes place.
The Gator gymnastics team already has the third highest average attendance of all college sports at the University of Florida (behind football and mens basketball), and their home meets already fill up about 90% of the arena, but tonight the team is pushing for a sellout, which would be about 10,000 people!
The kids and I will be there, as usual, cheering on our championship women! My son is not a big fan, but I bribed him into being a good sport about going tonight by promising he could buy a sword at the medieval faire we are going to tomorrow!
6 people like this
5 responses
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Jan 16
I will be spending a good portion of my weekend at the medieval faire. I am in charge of the division in our parks and recreation department that puts on the faire! I'll have to write about it on this site if I have time!
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502391)
• Italy
30 Jan 16
@moffittjc There is a village in Italy, where all the houses are still the same built in Medieval times, the name of the village is Grazzano Visconti, here is a photo, but you should make a search and look at them, this place is beautiful.
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@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
23 Feb 16
HAHA! So glad your son took the bribe! I've never been to seen any sort of gymnastics before but I'm sure it would be a bit of fun. Although I seem to be really fascinated hearing more about the medieval fair you guys went to! I'm guessing that's a lot of fun too? What do you do there?
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
25 Feb 16
@VivaLaDani13 So there are no medieval fairs in Australia? Or at least none that you are aware of? I think they are the neatest events to go to! What's nice about ours is that the department I work in for the city is the department that puts on the event, so I get to see and be a part of all the set up and preparation!
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@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
25 Feb 16
@moffittjc I've never heard of one being here before. I'd love to go. Maybe one day when I travel out of Australia.
That's so awesome you get to see and help it getting set up. Would be fun to do.
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@VivaLaDani13 (60812)
• Perth, Australia
24 Feb 16
@moffittjc oh man! I really wish we had something like that here! I've always wanted to go! I love that Medieval era too so it would be really fascinating to walk around pretending I was going back in time.
Thank you so much for the link and yeah I saw you! You were easy to spot anyway since I see what you look like thanks to your profile pic on here.
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@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
29 Jan 16
Gymnastics is one of my favorite olympic sports. My husband is not a fan so I watch it alone or while he plays games on the internet.
In my youth I often wanted to perform gymnastics, but when reality hit home due to the fact that I as graceful as a bull in a china closet, I decided to be a figure skater. Go figure that didn't happen because I get dizzy spinning in circles. LOL
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
29 Jan 16
@moffittjc I did well in softball and field hockey. Loved them. Wanted to try out for the team, but my mother couldn't get me to and from practice and games.
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@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Jan 16
Wow, it just seems you didn't have any luck with sports! But at least you tried, which is more than some people can say!
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@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jan 16
@ElusiveButterfly My parents had the same problem with me...getting me to and from practice. But I always remember riding my bike all the time, to practice, and then home again at night, so I guess I figured out a way to make it work!
1 person likes this
@jillybean1222 (6406)
•
29 Jan 16
I've always enjoyed gymnastics when they come to the olympics. as a child, i always wanted to do them myself, but i lived in a small town where stuff like that wasn't offered. so i just did what i could myself without an instructor. it's a wonderful sport!
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Jan 16
It is definitely a sport that can build up the confidence of any child who participates, not to mention how great of shape they would be in, and how flexible and limber they would be!
@nanette64 (20363)
• Fairfield, Texas
29 Jan 16
I've always liked to watch gymnastics too @moffittjc , especially the Olympics. I never had the interest to try it for myself (dad believed I was a boy so...) I got stuck with doing boy 'stuff'.
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Jan 16
It was Olympics gymnastics that first got me interested in the sport, so I decided to take my daughter to a college gymnastics meet when she was little to see if it interested her! She loved it, and as they say, the rest is history! Interestingly, she never was interested in participating in gymnastics, she just loves watching it!
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