Editorial
(Tucson, AZ)
Bill McCulloch
Today I stepped into a world I was only slightly familiar with. I attended and covered my first gymnastics meet at any level.
When I arrived at McKale Center for the opening of the gymnastics season for the Arizona Wildcats, there was a line two hundred feet back from the ticket windows. That was my first impression on what was to come.
Inside, there were more fans than I’ve seen at McKale except for men’s basketball and a few women’s basketball games. At match time the crowd was announced at 3,446. It was the third largest crowd to attend a Wildcat gymnastic meet in the history of the university.
The crowd was filled with excitement and as I looked around there were throngs of young fans awaiting to see there Arizona Wildcats compete.
As I mentioned, my knowledge of the world of gymnastics was limited to the Olympics in the eras of Cathy Rigby, Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton and later Kerri Strug.
I was familiar with the Balance Beam, Uneven Parallel Bars, Vault and Floor Exercise, but had never witnessed them up close and live.
These athlete compete on precision, incredible body control, flare and the determination to win as a team.
This year’s Lady Gym Cat Team consists of nine underclassmen and an experienced mix of six junior and seniors.
Head Coach John Court was very upbeat and optimistic about tonight’s effort in spite of a close loss to the #8 ranked Denver University Pioneers. It seems the sky is the limit for this year’s squad as they are just outside the Top 25.
This will be an exciting assignment and well as a learning one for me, so please stayed tuned to the 520 Sports Talk Facebook Page and 520sportstalk.com for season long coverage of Wildcat Gymnastics.
