Pink is the new orange and blue.
At least for tonight's gymnastics meet, when No. 5 UF (2-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) hosts Kentucky (1-2, 0-2 SEC) in the O'Connell Center at 7, that is. The meet, the Third Annual Gators Link to Pink competition, is aimed at raising awareness for breast cancer.
"We always go out there and support the cause for those who do have (breast cancer), no matter whether or not we know the person or not," junior Melanie Sinclair said. "We're just willing to help out in any way that we can."
School colors will be set aside and both teams will be wearing pink, albeit different shades.
"It is nice for our athletes, once a year, to showcase the pink color to make everything stand out later," UF coach Rhonda Faehn said.
Fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of the fight against breast cancer.
Faehn said the meet provides an opportunity for fans to learn about breast cancer, be it getting women to get checked out or just raising general awareness.
"I've had friends that have had (breast cancer)," Faehn said. "And I've seen the toll that it has taken."
The Gators will not only be competing to raise breast cancer awareness, but also to avoid their second consecutive loss for the first time since 2006, when they lost back-to-back meets to Alabama and Georgia.
Last week, UF dropped its first meet of the season to then-No. 8 Arkansas because of three falls on balance beam.
Faehn said the loss spurred the team to train harder than ever.
"It's a matter of intensity and focus," Faehn said. "They weren't distracted."
Sinclair called the loss a "wake-up call."
"It was good to see the other side of the spectrum and know that we can't always expect to win," she said. "The positive for us is definitely that we came back in and we've been working hard, and we realized that we experienced the worst. Losing is the worst."
If the Gators are to avoid their second straight loss, Faehn said the team would have to once again start strong on the team's first exercise, vault, and carry the momentum throughout the meet.
"It's our fourth meet of the year, so we really should start to show some improvements as far as consistency," Faehn said.
The team will also look to have a better beam showing, with a revised beam lineup including freshman Kailey Tissue for her first competitive home meet.
"I've been competing for a really long time - of course I have some butterflies, but I think it's going to be fun," Tissue said.
A win against Kentucky would certainly help the psyche of a Gators team coming off a loss.
"We don't ever want to lose," Faehn said. "At the same time, we do understand that it's about the score and making sure we're prepared closer to the middle-to-end of the season."
If the team does win tonight, don't look for the team to get complacent - something it appeared to be heading into the Arkansas meet.
"You can't base how you're going to perform the next week and further weeks just because you won a competition," Sinclair said.
