An extra week off from competition could be just what No. 5 Florida needed before preparing to make a run at postseason titles during the Southeastern Conference and NCAA championships.
When Florida (8-2, 5-1 SEC) plays host to No. 9 Utah (10-2) tonight on Senior Night in the O’Connell Center, it will have been two weeks since the Gators’ last competition, a season-best performance against North Carolina and Ball State, and the extended rest has made the team hungry to compete again.
“We’re excited to get back out there, and we obviously have a lot of goals and we’re ready to accomplish them,” senior Rebekah Zaiser said. “It was a good mental break.”
While the team had a week off from actual competition before tonight’s regular-season finale, the gymnasts still practiced over the break and participated in an intrasquad competition last week like they usually do on Thursdays.
“It kept them in the same mindset of having to perform pressure sets and to not relax and take that time off gymnastically,” UF coach Rhonda Faehn said. “It was important for them to have that pressure on them without actually having a competition that week and it allows their bodies to rest just enough.”
Last year, the team didn’t have a bye week in its schedule. This season the rest will help the team, with some key contributors coming back from injuries before the season started. The break will also help the freshmen on the squad, who perform more than half of the team’s routines.
“Physically, we’re all feeling pretty good this last week,” said Zaiser, who returned this season after breaking her foot last year. “But I think that mentally it did us good to have a break, just from pushing through all of these competitions.”
Freshman Marissa King said she thinks the time off will put the Gators in a stronger frame of mind against Utah, and that they will be able to come out strong to help boost their regional qualifying score and catapult themselves into postseason competition.
