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Friday, March 29, 2024
<p>Gators junior all-around gymnast Marissa King has made a return to the beam this season after injuries limited her ability to fully compete in the event during 2011.</p>

Gators junior all-around gymnast Marissa King has made a return to the beam this season after injuries limited her ability to fully compete in the event during 2011.

Marissa King has always had the talent, but over time she has developed the maturity to go along with it.

In her third season as a Gator, King has made strides for No. 8 Florida.  Not only has King, a six-time All-American, posted solid scores in UF’s first two meets this year, but she has also embraced being a team leader. 

“It’s incredible to see the leadership role she’s taken on this year,” coach Rhonda Faehn said. “It’s very obvious she’s taken ownership of her talent.”

A native of Cambridge, England, King arrived in Gainesville in the fall of 2009 with an extensive resume. She represented Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and competed at the 2007 and 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, among other events.

Since King was used to only competing as an individual, her early goings at Florida were up and down.

As a freshman, King had trouble grasping the team concept. Faehn said King would sometimes get frustrated easily in the gym.

Although King’s 2010 regular season campaign was solid, she struggled at the NCAA Super Six Team Final, posting an all-around score of 37.275, more than two points lower than her season-best.

“I consistently told her as a freshman and sophomore, ‘You have the potential to win a national all-around title. You have the potential to do some really great things,’” Faehn said. “I [didn’t] know if she necessarily believed me.”

But over time, King learned to believe in herself, and her teammates.

“I feel like I have bonded closer with the girls,” King said.  “I’ve kind of stepped up because I now know what it feels like to compete individually, but in a team.”

Experiencing success at Florida has also strengthened King’s confidence and composure.

In King’s first season, the Gators won a Southeastern Conference Championship. Last year, King took home the individual NCAA vault title.

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King also said communication with Faehn has helped develop her game.

“If there’s anything hurting me, or anything that’s on my mind, she [says] to just communicate,” King said. “Communication was the thing I really lacked my freshman year.”

With King’s fortitude growing, other areas of her game have also improved, such as her strength on balance beam.

Throughout her sophomore season, King fought two nagging injuries — a left pectoral muscle tear and a bruise on her foot — that adversely affected her performance on beam. Due to these injuries, Faehn held King out of nearly half of last season’s beam lineups.

But in the Gators’ 196.175-191.875 victory over Illinois-Chicago last Friday, King recorded a career-high on beam (9.925), which was good for her second-straight beam title.

“Last year, I was just really inconsistent on the beam and I really want to be up there on the beam lineup this year,” King said.

When No. 8 Florida (2-0) travels to Lexington, Ky., to take on Kentucky (2-2, 0-1 SEC) at the Memorial Coliseum Friday night, King will compete as an all-arounder for the second time this season.

“She’s still on the rise,” Faehn said. “She stills has ways to go, and that’s what the beauty of it is.”

Gators junior all-around gymnast Marissa King has made a return to the beam this season after injuries limited her ability to fully compete in the event during 2011.

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