A Special Night for Gymnastics Team

NORMAN, Okla. -- Competitions for the OU women's gymnastics team begins with the typical warm ups, stretching and the team huddle. The Sooners' March 24 match up with Pittsburg was nothing out of the ordinary when it came to warming up. However, there were three very special additional teammates on the floor with OU women on Saturday.

Before the meet began, the crowd at McCasland Field House didn't see girls in crimson leotards come running out. Instead, they saw 7-year-old Ozella Frazier, 9-year-old Hope Dollarhide and 6-year-old Brittany Stevens being piggybacked in with smiles all around as they were introduced during the pre-meet introductions.

The girls came to the meet representing the Jimmy Everest Center for Cancer & Blood Disorders in Children, each of them suffering from different illnesses. They were the official “Special Spectators” of the day. The entire day was dedicated to them meeting the OU women's gymnastics team, forgetting about their illnesses and getting a little bit of a feel for what it's like to be part of the team.

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Athletics academic counselor Annette Moran served as a facilitator from the OU athletics department and helped show the special guests around that day.

“This is the first time that we've done this with women's gymnastics,” Moran said. “We started Special Spectators three years ago with football, and everyone involved embraced it so much that we expanded it to other sports. Each team does it individually in a different way and it's special for different reasons.”

Frazier gushed about how much fun she was having with the gymnasts, and how she chatted with sophomore Haley DeProspero and freshman Mary Mantle before the meet. In addition, she took part in a quick workout on the main floor.

“I actually got to exercise with the team on the floor,” Frazier said, very excited with a big smile on her face. “We ran around and did splits, and then we got to go back in the locker room.”

The shyest of the three was Hope Dollarhide. She had a hard time figuring out which one of the rotations was her favorite of the day, but after some long and hard thinking, floor routine was the one she preferred the most.

Stevens was just an indecisive as Dollarhide when it came to pointing out which rotation was her favorite, but her favorite part of the day was getting to walk out onto the floor with junior Jessica Kinder.

Frazier, Dollarhide and Stevens each received the opportunity to see what it's like to be a real gymnast at McCasland that day. From Moran's point of view, it was easy to see that the girls were enjoying every minute.

“They did a whole warm-up routine with the girls,” Moran said. “After they stretched and got to be in the team huddle, they were invited to the locker rooms and shown around. As the OU gymnasts were announced, three of the gymnastics girls brought out the little girls and introduced them to the crowd. It's just really a special time for the kids.”

As the girls from the Everest Center had a special day spending time with the OU gymnasts, the feeling was mutual. Moran explained how the team enjoyed taking time out of doing warm ups and routines in order to show the girls around.

“It gives our student-athletes a great opportunity to meet with these children and just to make the children very happy,” Moran said. “It's really a great thing for the children to be involved with gymnastics. I'm here from the athletics department only as a facilitator, and everything else that goes on is just between the student-athletes and the kids to give them the best time possible.”

As the gymnastics meet came to an end, Moran summed it all up in one sentence.

“Just to see the smiles on the kids' faces shows that they are happy, and that makes everything so worthwhile.”

- Feature by Stephanie Turner, OU Athletics Media Relations

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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