Most everyone who walked through the Ferguson Center last Thursday or Friday noticed the fountain squirting water with more than a passing resemblance to pink Kool-Aid. Get used to the flavor, because that was only a taste of what is to come.
On Friday, Feb. 17, Alabama Gymnastics will host its annual Power of Pink meet against Arkansas. Pink lights will illuminate Coleman Coliseum for the event, and Denny Chimes, the Ferguson Fountain and the Student Recreation Center dome will display the pink glow for the entire weekend, all in an effort to promote breast cancer awareness.
The event has been occurring each year since 2005, but pink lighting was incorporated more recently.
“I had the idea to introduce the lights about three years ago. I thought the pink lighting would really give new emphasis to the whole concept of Power of Pink,” said sculpture professor Craig Wedderspoon. “So I talked to Rita [Martin, Gymnastics Operations Coordinator] about it, and then Coach [Sarah] Patterson got on board. The University has reacted wonderfully.”
Wedderspoon began work on this year’s batch of lights last week. He wraps the thin, pink-tinted gel sheets over metal frames, producing sleeves to slide over the light fixtures. Although it takes close to 40 coverings to light the Coliseum alone, he said the process isn’t very time-consuming, and many of the gel sheaths from last year’s display, stored in the Coliseum, can be reused this time around.
“It’s really a pretty easy process. This year we have it worked like a line item,” he said. “The guys from facilities, who have been awesome, come over with the bucket truck, and we go up, pull the current cover off of the lights and just slide these sleeves over the top.”
Wedderspoon also said he was considering doubling-up the gels destined for Coliseum display in order to make the pigment even more potent for this year’s event.
“It’s going to be very pink,” he said.
The pink lights and competitors’ leotards won’t be the only attraction the meet has to offer, however. Before the competition begins, Alabama Gymnastics will hold a ceremony to honor breast cancer survivors and present a donation to help local women currently fighting the disease.
“This will be a great chance to honor breast cancer survivors of all ages, shapes and sizes,” Martin said. “We want to show this crowd of 15,000-plus that people of all ages can get breast cancer and honor these ladies who have fought so hard.”
Patterson said the organization, through fundraisers in conjunction with the DCH Foundation, has raised over $200,000 for donation this year, bringing the total amount raised since 2005 to $1.2 million.
“We’re going to present a big check before the meet,” she said. “All that money goes to disadvantaged women in West Alabama to help them pay for diagnostics and help.”
The first Power of Pink meet took place in 2005, but Patterson said the inspiration for the competition’s theme came a few years before.
“Ten years ago I had difficulty passing a mammogram. Nothing was wrong with me, and I had the best of care,” Patterson said. “But I was sitting in the waiting rooms thinking about all the women with no insurance or single mothers with children on a budget. It hit me that we can use 10,000 gymnastics fans and my position at the University to help some people out.”
“This is an incredible cause, and the more we make people aware the better,” Wedderspoon said. “The whole point of raising awareness is to have people see it, and the pink lights are great for that. The cause is really what it’s all about.”
Both Martin and Patterson encouraged students to come Friday night to support the team, honor breast cancer survivors and see the lights.
“You can’t really experience what’s really going on until you come out and be here,” Martin said. “You have to see it for yourself to see what it’s all about.”
