Starting on February 21st and ending the 25th, the O'Connell Center will be experiencing one of the busiest weekends of the year. Tonight the Florida women's basketball team faces off against Vanderbilt, but that is only the start of a busy weekend. Tomorrow the Florida gymnastics team plays host to Kentucky, Saturday the UF men's basketball team plays host to Arkansas, and Monday Kendrick Lamar is live at the O'Connell Center.
What does this mean for the O'Connell Center and its workforce? Massive amounts of clean ups, changeovers and sets for the next few days. The arena is prepped and ready for basketball tonight, but as soon as the game ends, preparation begins for the next day. The basketball floor will be pulled up like the disassembling of a giant jigsaw puzzle, the bleachers will be cleaned, and the gymnastics floor will be arranged accordingly. Then once the meet ends on Friday, the O'Connell Center pulls up the gymnastics floor in exchange for the basketball floor on Saturday.
Once Saturday night's game has ended, the O'Connell Center has one day to tear down everything for athletics and set the stage for Monday's concert with Kendrick Lamar. Like a spider to its web, nobody notices the diligent work and numerous hours to pull off such a spectacle, but the O'Connell Center takes pride in weekends like this.
A special shout out to all of the workers who make this place run so smoothly, and here's to another exciting weekend at the dome.
Want a behind the scenes look at one of our busy weekends from the past? Take a look at this time-lapse from 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSAwp3_vTCw&list=PLSGfe8ZWjDXk1q51pmHp1AzC72sPEztoQ&index=4