Marissa King maintains that she’s still very much the proper British girl she was when she left London last summer to pursue gymnastics at the collegiate level at the University of Florida. Since arriving in Gainesville to begin her big adventure, her world has undergone an almost complete upheaval but there is one constant that serves as her reminder that the sun never sets on the British Empire.
“I think I kept my British accent,” King said Monday before practice began for Florida’s gymnastics team where the Gators were putting in final preparations for the NCAA Gymnastics Championships, which begin Thursday at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. King, who has competed for the United Kingdom in both the 2008 Olympics in Athens and the 2009 World Championships in London, is one of Florida’s fab five freshmen who have done their fair share to put the Gators in the enviable position of winning their first NCAA gymnastics championship.
While keeping the British accent might seem a small accomplishment, King considers it a true milestone in that the last former British Olympian who came to compete for the Florida gymnastics team has ditched her native accent. Nicola Willis has an American accent to show for her time at the University of Florida.
“She [Willis] was here for five years and she changed over and she got a very full American accent whereas I haven’t done that as such,” King said in her rapid-fire but very British manner. “I think that kind of makes me unique and that kind of keeps a variation on the team and I think that’s good.”
King’s accent has remained constant but to her way of thinking, the English language has been under a constant assault. When she arrived in Gainesville, she thought she was well prepared for the linguistic differences.
She learned rather quickly that the notebook she carried was only scratching the surface.
“I came here and I had a book,” she said. “It’s like a notebook and I have like two pages of lists of words with the American way of saying something and the British way of saying something.”
The book helped on the simple things. In England it’s a lorry. In America it’s a truck. In America it’s a purse. In England it’s a handbag.
Then things got complicated. It wasn’t just the words. It was the sayings.
“You say orange juice with pulp and we say orange juice with bits,” she said before adding, “I could bring out my whole list and read it all to you.”
If only the spoken word were the only difference. As she discovered the first time she was required to write a paper, there are grammatical differences as well. George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.”
Marissa King can testify to that.
“For instance, some of the papers I’ve written, there’s different American grammar than British grammar,” she said. “The tutors have had to help me with that because I really don’t know the different adjustments to that.”
And school has been just one of the challenges.
There was food.
“It’s all quick, fast food sort of stuff, you know,” she said. “I’m kind of used to kind of curries and Asian stuff because my mother’s from Thailand originally.”
And there was weird stuff.
“I never tried pumpkin muffins before actually,” King said. “Pumpkin muffins … I had no idea what that was.”
And the good stuff.
“They have Coldstone and these great ice cream places,” she said.
Then there was the weather. In London it has been said there are four seasons and you can experience all four in a single day in any month of the year. Once she came to Florida she learned that it’s hot most of the time.
And as she discovered, her idea of hot and Florida’s idea of hot are altogether different.
“The weather has been kind of interesting,” she said. “I’ve had some not very hot days but I’ve been like dying especially in training when it’s a little bit hot but I feel it’s very, very hot.”
The cultural, food and language differences have made life an adventure. The differences in gymnastics have made the adventure a daily source of excitement.
Marissa King is used to competing on the big stage of international gymnastics and while she was part of the United Kingdom team, the concept wasn’t the same as she discovered on the collegiate level at the University of Florida.
“Back in England there was a team aspect but as well as the team it was everyone was fighting for their individual spots,” she said. “Everyone was at their individual pace. It wasn’t as close as it is when I came over to the states.”
It is the closeness King has experienced as a Gator that has turned this big adventure into the time of her life. Under the team concept promoted by Florida coach Rhonda Faehn, individual goals are set aside for the more important goal of team success.
For example, this season, more than any during her tenure as Florida’s coach, Faehn has relied less on all-around competitors (compete on vault, bars, beam and floor) and getting her entire team involved. Only King and fellow freshman Ashanee Dickerson compete in the all-around. Typically, Faehn uses a lineup that might include 10-12 gymnasts on any particular night.
That subtle change in the way the Gators do things in a meet has promoted more team chemistry and the kind of closeness that King never experienced in gymnastics before.
“I’ve experienced a lot more bonding and a team being very close,” King said. “Everyone here right now is focusing on the team goal, the team achievement and that’s what everyone wants. Whatever happens in individuals will just happen. That’s what I love about coming here. It’s very focused on the team and everyone wants the best for everyone else. It’s all about being together and having one heart and achieving what we all want to achieve.”
What everyone on this Florida team wants to achieve is an NCAA championship. In a year which can best be described as Marissa King’s big adventure, it would be a fitting way to close things out. In these past few months she’s discovered that while she is very much the same British girl who left London a few months ago, in her heart she is 100 percent Gator.