What makes Georgia gymnastics one of the most popular sports on campus? ‘Nothing like it.’

The scene inside Stegeman Coliseum Friday night looked staged for a movie.

Georgia skipped over to floor exercise greeted by a crowd packed to the brim. Booming, adrenaline-rushing tones of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” burst through the PA system. All of it complemented by a collective yell by a raucous student section — a larger one than a midweek men’s basketball game or any women’s basketball contest — that holds up “10” signs and large cut-outs of athletes to cheer on the GymDogs.

A few moments prior, cell phone lights illuminated the arena between rotations. Fans hold up the traditional “4” to the harmonious tune of “Krypton Fanfare” and the Georgia fight song. In that moment, a sold-out crowd is locked in.

Wait, is this Sanford Stadium?

Not quite. Stegeman Coliseum has about 10% of the capacity that the school’s famed football facility holds. But, there’s a case to be made that Georgia gymnastics is the second most-popular sport on campus (a Saturday men’s basketball game being the other contender). Attendance numbers, revenues, influence of a large crowd and program success present a case for the GymDogs.

“The energy is always high,” senior all-around gymnast Sabrina Vega said. “We love competing in Stegeman. There’s nothing like it.”

Georgia’s atmosphere in its 2020 home-opening loss to LSU is the same nearly every time it takes its home floor. Hype videos and player introductions fueled an initial eruption from the crowd, anticipation growing to see a team that advanced to national championships last season. The GymDogs fed off of that energy and notched two 9.900 scores to begin competition on a high note.

The final floor exercise is what Georgia cherishes about competing in Athens. There’s an exuberance which fuels the gymnasts to pull off a routine full of personality — none with more spunk than Vega — with the GymDogs’ rattling off three scores of 9.950 to cap off the meet against the Tigers.

Georgia has an environment that isn’t too common around gymnastics, even at some powerhouses like defending national champion Oklahoma. The attendance surge began during the title-winning days with Suzanne Yoculan at the helm, and has lived on through coaching changes, different eras and the program’s quest to rise back atop the national stage.

During the 2019 season, Georgia averaged 10,093 fans for six meets at Stegeman Coliseum. That ranks fifth nationally and third in the SEC — behind Alabama (11,864) and LSU (11,081). Only seven teams out of about 75 in the nation had an average of more than 6,000 fans per meet.

“People enjoy the environment, the level of competition and it is such a popular sport in our community, our state and in the SEC as well,” Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity said in an email response to The Telegraph. “Our staff is focused on providing an exceptional experience.”

According to the NCAA Membership Financial Reporting Documents from the 2018 fiscal year, Georgia gymnastics ranked third among winter and spring sports by drawing in $273,936 in ticket sales. Gymnastics comprises more than half of the school’s revenue from women’s sports, and trails men’s basketball ($827,391) and baseball ($394,459). The difference in these values, however, is the discrepancy of gymnastics meets (six per season) to basketball (17) and baseball (35) home games.

Georgia isn’t afraid to show pride in its gymnastics program, either. Head coach Courtney Kupets Carter serves as the centerpiece of the mural — from her days as arguably the most-decorated gymnast in NCAA history — that surrounds the on-wall scoreboard inside Stegeman. She has a banner, too, that is draped beside the training facility’s staircase. The hallway outside the Suzanne Yoculan Gymnastics Center holds at least nine items commemorating the sport.

Those who follow Georgia must have a similar perspective. Per event, gymnastics draws more attention. Men’s basketball averaged 8,747 fans per game last season, albeit in a disappointing 11-win campaign where most of those numbers were drawn from Saturday afternoon sellouts.

“I really love feeling connected to the team in such an incredible atmosphere,” said Katherine Marchant, a decade-long GymDog fan who flew into town to attend the LSU meet. “There’s also something so surreal about being in the same building that Courtney competed in.”

Those like Marchant who travel far to see the GymDogs aren’t uncommon, either. Fans of the sport as a whole — even some who might prefer other schools — attend as gymnastics diehards. That’s the product of a niche group that follows the sport, which many refer to as the “gymternet.”

Each meet, Stegeman Coliseum is filled with many different perspectives. That’s what makes a large gymnastics crowd feel unique and potentially even tight-knit.

“I was pleasantly surprised by how supportive the crowd was for LSU — cheering on Alyona Shchennikova when she remounted, for example. That isn’t always the case,” said Claire Billman, a gymnastics writer for College Gym News who attended last Friday’s meet. She met up with other Atlanta-area “gymternet” members at Cali ‘N Titos in Athens prior to the meet. “These aren’t just Bulldog fans filling the seats, these are gymnastics fans.”

Georgia doesn’t quite have the energy of the past when Yoculan squared off against Sarah Patterson at Alabama, according to those who have experienced both environments, but it’s not too far off. There’s something special about watching — and obviously competing in — a meet inside the arena that many might think is best-known for basketball.

Instead, the GymDogs are Stegeman Coliseum’s queen.

“The fan energy is positive,” Kupets Carter said. “You might have loud, intense fans at other places, but we have fans who love what they see and the athletes they’re watching. We feel that on the floor.”

This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 5:27 PM with the headline "What makes Georgia gymnastics one of the most popular sports on campus? ‘Nothing like it.’."