 | |
| Location | Gainesville, Florida |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 29°38′57″N82°21′18″W / 29.6493°N 82.355107°W |
| Owner | University of Florida |
| Operator | University Athletic Association |
| Capacity | 4,500 |
| Surface | Natural Grass |
| Construction | |
| Renovated | 1995 |
| Expanded | 2007 |
| Tenants | |
| Florida Gators women's soccer Florida Gators track and field | |
The James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track is a 4,500-seat dual-purpose stadium located on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. The stadium is home to the Florida Gators women's soccer team and the men's and women's Florida Gators track and field teams. The facility was renamed in honor of university alumnus James G. Pressly, Jr. The track was named in honor of Percy Beard, a 1932 Olympic silver medalist and the former Gators track and field head coach for twenty-seven years. [1]
A stadium is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. The university traces its origins to 1853 and has operated continuously on its Gainesville campus since September 1906.
Gainesville is the county seat and largest city in Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The population of Gainesville in the 2017 US Census estimates was 132,249, a 6.4% growth from 2010. Gainesville is the largest city in the region of North Central Florida. It is also a component of the Gainesville-Lake City Combined Statistical Area, which had a 2013 population of 337,925.
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In anticipation of the new Florida Gators soccer team, James G. Pressly Stadium was completed renovated in 1995. The stadium seating facilities and field received a $750,000 facelift and the pole vault and long jump pits were moved from the infield to outside of the Pearcy Beard Track. This move made the soccer field of the right proportions, and had an area of approximately 115 yards by seventy yards. Over 2,500 bench seats were added to the existing 2,000-seat concrete grandstand, bringing the total capacity to 4,500. [2]
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long flexible pole as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, Cretans and Celts. It has been a full medal event at the Olympic Games since 1896 for men and since 2000 for women.
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a group are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". This event has a history in the Ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympic event for men since the first Olympics in 1896 and for women since 1948.
A grandstand is a large and normally permanent structure for seating spectators, most often at a racetrack. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap all or most of the way around. Grandstands may have basic bench seating, but usually have individual chairs like a stadium. Grandstands are also usually covered with a roof, but are open on the front. They are often multi-tiered.
The Florida Gators soccer team ranked eighth overall in the nation for its 2007 total attendance of 16,889, or an average of 1,299 spectators per game. [3]
