Fun. Many times athletes forget about fun and only focus on winning; but like they say, winning isn’t everything.

Though the women’s gymnastics team has had a rocky season, it is looking to have a lot of fun on a one-day trip to the Windy City.

Both the men and women Fighting Illini gymnasts will travel to Chicago on Saturday to face their sister school, the University of Illinois-Chicago at 5 p.m.

“I’m excited for the upcoming meet because I heard it’s a fun one,” said Melissa Fernandez, recalling what her older teammates said. The freshman is also pleased to be coming off a strong team score against Missouri.

After receiving a 195.325 at home against the Tigers, Fernandez believes there is more Illini gymnastics has to prove.

“After last meet, we have the momentum to keep building on and we still have a lot to show and a lot to prove to everyone else,” Fernandez said. “We’re working hard in the gym everyday and it’s going to show off.”

As the season winds down, several athletes agree this is not what they anticipated during the preseason practices. Winning only one meet this year, Illinois is trying to focus more on confidence, team-building and increasing its average score instead of its overall record.

With only two competitions until the postseason begins, head coach Bob Starkell is looking forward to “championship time.”

“We’re starting to get in the stretch, too,” Starkell said. “When these guys start feeling it, all that hard work put in before becomes so more apparent now. We have our last away meet, then we have a state meet, then the Championships.”

Like Fernandez, Starkell agrees the Mizzou meet gave the Illini some much needed momentum. Confident in its ability to bring in big scores, the Orange and Blue want to keep up the hard work in practice and not count any major mistakes come competition time.

All season the team has been chasing after the elusive 24-for-24 hit routines to finally achieve perfection. Although they were close on Saturday, the gymnasts need to use the UIC meet as a source of much-needed adrenaline during their intense practice sessions over Spring Break.

Without one specific problematic area, the women have been focusing on doing solid gymnastics during practice time.

“We have little mistakes every meet, and it’s always something different,” Fernandez said. “We just need to get everything put together.”

Hopefully for the Illini, this “fun” meet will help set the team up for success in the last few competitions of the season.