The No. 21 LSU gymnastics team will take on No. 5 Georgia Friday in the PMAC.
But gymnastics is not the main reason for celebration this weekend.
Friday will mark the fourth annual Etta James Memorial Meet, which benefits Foundation 56 — founded by former LSU and current Dallas Cowboys linebacker Bradie James.
James’ mother, Etta James, lost her battle with breast cancer in 2002 during Bradie’s sophomore year at LSU.
In memory of his mother, James started Foundation 56 in October 2007. The goal of the foundation was to raise breast cancer awareness for everyone in the Baton Rouge area, but most notably, those who have limited or no insurance.
In early 2008, Foundation 56 got a huge boost when it paired up with LSU gymnastics and created the Etta James Memorial Meet. The first meet in 2008 drew an LSU record attendance of 7.717 and the three events have combined to raise more than $100,000.
“This event has raised a tremendous amount of money and it is about the under served people,” said LSU coach D-D Breaux. “It is about early detection and breast cancer in our community, 10-parish area and in our state.”
James credits everyone involved with the foundation for the meet’s success.
“Everyone involved in my foundation is also passionate about something,” James said. “We are passionate about making an impact in our community. I think when you go about things the right way, the passion becomes contagious. I thought we were just going to do one meet, but here we are with our fourth one.”
The event kicked off Wednesday evening with a tailgate in the Stadium Club of Tiger Stadium. The tailgate included a live and silent auction along with food from numerous restaurants.
As far as the team goes, the Tigers are looking to put together a score of 196 or higher for the first time this season.
To do that, LSU will need to be more composed than last week, when it was forced to count two falls on the uneven bars.
“[We need to work on] not folding under pressure,” said freshman Maliah Mathis. “We did a great job of coming to beam from bars and we kept our composure there. We just need to keep it together this week.”
While the Tigers are still searching for their first complete performance of the season, Breaux is happy with what she is seeing from her squad.
“I am excited about our team,” Breaux said. “They have a great attitude and work hard every day in practice to improve on the little things on each event.”
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Contact The Daily Reveille’s Rob Landry at [email protected]