By Dan Plouffe
The start of the competitive season has not yet even arrived, but the local gymnastics community is already buzzing about what will take place at the end. The biggest stars in Canadian gymnastics will be coming to town for the 2013 national championships from May 21-26.
“It’s a big show,” smiles Kellie Hinnells, who will act as event chair and direct an army of organizers/volunteers estimated to be 400+ in size.
Also the general manager at Ottawa Gymnastics Centre, Hinnells is enthusiastic about the spotlight the Canadian championships will provide for gymnastics in the nation’s capital – thanks to the competition itself, and through initiatives such as bringing schools out to watch and to try apparatuses in demonstration areas.
“It’s a way for us to promote the sport where all the clubs in Ottawa will benefit,” Hinnells says.
The final Olympic team selections were held in Gatineau earlier this year, while Elite Canada was in Aylmer in 2008, but a national competition of that quality has not been held in the area on this side of the river since 1997.
Ottawa hosted a highly successful provincial men’s and women’s artistic championships last season at the CE Centre, which will again act as the venue for men’s and women’s artistic, plus trampoline and tumbling, while Carleton University will welcome the rhythmic event, and host participants in its residences.
“Nationals is very different (than provincials),” Hinnells notes. “These are high-performance, so the quality of the performances is going to be much greater.”
It’s probable that the next batch of Olympians will come from the 500+ athletes who will compete in Ottawa, joined by almost as many coaches, judges and support staff.
“I think the number of people coming into the city will be greater than normal, so the economic impact should be substantial,” Hinnells adds, explaining that many will likely drive from nearby Quebec as well as Ontario, which is always the largest delegation.
Local tourism should also get a boost from what is a bit of a groundbreaking partnership, as Hudson Travel Group assumes the lead organizational role alongside Gymnastics Canada, handling all logistics such as venue booking, accommodation and travel, as well as sponsorship and marketing.
“It’s great for us because that’s stuff we usually have to do,” Hinnells underlines. “We don’t have the expertise, whereas they do, because they manage other sporting events.”
Four local host clubs – OGC, Tumblers Gymnastics, Kanata Rhythmic and Unigym Gatineau – will handle everything on the sport side, taking care of technical details along with Gymnastics Canada. Although they’re all classified under gymnastics, there is generally very little interaction between the men’s, women’s, rhythmic, trampoline and tumbling disciplines, except for the rare occasion when they come together for an event like nationals.
“It’s a unique opportunity for those athletes to experience the other ones,” says Hinnells, recounting a recent nationals where boys’ gymnasts created an arch with their arms for the rhythmic athletes to walk through as they entered for their competition. “There was a lot of that happening, which was really nice.”
Locals’ chance to shine
Expect Ottawa qualifiers for the event to number somewhere in the teens. Two-time defending all-around national champion Sam Zakutney of National Capital Competitive Boys Gymnastics promises to be the star attraction amongst local talent as he goes after another title in the high-performance class.
Other local athletes who earned medals at last year’s nationals included Bruno Webster and Taylor Jackle Spriggs of OGC, while Jonathan Arsenault of Spring Action was a medalist in trampoline, as were Benjamin and Vincent Tyo. For those gymnasts who aren’t at the national level yet, the event will be quite special nonetheless, Hinnells points out.
“To actually have the opportunity for our kids to be involved – because there will be jobs for them to do – is great,” explains the future chair of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games gymnastics competition. “It doesn’t come along very often for them to be able to see, up close and personal, that level of gymnastics.”
Some of the Canadian greats likely to be on display in Ottawa include Dominique Pegg, who helped the Canadian women’s team to an unexpected breakthrough fifth-place performance in London, as well as Canada’s lone 2012 Olympic gold medalist, Rosie MacLennan, and fellow trampoline medalist Jason Burnett, who won silver in 2008.
“It’s about heroes too, right?” Hinnells adds. “They’ll go back to their gym inspired to want to work hard and to be like that person or be able to go to nationals one day, because it’s a big deal.”