~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
By Dan Plouffe
For the first time this decade, no local competitors qualified for Ontario’s women’s artistic gymnastics tour team, but three Tumblers Gymnastics Centre athletes earned even bigger opportunities in November.
Juliette Chapman and Avery Rosales trained with the national team in Montreal and competed at the Élite Gym Massilia international meet in Marseille, France, while Hanna Nixon took a big first step to follow in her older teammates’ footsteps by qualifying for Elite Canada.
“Just to think that you’re representing Canada at an international meet in France – it’s pretty cool to say,” underlines Rosales.
“When you do a good routine, you just feel that much more proud because you’re doing something good for your country,” echoes Chapman.
The 13-year-olds enjoyed the unique experience of being paired up with two Israeli athletes to complete a four-member team. The mixed entry wound by placing 3rd in their subdivision.
~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
Able to communicate in basic English, the Tumblers girls enjoyed learning a few words in their teammates’ language and seeing some of the harder skills the older athletes performed.
That didn’t quite match the awe they felt back in Montreal, however, when they were training alongside Rio 2016 Olympic 5th-place finisher Ellie Black with the national team.
“She does big skills, and just seeing it live is really cool,” highlights Chapman. “At first when she was watching our bars (training), I feel kind of nervous because I wanted to do really good to show her, but she was so nice, so it kind of took off the pressure.”
The young athletes were tickled pink to have Black cheer them on during their practice routines. They’d seen her compete before, but had never really talked to the Commonwealth and Pan Am Games champion, and certainly not as a peer.
“She is like one of us, training with us,” Rosales marvels.
For Nixon, it’s a somewhat similar story on a daily basis at Tumblers. Two years Chapman and Rosales’ junior, she’s watched her older clubmates rise into the class of Canada’s best.
The Grade 6 St. Theresa Catholic School student mirrored a major milestone on their paths by topping the novice high-performance standings at the Nov. 13 Tour Selection/Elite Canada Screening meet in Belleville.
Nixon’s main goal was to get the minimum score required to compete at Elite Canada, but hadn’t contemplated the possibility of being the all-around winner too.
“I was not expecting it,” signals the competition’s balance beam and floor gold medallist. “I was really happy and surprised.”
Nixon will now join Rosales and Chapman for her first Elite Canada Feb. 2-5 in Halifax.
“I’ve never been, so I don’t know what it’s like, but the girls tell me it’s super fun,” Nixon adds. “It’ll be exciting because we get to go at the same time and I’ll get to have them with me.”