By Isabella Disley & Dan Plouffe
The Ottawa Gymnastics Centre is officially a senior citizen. And as Canada’s oldest operating not-for-profit gymnastics club turns 65 this year, Sarah White’s story is becoming all the more common.
White was a competitive gymnast at OGC throughout high school, she came back to coach recreational programs and summer camps, and now she volunteers for the club, while supporting her 12-year-old daughter’s journey in competitive gymnastics.
“I’ve spent many, many years at this club,” White smiles. “I was looking at the (65th anniversary) pictures, and there’s the full era, like from in the 90’s when I was here. It was pretty fun to see.”
Established in 1960, OGC began life as a nomad, setting up and taking down equipment each night as athletes trained in various high school gyms. OGC found its first home in 1980 at 175 Richmond Rd. a few blocks away from its current site, and then moved to the City Centre off Scott St. in 1988 before settling into its present digs at the former Lions Arena in Westboro in 1992.
Last year, the club completed a renovation of its entrance/office area to provide additional gym space and improve changerooms and athlete/coach spaces.
“For my daughter, she just lives here. This is like her second home,” indicates White, who also has a four-year-old getting started in gymnastics. “She’s got some good friends and it’s just like a huge part of our life.”
White finds that competitive gymnastics is “grounding” and keeps young athletes focused on their success at the gym, at school and in life.
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“They’ve got a great coaching program, and they develop really good, really supportive environments,” she says of OGC. “It’s intense, but it’s not over the top. It’s a really nice balance.”
OGC recently celebrated the milestone season during its annual provincial championships qualification meet from Feb. 27-Mar. 2. The club received an official letter from the City of Ottawa to mark the occasion from Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, who also doubles as an OGC parent himself.
Notable alumni in attendance included past Olympian Heather Anderson (née Purnell), who was there to watch her daughter compete in her first meet, along with her niece. Fellow Athens 2004 Olympian, trampolinist Heather Ross-McManus, was on hand as the organization’s interim executive director, while 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2023 Pan American medallist Jenna Lalonde served as a judge.
“It’s great to see you’ve got this rapport with all these amazing athletes that are being produced here,” White signals. “There are some really good legacies.”
Nausikaa Muresan, OGC’s women’s program coordinator, says the club’s motto “We teach children, not skills” has always stuck with her.
“It resonated, because although I coach competitive gymnastics, I see my athletes as humans first, athletes second,” Muresan underlines.
Hitting 65 years is a “significant memento of the years the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre has spent serving the community and providing access to sport for every age and level of ability and commitment,” she adds by email.
OGC also plans to mark this year’s milestone during its end-of-season awards banquet in June and at a welcome barbecue for the new season in September. The club had displays of photos and mementos for each decade of its existence on display during the 65th meet.
Over 530 gymnasts from across Ontario participated in the competition, with many local athletes shining in their divisions.
Annika Magneron of TRYumph Gymnastics stood at the top of the standings in the meet’s most advanced category in the Level 9, Age 16+ competition, while Corona’s Leni Frasca and OGC’s Dalia Weisz occupied the second and third steps of the podium.
A few weeks removed from her second-place finish with Team Ontario at the Simone Biles International Invitational, OGC’s Dalia Weisz was third all-around in the Level 9, Age 16+ event. Weisz calls Muresan “Coach Naus” at the gym and “mom” at home.
Read More: Provincial champ Dalia Weisz finds the right balance, on beam & in relationship with coach/mom
OGC’s Olivia Coe topped the Level 8, Age 15+ division, while Tumblers teammates Ivory Cash Henderson and Ivy Clouden finished 1-2 in the Level 5, Age 12-14 event.
Many more athletes boosted their qualification quests for the Level 6-10 Ontario Championships, to be held April 10-13 in Windsor.
Division winners included TRYumph’s Finley Rosales, Kennedey Ryan, Hadleigh Campbell and November Szambor, Corona’s Madeleine Hibberd, Zoey Vega, Mia Vega and Everly Wyllie, Tumblers’ Amelia Mikovich, Marika Lemay and Maélie Brousseau, and Kanata Gymnosphere’s Sophia Leduy-Henault.
The meet also featured events for Levels 1-5 as well as Xcel categories for athletes who generally train less frequently than provincial-stream gymnasts.
“We had an amazing group of volunteers, over 150 helping us from Wednesday, all the way through to Sunday evening,” Muresan highlights. “The competition was very successfully run, we had a lot of positive feedback from participating clubs, athletes, coaches, judges and families.”
A few days after the home meet, Muresan jumped on the train en route to Montreal as several of Ottawa’s top gymnasts competed in Canada’s most significant annual international gymnastics competition the following weekend at the International Gymnix.
Edge Gymnastics’ Mackenzie Grant won the floor event and was second all-around in the novice competition in a category that featured athletes from USA, Japan, Algeria and many parts of Canada.
Representing Canada on the junior national team, Tumblers’ Samantha Couture was 14th in the Junior Cup individually and third in the team event, while Central Michigan University-bound OGC athlete Alexandra Reddick placed second on vault and seventh overall in her Level 10 event.
