As their first season gets closer to wrapping up, the Rainy Lake Gymnastics Elite team has come home from their first ever meet with several top finishes across various events.
Elite team head coach Stephanie Mann was very pleased with the group’s performance.
“Overall I think they did really well,” Mann said. “Nerves got to some of them but for the most part they did really, really well. I was a bit worried they might not stack up to these athletes that compete more frequently, but they came out of the gates doing really, really well so I was really impressed.”
The competition was hosted by the Elites Gymnastics Club in Winnipeg and the competition featured over 200 other athletes which was totally new for the Rainy Lake Gymnastics Academy (RLGA) members.
“This was their first competition so they’ve not ever been to a competition of this nature before, there were 217 athletes at various levels,” Mann said. “It was eye opening for them and for us as coaches as well to see where they need to improve. When they (the judges) would show a score that I didn’t quite understand, the judges were more than happy to explain where the deductions were taken, so that was really helpful for us as well as coaches so we can go back into the gym and fine tune those things that need to be fixed.”
The gymnasts each competed in four categories, including vault, bars, beam and floor.
Jasper Dennis took home a handfull of hard- ware from her first meet, with two silver and two gold medals.
Ahead of the meet the RLGA held a mock meet so the athletes could get a feeling for what competing might look like especially as they may not have performed in front of an audience before. Mann says that the mock meet helped prepare the young gymnasts.
“We talked about the mock meat on the Tuesday before this competition, and they were all glad we had done that,” Mann said. “They kind of felt that little bit of pressure which they don’t normally feel in the gym when they’re training. So it was a good experience for them to have people watching and noise.”
As the season wraps up the elite team will be taking part in two more meets, one here at home in Fort Frances at RLGA and another in Dryden. Going forward Mann is hoping to have the team at three or four major competitions between Ontario and Manitoba.
This year saw great growth in the team. The athletes that started at level one have all been moved up to level two for the rest of the year.
“We had a number of athletes in level one and we actually have moved them all up to level two after this competition,” Mann said. “The’ve all sort of progressed that far through the year so for this competition they competed at level one, but they will compete at level two for the rest of the competitions this year. It’s really fun to watch and see these kids grow and learn new things and see their excitement when they learn a new move or cheer on their friends when their friends get a new skill, it’s a really great experience.”
Next summer RLGA will hold tryouts to add new gymnasts to the Elite Program.
Second one goes from front to back: Logann Veldhuisen, Nova Dallas, Jasper Dennis, Jillian Seguin, Payton Idrissou
Results:
Level One Gymnasts:
Jasper Dennis:
Vault 8.833 Silver
Bars 8.433 Silver
Beam 9.316 Gold
Floor 9.075 Gold
Overall 35.657 Silver
Logann Veldhuisen
Vault 8.933 Silver
Bars 8.466 Silver
Beam 8.733 Silver
Floor 9.025 Gold
Overall 35.057 Silver
Nova Dallas
Vault 8.716 Silver
Bars 8.483 Silver
Beam 8.400 Silver
Floor 9.025 Gold
Overall 34.624 Silver
Level Two Gymnasts:
Payton Idrissou
Vault 9.050 Second
Bars 8.900 Third
Beam 9.266 First
Floor 8.775 Second
Overall 35.99 Third
Jillian Seguin
Vault 8.866 Fifth
Bars 9.133 Second
Beam 9.183 Second
Floor 8.825 Third
Overall 36.007 Second
Madison Odahl
Vault 9.175 Third
Bars 9.050 Third
Beam 8.700 Seventh
Floor 8.675 Seventh
Overall 35.600 Seventh
Luna Pham
Vault 8.800 Seventh
Bars 8.900 Fourth
Beam 8.900 Fifth
Floor 9.500 First
Overall 36.100 Fourth
Level Three Gymnasts
Paiton Veldhuisen
Vault 9.400 Fourth
Bars 8.850 Third
Beam 6.350 Eighth
Floor 8.900 Second
Overall 33.500 Seventh
Teagan Degroot
Vault 8.675 Sixth
Bars 7.750 Seventh
Beam 8.300 Seventh
Floor 7.600 Fifth
Overall 32.325 Seventh
Liana (Annie) Beaulne
Vault 8.250 Ninth
Bars 6.800 11th
Beam 7.100 10th
Floor 7.425 Seventh
Overall 29.575 10th
