Gymnastics coach to live out Far East dream

Vicki Stinson has first-hand experience with the fact that rhythmic gymnastics is more than dainty girls running around twirling ribbons.
Her dedication to broadening her horizons in the sport has earned her the trip of a lifetime. The Fort Frances coach leaves tomorrow to escort International Falls gymnast Scott Roberts all the way to Omiya, Japan as part of Team Canada’s entry in the first-ever international martial gym meet.
“I’m extremely thrilled, this has been a dream of mine,” said Stinson, 19, who along with 13-year-old Roberts will meet up with the other two Vancouver-based athletes and two coaches for a week of training there before heading to the “Land of the Rising Sun.”
“I just didn’t think that it would happen this fast. I’ve been coaching only half as long as other people have,” she noted. “I don’t think I’ll actually believe it until I’m sitting at the competition watching it go on.”
Teams from Malaysia, South Korea, the U.S., and the host nation will join Canada at the Nov. 25-Dec. 1 competition being put on by the Japanese Gymnastics Federation, which has gone to the trouble to cover all costs of the trip for all competing nations, including Canada.
“When they told me the Japanese federation was going to pay for our trip over there, I basically fell out of my chair,” Stinson smiled. “Then when they told me they were paying for everything, that’s when my heart stopped.”
Stinson describes martial gym—which has been part of the Japanese sports scene for quite some time—as being based on the floor routine of artistic gymnastics but includes the use of martial arts-type apparatuses such as a stick, rope, and clubs.
“It kind of reminds you of men’s artistic mixed in with women’s rhythmic gymnastics,” she explained.
Stinson said the opportunity just “fell into her lap” to take the overseas trip, which is being completely funded by the Japanese Gymnastics Federation in an effort to promote the sport world-wide.
The Vancouver club and the Fort Frances Gymnastics Academy are the only facilities in Canada that currently provide martial gym programs.
Stinson, who also coaches the Rainbow Rhythmic Gymnastics program at the Fort Frances Gymnastics Academy, received a call from one of the Vancouver coaches in the spring of 2002, telling her about the new version of the sport.
She began the martial gym program that September, with concerns it may fall flat because of both the community’s obsession with all things hockey as well as the lack of male gymnasts in the area.
Then along came Roberts.
“Scott wanted to do artistic gymnastics to get into shape,” recalled Stinson, who now has three students under her wing in the martial gym program. “The gymnastics instructors were showing all the kids everything we offered, and I happened to mention to Scott that we had stuff for guys, too.
“He tried the martial gym stuff and really liked it.”
Stinson stressed Roberts has justified his spot on the Team Canada roster by bringing his best effort to every practice.
“He works his butt off, and does everything I tell him to do and listens to everything I say,” she enthused. “He’s the perfect gymnast mentally. He’ll keep trying something over and over again until he gets it.
“No matter if he finishes fifth or 500th, just the experience of being there for him and for me will be terrific,” she added.
From Stinson’s viewpoint, the existence of martial gym is vitally important because the rhythmic gymnastics world has been adverse to welcoming any male competitive factor into its equation up until now.
“The stereotype is that rhythmic gymnastics is just for girls, and in today’s world, that’s sexist and that’s wrong,” stressed Stinson. “You’ve got women pushing for female equality in sports, but how can they do that if guys are being denied a chance in certain sports, as well?”
Gender issues aside, Stinson is anxious to witness the routines that will be on display from the other countries and garner as much knowledge as she can from seeing what they do.
There won’t be a great deal of time for sightseeing but with her working knowledge of Japanese, Stinson said she will take every chance she’s given to immerse herself in the Far East culture during her stay there.
“My two obsessions are sports and languages,” she admitted. “I look forward to trying out my Japanese right in the middle of Japan.”