On a weekend shadowed by the loss of a member of its collective family, the Fort Frances Visserettes artistic gymnastics team parted the clouds to reveal its strength of character—and bright future.
An 11-member team from the Visserettes leapt, somersaulted, and did handsprings for all they were worth during the annual Springfest Invitational meet Saturday and Sunday at the Fort Frances Gymnastics Academy.
Other participating teams included Thunder Bay, Dryden, Kenora, Sioux Lookout, and Red Lake.
The competition not only was a celebration of athletic achievement, but a tribute to the mother of Visserettes member Sara Blais, who died in a one-vehicle accident earlier this month near Nestor Falls.
“This competition was most certainly dedicated to Gisele Blais,” said Visserettes coach Mirel Bica, who led a moment of silence in her honour before action got underway both mornings.
“Sara was here the whole time helping as a volunteer,” Bica noted. “She made herself a promise that she was going to come back to compete eventually and be the best she could possibly be.
“Her being here means she was taking her promise seriously.
“I think the team came through strong after the tragedy,” he added. “For some of them, it was the first competition of their lives. They were expected to be really nervous and emotional, but they were able to get over it and do what they had to do.”
Sara Kellar gave the Visserettes a gold-medal effort in claiming the Tyro ‘A’ division, but Bica was clear in his belief the whole team came out a winner.
“With the big audience there [roughly 100 people jammed on the makeshift bleachers], it was good because many of the athletes are not used to working with that many people in the gym,” he remarked.
“That will only serve them well as they get older and move up to higher levels where there are big crowds all the time.”
Now that Bica and his wife, Mirela, have their first year as Visserettes coaches under their belt, he is enthusiastic about what lies ahead for his charges while steadfastly avoiding complacency.
“It’s my philosophy in life to never, never be satisfied,” he reasoned. “It’s a trap. You always want to set goals too high to be reached, so that you always have a target to shoot for. This is my way.
“It’s a very good start. But we need a new building, we need to get more kids involved in gymnastics, we need more sponsors,” he added. “We need help from all over the community.
“Right now, we have approximately eight percent of this community involved in gymnastics,” Bica said. “In three years, I would like to have that be up to 20 percent.
That’s a realistic goal to reach for. It doesn’t mean it’s 100 percent sure to happen, but it’s realistic.”
Here are the Visserettes’ results from last weekend’s meet, with their highest individual event score in parentheses:
< *c>Tyro ‘B’
3. Brittany Rogenrud—35.78 (9.08, floor) 4. Breeanda Taylor—35.76 (9.33, bars) 9. Joelle White—32.86 (8.53, floor) 10. Brittany Martin—32.67 (8.9, beam) 12. Samantha Mickelson—32.4 (8,53, beam)
< *c>Tyro ‘A’
1. Sara Kellar—36.07 (9.27, bars)
< *c>Argo ‘B’
5. Abbey Fox—26.06 (8.83, floor)
< *c>Prov. 2 TYRO
1. Sydney Boustead—34.48 (9.00, floor)
< *c>Cadette ‘B’
5. Rikki Kellar—34.57 (9.43, vault) 7. Chanelle Matthews—34.33 (9.2, vault)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
