With a new facility and access to two trampolines and a foam pit, plus a certified national level coach in Louise Stack, Oros Whistler Gymnastics started a full time trampoline program in September. It was instantly popular, and participants in the program attended the first of three competitive meets this past weekend in New Westminster.
The athletes competed in two events, trampoline and double mini, and at future events will also compete in tumbling and synchronized trampoline.
"The kids did really well," said Stack. "They all finished their routines, and people were very impressed how well they were doing, considering a lot of the people in competitive trampoline have been doing this for so much longer."
The Oros jumpers train for an hour-and-a-half, twice a week, which is generally less than other clubs in the province.
Based on the first event, the club has already qualified five out of seven competitive trampolinists for the provincials. Stack is hoping to qualify other jumpers at the next trial event and then take her team to the final provincial level competition.
She says her team was nervous going into the competition, but is a lot more relaxed now that they've seen a competition and understand proper form. As well, they've also seen that they can compete head-to-head with other gymnasts.
"Now they've seen what proper technique is meant to look like, they're going to improve really fast," said Stack.
On trampoline, James Sambell and Evan Low were seventh in their categories. Adam Bell was eighth. Sydney Lowell Schmidt was 12th, Kristina Bell 15th and Hannah Raffler 17th in their respective categories.
The team hit their stride in the double mini competition the following day. Archie Mahoney just missed the podium in fourth. Evan Low was sixth, Adam Bell seventh, James Sambell seventh, Hannah Raffler seventh, Sydney Lowell Schmidt 14th and Kristina Bell 16th in their respective categories.
The trampoline program will be adding some coached drop-in days, Thursday and Friday, starting in January for $12. More information will be posted to www.whistlergymnastics.com in the coming weeks.
