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Hey
Everyone!
Wow its been so long! I competed in two international meets
in March/April. One being the Pacific Challenge in
California and the "Eight Countries" meet in
Holland. They were both very valuable experiences for me and the
Canada team. The Pacific Challenge was a tri-meet against
Australia and two American teams. We were happy to place 2nd
in front of Australia. In the Eight Countries meet we also placed
well. After those meets, I had some time to upgrade my
skills and prepare for nationals. I was happy to place 1st
All Around in my first senior nationals!! I also made 3
event finals. I ended up 3rd on beam.
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The
next month I spent preparing for Worlds/PanAm
trials. At trials in July, I placed 5th
All Around, with a 1st on beam, and qualified for
the Worlds/PanAms team along with Melanie Banville,
Amelie Plante, Heather Purnell, Richelle Simpson,
Kylie Stone, and Lydia Williams. We attended a
training camp in Toronto for 2 weeks, then left for
PanAms in Dominican Republic. At PanAms, we
all got a stomach bug, but unfortunately I got mine
the day before and day of the competition. I
was pretty sick, and got dehydrated and
overheated. I tried to compete, but during
warmup I was so dizzy and weak that it was decided
it would not be safe for me to compete. I was
so disappointed. The rest of the team competed
really well, short one team member, to place 2nd,
ahead of Brazil. We then went directly to
Anaheim for World Championships. We started up
our training there, and although I had
improved at this point, I was still not 100
percent. For this reason, I was chosen as
alternate and did not compete. The team
competed really well, and despite a rough day on
beam, qualified Canada in 11th place.
Following the competitions, I managed a day
trip to Disneyland and a little shopping! |
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I was away
from home for over 6 weeks - it was a time of mixed
feelings. It was so disappointing to have not competed
at either meet. But I did gain some more experience in the
process, and enjoyed some great times with my team
mates. When I got home in late August, I took a week
off - we went away and relaxed. This was my first
holiday in over one year, and I really needed the break!
When I returned to training in September, I felt fresh and
ready to start training hard again.
Since
September, I have been back to my typical schedule -
training 33+ hours per week, and doing my schoolwork by
correspondence. Since last July, there has been some
changes in my training group. In July, Eleonora
(Ella) Vacca moved from Alberta to train at
Omega. My training group now includes Ella
(Senior), Siovhan Williamson (National Open), my sister
Charlotte (National Novice), Nicole Pineau (National Novice)
and Brittany Rogers (National Novice). I have been
working hard to upgrade my skills - especially bars and
vault. I also got a new floor routine, and added a 4th
tumbling pass.
The
competition season is gearing up again - at the end of
October, we attended a training camp in Calgary. On
Nov. 13th, I leave for Toronto, and on Nov. 14th will
compete in the "Tour Selection" meet for
practice. Then, myself and teammates will be leaving
for the Massilia Cup in Marseille. It will be pretty busy
through December and January - Elite Canada in early
December, another training camp early in January, and then
possibly WOGA in mid-January!!
Bye for now!
Gael
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