Samantha Thomas will be a spectator, not a participant, when the province's six-male, six-female artistic gymnastics team is competing against the rest of the country for Canada Winter Games gold in February.
For Thomas, a Level 6 gymnast and member of the Prince George Gymnastics Club (PGGC), the chance to get an up-close look at the best young athletes in Canada, some of whom are destined to become future Olympians, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Gymnastics will be a featured sport at the Northern Sport Centre at UNBC during the first week of the Games, Feb. 15-21, followed by trampoline events at the College of New Caledonia gym, Feb. 22-March 1 - the first time trampoline has been included in Canada Games.
"It's going to give me more experience and I get to see what skills the girls have there and how hard I have to work to get to that," said Thomas, who celebrates her 15th birthday on Monday. "When I'm watching someone live I get to see the motions they have and I can see how high your skill level has to go, instead of trying watch it on TV."
Thomas, a native of Calgary who moved to to Prince George four years ago, has been involved in gymnastics for four years. She trains three days per week for four hours each session. Her favourite and best event is the uneven bars.
"I like doing the skills on the bars and I just try my hardest on that event," said Thomas, a Grade 10 student at College Heights secondary school. "The skills are much harder now and I have to work harder to get them. Usually when I'm done [training] I just want to lay down and not move."
This past weekend at the Judges Cup, an informal season-opening club competition which involved gymnasts from Prince George, Quesnel and Williams Lake, Thomas had a chance to work out some of the bugs and gain feedback from judges, who were not posting any results.
"I did pretty good," said Thomas. "I just learned to do a harder skill on vault. I'm doing a handspring half [twist]. I've been doing that for about a week."
Thomas, one of seven Level 6 gymnasts in Prince George, is preparing for the Flip City Invitational competition, Jan. 15-18 in Langley, where she will compete against some of the province's top gymnasts. The Prince George club will send its higher-level gymnasts and competitive trampoline athletes to Langley. The club has postponed its annual February meet due to the Canada Winter Games and won't host another competition until May. The Exhibition Park gym will be used as a training facility for athletes competing in the Games.
This year, starting in September, Gymnastics BC adopted the Junior Olympics Program (JOP) used in the United States which specifically outlines plans of progression for 10 levels, instead of the five-level provincial system it replaces. The U.S. is being looked to as a model for Canada, based on the perennial success of American gymnasts at world championships and Olympic competitions.
As a Level 6 gymnast, Thomas is allowed optional moves in the gym. She is not required to stick to compulsory routines in competition, which apply to gymnasts in levels 1-5. Because lower-level gymnasts all do the same routines in competitions it is easier to judge. B.C. is one of several provinces to adopt the JOP system, which requires a wide assortment of skills designed to develop better all-around gymnasts.
"It is a super-strict program on what they want their developmental kids doing, so I think it will be great once we get used to it," said PGGC head coach Jodie Hinks. "It's definitely been working for the States and now B.C. is on board. Some provinces back east are on board and Alberta is switching next year so I think it will eventually go across Canada."
JOP scores are based on a 10-point scale with 10 being a perfect score. The Federation Internationale Gymnastique system, which can result in scores of 14 points or higher, will continue to apply at national events.
The PGGC is one of the largest sporting clubs in the city, with 1,200 members. The 16,000 square-foot Prince George Gymnastics Centre at Exhibition Park has been upgraded and redesigned to better handle the crush of all those members, most of whom are in recreational programs. Two new larger foam pits have been built, there are in-ground trampolines and every part of the gym floor is being utilized to create more room and allow more athletes to practice at one time.
"This is the biggest we've ever been," said Hinks. "It's busy in here from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day except weekends, when we stop at 5 or 6 p.m. We've really been working on developing our coaches, because a lot of time we didn't have enough coaches for the demand. We're basically running at capacity."
