About 18 months ago, Anna MacDonald's mom suggested to her daughter it would be a good idea to find a sport she could do non-competitively which wouldn't take up as much of her free time as gymnastics does.
Already an accomplished gymnast, MacDonald decided to focus on trampoline and for the first six months she was learning the sport at the Prince George Gymnastics Centre, her mother Gina could not bear to watch.
The thought of Anna bouncing from the floor-level trampoline pit almost up to the ceiling while performing flips and twists, not knowing for sure whether a rough landing would launch her daughter into an unplanned orbit, was scary enough to make Gina look away.
She eventually got used to it and so did Anna. In only her second season of trampoline gymnastics, the 16-year-old has made the Level 5 provincial team and will represent B.C. at the national trampoline championships in Edmonton, May 31 to June 4.
MacDonald, a Grade 10 student at College Heights secondary school, has qualified for the double-mini trampoline event at nationals, having missed qualifying in the single trampoline event by a mere six-tenths of a point.
"I'm hoping to at least make it into the final round (top 10)," said MacDonald.
Being away from the team's base in Vancouver makes it difficult for MacDonald and her coach, Carol Garcia, to know exactly what's expected of her. Because it's so far away, she is unable to practice with the provincial team. On Saturday she missed an hour-long Team B.C. practice.
"I'm the only northern athlete on the team and I don't know what to expect," said MacDonald. "I don't know how the scoring works or what the height requirements are for jumping. The double-mini runway we have here is not long enough. Carol talks to lots of the coaches and we're constantly in contact with Gymnastics BC just to figure out what's going on, because P.G. has never been part of this."
When MacDonald is practicing a new skill, Garcia holds a mat right next to the trampoline which she pushes out to cushion her landing and deaden the bounce, reducing the chances of her losing control on the rebound.
The fact MacDonald doesn't get scared when she's bouncing so high off the ground can partially be attributed to genetics. Her great-grandfather in Holland used to be a trapeze artist who performed high-wire acts in the circus. But there's no doubt her sport carries risks. She's suffered two concussions already in training. She also suffered a wrist injury practicing a vault in December, which kept her out of all six artistic gymnastics meets this season.
"It didn't bother me in trampoline because I don't have to use my hands," she said.
PGGC coach Jodie Hinks says there's no trampoline gymnast in Northern B.C. even close to MacDonald in ability.
"She's going to nationals for double-mini tramp but her (single) trampoline routine is insane also and her level is already creeping up," said Hinks. "She placed second on double-mini at provincials and was second in the national ranking on double-mini. She won gold on the trampoline at provincials but her score wasn't high enough for her to be able to go (to nationals)."
MacDonald and 13-year-old Alia Wilson joined the Prince George club within a month of each other eight years ago. They are known for their work ethic in the gym, training constantly year-round for competitions in the December-to-May season.
On Saturday, Wilson gave a home audience at the gymnastics centre watching the Prince George Invitational meet a taste of what she did to wow the judges two weekends ago at the Western Canadian championships in Richmond.
Wilson finished fourth overall at Westerns in the Junior Olympic Level 9 category. Coached by Jenn Schwandt, Wilson helped the seven-athlete Team B.C. win team gold and also made two trips to the medal podium individually, winning silver in the vault and bronze in uneven bars.
"The vault and bars in finals were really good," Wilson said. "I stuck two vaults. I do a Yurchenko, which is a round-off back handspring, and then you flip. I stuck one on one day and the other on the other day.
"On the bars, I think all my handstands were hit and I was tight on everything."
For Wilson, it was the best meet of her career, good enough to convince her coaches she's ready to move up next season to high-performance Level 10, one step below the senior national team.
"We're very thrilled with Alia's results at Westerns," said Hinks. "She obviously shone on vault and bars, but also did her job in the other two disciplines as well, earning her the fourth-place all-around position.
"Provincials was, I think, an even higher-pressure meet to get her spot on the team. She was fourth on a team of seven and she was certainly one of the strongest members on Team B.C. to earn them their all-around gold. In the team event you count the highest four scores on the team and all four of her scores were counted.
"She's getting a new confidence to her and she's showing she belongs on the floor with that level. She definitely has the passion and her work ethic is amazing. To be at that level you have to really have a love for it and have high goals and we're looking at moving her up a level so she will be more in the national ranking. It's a big step but her results this year show that she's ready."
Unlike last year, when she was hampered by a broken finger, Wilson stayed healthy all season and she made steady improvements. In the first two invitational meets of the season she won the all-around title. She followed up her medal achievements at Westerns the following day in Richmond with her first gymnastics payday, winning $175 at the Cash and Carry part of the Delta Invitational meet.
Wilson spends 20 hours per week training at the gym and says she never gets tired of the routine of training, not while she still has goals to accomplish.
"When you learn a new skill you just feel so good and accomplished," Wilson said. "I want to try to get to Canada Games. It was really cool to see it live (when Prince George hosted the 2015 Canada Winter Games) and see the big skills."
Now that the competition season is over, she'll spend the next six months learning new skills with Hinks, who will take over Wilson's training while Schwandt is on maternity leave.
The two-day Prince George Invitational drew about 200 athletes, including 18 from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, who were making their way back home after competing at the Western Canadian finals.
