Alia Wilson has never been to Ottawa before.
For the 16-year-old Wilson, there's no better time to cross a visit to our nation's capital off her bucket list than the last full week of this month when she takes the spotlight as part of Team B.C. at the Canadian artistic gymnastics championships.
She's the first Prince George Gymnastics Club member to qualify for nationals since Ashley Werbecky made the cut in 2003 as a 13-year-old novice.
"It's pretty exciting," said Wilson
"I think I'm getting a little bit better with the pressure, just being able to control your moves," she said. "I just have to try not to worry about the competition, just focus on what you need to do."
The longest season of Wilson's competitive career started in November and will come to a close May 22-24 in Ottawa when she represents her home province in the 16-and-older Junior Olympic Level 10 class.
"We were hoping for it all year because last year I was the alternate," said Wilson.
Two weekends ago at the Western Canadian championships in Saskatoon, Wilson captured the silver medal in balance beam and helped B.C. nail down team silver. She ranked second overall after the first day of competition at Westerns but pressure got the better of her on Day 2 and her ranking dropped on the second-last event of the day when she fell twice during her beam routine.
Still, Wilson finished eighth overall out of 24 and her solid showing provides a boost of confidence heading into the national event. On Saturday, she'll attend a provincial team camp in Vancouver, their last get-together until the trip to Ottawa.
"Everybody on the provincial team went to Westerns so I already know them," Wilson said.
Beam and uneven bars are Wilson's favourite events. She says she has to work hardest at her floor exercise and strives for more consistency in her tumbling routines.
"She's so self-driven," said PGGC coach Jenn Schwandt, who started working with Wilson when she was five. "It's hard to push yourself when you're the only one in the gym at that level. She wanted to be on Team B.C. for Westerns and got that and she wanted to be on Team B.C. for nationals and got that too. That has driven her to work so hard.
"She's smart and very kind. She's becoming a great coach in kinder gym and recreational gymnastics and she also judges."
Wilson is known for her shy demeanour around the gym at the Prince George Gymnastics Club and she's still not all that comfortable speaking publicly about her own accomplishments. Her considerate nature and willingness to help her clubmates improve has made her popular as a role model for the other gymnasts in the club, who measure their own progress by comparing themselves with what she's able to do. Lina Goto, who has since retired from competing, was the local gymnast Wilson most wanted to emulate as a kid growing up in the gym.
Wilson was the seventh member of the provincial team last year, listed as an alternate for the national championships. The top five finishers at the provincial championship automatically qualify. Determining that sixth spot is a complicated process which requires a through breakdown of points accumulated at provincials to find out who most deserves a spot on the team. After hours of tense deliberations at the tournament in Port Coquitlam, Wilson became the obvious choice for the team.
"There were tears of joy all around when we found out she was on the team," said Schwandt.
Schwandt (nee Fendelet) was a Level 10 gymnast herself as a teenager at the Prince George club and can relate to the difficulty of trying to make the provincial team.
"I tried out for Westerns three times and never made it and I know what that heartbreak is like," said Schwandt. "For her, being so close last year and not making it was heartbreaking. As her coach at nationals I'm just as excited for as I would have been if I'd made it as an athlete. We are so proud of her."
Wilson is heading into her Grade 12 year next fall at Duchess Park secondary school. The academically-inclined Principal's List student has ambitions to study medicine and says she will start sending out resumes to NCAA schools to try use her athletic abilities to attract a scholarship.
