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2003 Ontario Training Camp (January)
Some of Ontario's top female athletes gathered in Oshawa this weekend for an Ontario provincial training camp, hosted by the Gemini Gymnastics Club and head coach Yelena Davydova. The camp, which was optional, drew athletes from several top clubs, including Sports Seneca, Ottawa, Bluewater, Winstonettes, and of course the host Gemini Club. The following are some thoughts and observations from Friday's camp session:
 | Purnell at the 2002
CWG trials |
Elite Canada champion Heather Purnell (Ottawa) looks to be in fine form heading into the 2003 competitive season. Purnell, 16, showed improved work on the uneven bars, highlighted by a flighty and well-rotated toe-on shoot to high bar. Purnell also showed good work on the balance beam, including a world-original jump element that she hopes to debut in competition later this year.
Ottawa teammate Melanie Banville looks set to build upon her 5th place finish at Elite Canada. Banville, who is in her first year of senior competition, showed clean work on the uneven bars (nice giant 1 1/2 to overshoot to handstand), and floor exercise (back 1 1/2 through to 2 1/2 twist). With some consistent efforts in competition this spring, watch for Banville to be in the running for top international assignments (Pan American Games and World Championships) later this year.
National champion Danielle Hicks (Gemini) is back in the gym after a long set-back caused by a nagging back injury. While not yet training full difficulty on all events, Hicks was pleased to be able to train pain-free ("It still gets stiff sometimes"), and cited a weekly regime of active release, massage, and physical therapy for her successful return to the gym. At the training camp, Hicks trained a higher level of difficulty on the uneven bars, but is still working to regain her top tumbling elements.
 | Hicks at the 2002
CWG trials |
Former World Championship team member Jennifer Simbhudas (Winstonettes) indicated her focus for making the World Championship team will be vault and balance beam. Simbhudas is currently working on upgrades to the piked Luconi vault that she showed in competition last year. When asked about college recruiting, Simbhudas said she was not prepared to make a decision about NCAA gymnastics yet, and will be returning to secondary school next fall to make up credits that she missed over the course of her gymnastics career. Simbhudas' next competition will be the Retro Boogie, hosted by the Scarborough Gym Elites in February.
Triple Commonwealth Games medallist Vanessa Meloche (Seneca) is back in training after surgery in November to remove a pin from her foot. Meloche, who finished 3rd all-around at the 2002 Canadian Championships, trained lightly on the uneven bars, while still wearing a boot off the apparatus. While she and coach Carol Angela Orchard are hopeful for a return to competition in time for the 2003 World Championships, the length of her recovery will limit Meloche to no more than a specialist position. Look for an in-depth Gymn.ca interview with Meloche in the coming weeks!
Junior Pacific Alliance team member Lydia Williams (Seneca) impressed onlookers with several new elements on the uneven bars (Comaneci, full-pirouette to Tkatchev to immediate Zuchold transition (facing out, a piked shoot through the arms from high bar to land in handstand on the low bar), and piked Jaeger) and balance beam (tucked barani), while performing all of her routines with impeccable form. With uneven bars and balance beam as her specialties, Williams needs only to find consistency in her competitive performances to place herself among the front-runners for this year's World Championship team. When asked about her athlete's training program, coach Orchard noted that Williams was the hardest worker she had seen in her gym since the days of 1988 Olympian Monica Covacci.
 | Meloche at the 2002
CWG trials |
Like her Pacific Alliance teammate, Bluewater's Melanie Rocca showed her best work on the uneven bars and balance beam, where her leaps remain among the best in the country. Rocca has also begun training a world original uneven bar dismount into the pit, though it is unclear when it will be competition ready.
The Ontario athletes were also joined by a top group of competitors from Mexico, who are currently being hosted by the Bluewater Gymnastics Club. According to Rocca's coach, Dave Brubaker, the Mexican group will return to Canada in March for what is expected to be the final edition of the Bluewater International Invitational. The Mexicans showed their best work on balance beam, with numerous tumbling elements of D and E value, including Rulfovas, full-twists, and Arabian saltos.
Gemini's Kiera Amyot turned heads with her beautiful work on the balance beam (one-armed ff to layout; Onodi; aerial walkover). Amyot, who turned 13 years old in December, burst on to the national scene in December with a silver on the balance beam and a bronze on the uneven bars in the junior competition at Elite Canada. Amyot's performances are made more remarkable by the fact that she was out of competition for almost 2 1/2 years to rest a chronic knee problem. After returning to the gym just last summer, Amyot has made rapid strides in the sport and looks prepared to make an impact with the Canadian team in the coming years.
Junior national runner-up Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs of Sport Seneca also showed some new skills at the training camp. Highlights of her work included a double layout on the tumbling strip, layout Jaeger release moves on bars (with a spot on both skills), as well as a new sequence on beam of aerial cartwheel-layout step-out-back tuck. With gymnasts born in 1989 eligible for this year's Pan American Games, look for Hibbs to factor into team selection later this summer.
Written by: JS
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