By Josh Massey
Members of the Terrace Peaks Gymnastics Club travelled to Quesnel for their first meet of the year on Feb. 8 – and for some of the team, this was their first meet ever after training for years at the club.
Five members of the girl’s team made the trip to Quesnel, shuttled in two vehicles driven by parents. At the gym in Quesnel they faced the challenge posed by unfamiliar equipment, and the added pressure of judges.
Coach Ambra Marak calls the recent competition a good learning experience for a maturing team.
“Now we know where we stand and what we need to learn for the larger events coming up,” said Marak.
The teammates, all of them between ages five and 13, performed best on balance beam, with Shannon Schuster taking first place in her age category and Ann Zettler finishing third.
Marak considers a sixth place showing by Dawson Lewis particularly impressive because it was her first competition and she faced seventeen competitors.
The team’s top athletes train 16 hours a week, four days at four hours and the youngest train four hours a week, two days at two hours.
The next competition will be held on home turf here in Terrace on March 9 and 10. Marak expects her team to benefit from home advantage.
“I’ve seen it happen before,” she said.