WAIS Juniors Take the Long Road to Success
By the time our elite senior gymnasts stand ready to compete at Olympic or World Champ level, they have already gained years of meticulous experience in coping with the pressures that travel and preparation in unfamiliar surrounds bring. As Olivia Vivian reports, five WAIS athletes have just ventured through the first steps on this learning journey.
At the age of 12 or 13, most Perth school children would be busy making plans for the next school holidays, but for WAIS juniors; Paige James (13), Aya Meggs (12), Darcy Norman (13), Brooke Callcott (13) and Yasmin Collier (12), the past month included a truly unique tour to Russia in which the girls, travelling with WAIS head coaches Nikolai Lapchine and Martine George competed at a tournament in Leninsk-Kuznetskiy.
The trip held special significance for Lapchine, who was venturing back to his hometown for the first time in two decades.
“It had been 20 years since I had seen my friends and fellow coaches,” he said. “It was good to go back, and my friends came out especially to see me and my gymnasts.”
In a competition where experience was the main focus, the young group produced some unexpected top performances. As George explained, the results were a reward for the efforts gained.
“We took the girls over to gain international experience and they ended up competing really well and showing good potential,” she said.
“Overall it was a highly successful competition and the girls gained some essential experience which will help them with their careers further down the track,” said George.
WAIS junior Paige James performed a stand out floor routine to earn gold, and backed up to take second place in the all-around behind Russian Junior national team member Yulia Biryulya.
The young and talented Aya Meggs also produced some solid routines to follow third in the All-Around.
Despite the results being of secondary importance on this trip, the outcomes achieved by the entire group, particularly in training, left Lapchine a very happy coach upon his return to Perth.
“I’m very proud of the girls,” he said. “They ended up competing very well and did a good job up-grading their skills.”
The gymnasts are now back in Perth, training hard for next month’s National Championships which will be held in Sydney, and whilst the goals for Rio and beyond remain a distant thought, if nothing else, the first, and often hardest steps have already been taken.
Olivia Vivian