Under less-than-ideal circumstances an Okotoks gymnast is jumping over hurdles to make club history.
Brooke Spurway’s diligence, commitment and hard work has paid off as the first member of the Mountain Shadows Gymnastics Club to qualify for the national championship next month.
“They decided that the national championships were going to continue, almost all of the provinces have evidently been putting in teams,” said Mountain Shadows head coach Jim McLuskey. “So we have to get ready if we can get back to training so we can (get) some scores to nationals.
“We’re quite excited about it. We’ve been (around) a number of years and she’s the first gymnast we’ve ever had that’s qualified for nationals.”
Spurway, a Grade 10 student at Foothills Composite, started with the club at the age of six and the national event has always been a goal in her books.
“I think it’s a really good opportunity for me and for Mountain Shadows Gym Club to go that far with gymnastics, coming from a small town,” Spurway said. “I think it’s a very good opportunity for my future.”
The event is being held virtually with athletes given a period of a few days to submit routines to be scrutinized by national level judges. Mountain Shadows has held a couple virtual meets for smaller scale competitions, but this will be the first for Spurway.
“We were just trying to continue doing as close to what we usually do as possible, only the kids didn’t have to travel,” said McLuskey of the virtual meets. “We try to run them as much as we can under normal circumstances, the girls have got the proper suits, the proper hairdos, all of the rules.
“Then just pretending you’re somewhere else.”
For Spurway, competing for a big meet is the same whether it’s going to be held virtually or not, with challenges set up working towards the event. The rules and regulations around items such as warm-up time before each event remain unchanged.
“For me I would probably trick myself into thinking it’s something a little smaller than what nationals actually is,” Spurway said of her mental approach. “Because I get pretty nervous at meets, that’s definitely something I would do.”
Spurway will be competing in the all-around with two of her better events being the beam and the floor.
Having events to work towards has been massive for the club, particularly for the competitive level athletes rather than staring at a prospect of having to go months and months without any challenge to strive towards.
“We’ve been trying to keep it go that way so that we can maintain as many kids as possible,” McLuskey said. “The kids have done a great job, almost all of our athletes have remained, still hanging in there.
“It’s doubly hard for the high level athletes, like in this case Brooke, she’s 16 years old and a bunch of the stuff you do as a high level gymnast just can’t happen.”
With the most recent COVID-19 restrictions, the training is now being done over Zoom. It’s a back and forth cycle that’s been forced on many young athletes due to the fluid situation surrounding restrictions on youth sports and indoor fitness.
“It’s very hard on our bodies when we’re on and off training,” Spurway added.
“But it’s been pretty good (the adaptations). My co-coach Deanna Critchley has been really good with injury prevention, all of that kind of stuff, making sure we go slow when we’re getting back into the gym so I’m glad I have her on my side, helping me out.”
McLuskey said Spurway’s dedication to training hasn’t wavered in the slightest, noting she likely hasn’t missed a single day over the past 14 months.
“We’re particularly happy with her, because she started with us and stayed with us throughout her entire career,” the coach added. “She’s getting things lined up with the hopes of a potential university scholarship to the U.S.”
With an eye towards NCAA gymnastics, getting to the national
stage in her Grade 10 year is a big get in terms of exposure with the potential of getting back to that level over the next two years.
“There’s going to be a lot of people there, I think that’s one of the bigger events that I’ll be attending,” she said.
“I’m going in with a pretty open mind and just want to represent Alberta and this gym club well.”
To qualify for nationals under normal circumstances athletes need to hit the JO (Junior Olympic) 9 or 10 score standard then go through trials to advance through to the finals. The trial step is not happening this year in Alberta.
For more information go to mountainshadowsgymclub.com.
