A pair of local gymnasts have qualified for Gymnastics Canada's Youth National Team.
Sarnia's Jovie Richardson and Rachael Riley, both members of the Bluewater Gymnastics Club, will be with the national team on the 2017-18 competitive circuit.
The youth team consists of five gymnasts, while the junior team has six. The senior team will include a dozen athletes, including Olympians Ellie Black, Shallon Olsen, Rose Kaying Woo and Isabela Onyshko and Brittany Rogers. All five were in Sarnia last summer in final preparations for the Rio games.
They will return to the area next week, along with the entire national team. They will be training at the club throughout next week as they prepare for the 2017-18 artistic gymnastics competitive season.
Dave Brubaker is the National Team Director for women's artistic gymnastics and also runs the Bluewater Gymnastics Club with his wife Liz. He says the future of Canadian gymnastics is very bright.
“Our athlete pool is deeper than ever with a high retention of our most successful athletes in history, so that, combined with a strong field of junior athletes and an excellent field of future prospects in the novice age group will enable us to build an excellent program for 2020 and 2024.”
Highlights on the competition calendar for women’s artistic gymnastics this year include the 2017 Universiade in Taipei in August, the 2017 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Montreal in October, and the World Challenge Cups in the fall.
