Gymnast gains experience from Winter Games
Amy gregson – Times Reporter
A lucky gymnast from Jump House Gymnastics got an unbelievable experience Feb. 4 to 7 at the Alberta Winter Games in Lakeland.
Jordann MacKay, 13, placed 15 out of 32 gymnasts across the province in the provincial level two and earned herself a spot in the finals for beam and floor.
“It gave me a lot of confidence because if I did that well in that big of a competition then I should be fine in other small competitions,” she said.
MacKay, who lives in Rockyford, tried out for the Zone 2 team back in December 2009 and had to compete against people of all ages for a spot.
The top four of those who tried out were selected to represent Zone 2 at the games.
“It was scary because I didn’t know how I was going to do, if I was going to go on and who I was going to meet,” said MacKay.
She said she was also nervous because she didn’t have her coach, Tara Smith, or her mom there with her.
The first day of competition saw MacKay compete in all events, floor, beam, vault and bars.
She placed in the top eight for both floor and beam allowing her to move on to a second day of competition, something she has never done before.
“I wasn’t really expecting to [advance] in beam, maybe floor, but that was about it,” said MacKay.
She ended up placing 7th in beam and 8th on floor.
“It’s really exciting. I was so proud of her,” said Smith. “She’s worked really hard and she deserved it. She’s got a natural talent.”
Smith said MacKay only moved to competitive gymnastics three years ago, quite late for gymnastics standards. She has been competing at the provincial level for only two years.
“We saw some talent in her and decided that if she works hard she could probably catch up and she did,” said Smith.
This was the first time a gymnast from Jump House Gymnastics has gone to the Alberta Winter Games.
“There’s a lot of big clubs out there and it’s nice that we’re starting to get out there competing with the bigger clubs,” said Smith.
Smith also thinks that the experience at the Alberta Winter Games will be something MacKay will be able to draw on for years to come.
“It was a excellent experience for her too, because she met up with another coach. I didn’t get to go and coach her, which was hard,” said Smith.
It seemed like MacKay already drew on that experience as over the Family Day weekend, at a competition in Red Deer, she came 1st all around, 2nd on vault, 3rd on beam and floor and 8th on bars.
“That was pretty cool because I’ve never really done that great at a [provincial level two] competition before and it was a big one,” she said.
Eventually, MacKay hopes to compete at the next level, provincial level three.
amy@strathmoretimes.com