Gymtastiks Hosts Hundreds At Weekend Meet

Story and Photos by Robert Thomas

Hundreds of young gymnasts from across the province tumbled into Moose Jaw as Gymtastiks hosted their first major meet in four years.

The meet saw over 215 gymnasts aged four to 16 years of age from 13 clubs throughout the province converge on Vanier Collegiate on Saturday and Sunday.

Below are pictures of Sunday’s last session with gymnasts from the Gymtastiks team.

Jamie Olmstead a coach with Gymtastiks said the meet hasn’t been held for four years “due to other things”- largely because of the COVID - 19 pandemic.

Olmstead said the turnout for the event was about average.

“It was a last-minute decision to Hostess meet so it’s an average amount (of participants),” she said.

COVID restrictions made it too difficult to host the meet over the past four years but the club is happy to bring the meet back after a four year absence.

“It was great for the city. The restaurants were full for the weekend. The hotels were full for the weekend to so it was great for the entire city,” Olmstead said about the two day meet.

Sessions on both Saturday and Sunday kicked off at 8 am both days meaning many competitors overnighted at least one night in Moose Jaw.

For Gymtastiks it’s been a year of growth for their competitive team.

“We’re super excited and the athletes that did compete here, we had about 35 (Gymtastiks gymnasts compete) and they did super well,” she said.

The weekend meat was also a qualifier for the provincial gymnastics finals to be held May 13 and 14 in Saskatoon.

In order to qualify for provincials gymnasts must achieve a set score at two different Gymnastics Saskatchewan sanctioned events.

This year Gymtastiks competed at five qualifying events across the province with gymnasts from the club qualifying at their home meet for provincials.

“We’re still looking for scores to get to Provincials so we’re happy how it turned out,” Olmstead said.

“All of our athletes are going to provincial this year,” she said.

Asked about the health of the club after their move from the former Hillcrest Sports Centre to their present 24 Chester Road location Olmstead said “our numbers are growing and our new facility is still working out terrific for us and we couldn’t be happier from support from the community.”

Come back later for results from the meet.