Canada Cup Update

The Canada Cup is the third National Team qualification event hosted by Gymnastics Canada during a yearly cycle. This event is also a great opportunity for aspiring National Level athletes to get their feet wet by participating in a national calibre event.
The OGC along with Ali Dings (Youth level Tumbler) and Karla Sage (Coach) from the Quinte Bay Gymnastics Club traveled out to Okotoks, Alberta for this week-long event.
Veteran tumblers Kelsey Brasil, Lauren Rotolo and Jonathan Meehan competed alongside their rookie National teammates, Josh Sardella and Anthony Gentili.
There was lots of drama at this event.
Kelsey Brasil took a bad fall in her first preliminary pass dislocating her knee cap rendering her unable to continue with the competition. None-the-less Kelsey put on a brave face and returned to cheer on her teammates for the rest of the week. We hope her road to recovery is swift.
Anthony and Josh participated in the entry level National Novice categories for their respective ages. Both found themselves in the middle of the pack but displaying appropriate skills for the National level.
Lauren Rotolo had one of her strongest performances with solid in-lines and controlled landings. Lauren captured the Silver medal. Lauren has now medaled in the last three National Competitions she has competed in and has shown the country that she is going to be a tumbler to watch in the next few years as she aspires to the Youth and Senior Women's tumbling teams. Way to go Lauren!
Jonathan Meehan has been hampered by injuries over the past season. At the start of this competition Jonathan was fighting a virus and exhaustion from working his summer job. Given the couple days of training Jonathan was able to get his body back on track and put down the best preliminary passes of his tumbling career hitting a lofty 61.1 score over two passes. In the Youth category that Jonathan competes in he is performing the lowest Degree of Difficulty simply because of returning from injury but what this allowed Jonathan to do was show the best execution of any tumbler in his level. Jonathan was able to surpass the National Team qualifying standard by several points clinching himself a space in the 15/16 Men's Category for the World Age Group Championships to take place later this fall in St. Petersberg, Russia. As the top 15/16 year old in Canada Jonathan will have to work hard to increase his Degree of Difficulty and represent his country against the best in the world.
Congratulations to all the OGC tumblers. Next year we will be out in full force ready to bring back even more tales of success.