Athlete of the Year

The 2009/2010 Tumbling Program Athlete of the Year wasn’t always an ideal athlete but last summer Jonathan Meehan managed to qualify to the World Age Group Championships for Power Tumbling in St. Petersburg, Russia. The likelihood of Jonathan qualifying was an outside chance. Leading up to the qualification competition his effort had been mediocre and his ankle injury at Provincial Championships in 2009 almost put an end to his tumbling career. We laid out a plan, set some guidelines for what we felt needed to happen to get him ready for International competition and to his credit he stuck to the deal. On Jonathan’s first day of World Championships he was blown away by the power house British Team and the intimidating Russians on the tumbling strip. He felt out of his league and overwhelmed by what his competitors were able to do. The next day he had the opportunity to train with the British team and was able to see the Russian kids struggling in the back gym just like everyone else and some of the feelings of “I’m not good enough” melted away. Jonathan is one of the first athletes I’ve seen make a definite 180 turn in his athletic career. By placing 12th at Worlds and finding motivation in the challenge Jonathan has been determined to get stronger, work harder, be a team leader, and be a better athlete and person. When Niki and I sat down to decide who would receive these four awards we had Jonathan’s name down for all of them. This time last year I wouldn’t have guessed it. Sometimes there are those kids who work hard but don’t get their just reward but this time it all worked out. Jonathan worked hard, put in the time, took care of himself and was able to walk away from the Canadian Championships as the 2010 National Champion. So for all the right reasons I’m proud to say that Jonathan Meehan is the OGC’s Tumbling Program Athlete of the year. Congratulations Jonathan.ram Athlete of the year. Congratulations Jonathan.