Gymnastics: Cades hunting for fourth provincial appearance

Thirteen-year-old McKenna Cades is a little nervous heading into a provincial gymnastics qualifier in Nepean this weekend.

Though she’s already made it through to three provincial championships, there’s always that sense of what might go wrong in the back of her mind. But that’s all right she said, it’s what helps her become a better gymnast in the long run.

“It kind of keeps you tight and stuff. I just have to keep my head in the game and keep focused and have fun at the meet,” McKenna said last Friday, a week before she and seven of her teammates were scheduled to start competing at the Women’s Provincial Qualifier, the second of three events designed to pick the top 30 gymnasts in Ontario.

It’s not easy to get to this stage, the youngster said.

“It takes a lot of dedication just to be here all the time trying to get better and be your best,” she said. “I guess one thing in particular is the feeling of accomplishment you get when you get a new goal. It just gives you that drive to come back every single practice.”

It’s even more difficult advancing to provincials, which requires an all-around effort in several different events, including the balance beam, vault, uneven bars and the floor. Weaknesses in any one of the disciplines could prove costly, said McKenna, who trains with the soon-to-move Thunder Bay Gymnastics Association at the Dorothy Dove building at the CLE.

“To get to championships you have to be a pretty well-rounded athlete,” she said. “I guess if you’re really strong on one event, and you’re all right on the others, you still have a chance. But if you’re overall pretty good on all the events, you probably have a better chance. “

Mckenna, who hopes to impress judges with her beam work, said it helps to have such a tight-knit group that can lend support to each other throughout the three-day competition.

“We’re all friends, we always have sleepovers and stuff so we support each other and watch each other’s meets.”

That could bode well in qualifying, she added, saying all signs point to success this weekend and she wouldn’t be surprised to see most, if not all of her teammates advance to eventually advance to provincials.

“I feel we’re ready to. I feel most of them are pretty focused and they’re pretty strong on their events. Tori (Finley), she does amazing at beam and has lots of attitude. Piper (Rasmussen) is great on floor. Everyone pretty much has their thing.”

Other team members include Emma Hay, Aimee-Leigh Balec, Cassandra Boyer, Kate MacGillivary and Kathleen Varey.

The girls team won’t be the only one under the spotlight this weekend. The two-person boys squad, consisting of Jonathan Velling, 10, and Jessy Goupil, 16, are off to Mississauga with the same goals in mind.

Goupil, a Grade 11 student at St. Ignatius High School, has been bouncing around since his parents put him in a jolly jumper and in gymnastics since he was seven. He’s hoping for his third trip to provincials.

Like McKenna, he’s looking to progress and outdo his previous two performances.

“I think I just need to focus more,” he said. “What you train like in the gym it really shows in competition. There are no secrets in the gym,” said Goupil, one of just 14 competitive male gymnasts in Northwestern Ontario, three at the provincial level.

“It’s not big in Thunder Bay. With girls it’s a bit bigger, but boys, not at all.”

The Men’s Artistic Gymnastics  1st Ontario Cup will be followed by provincial qualifiers in March in Ottawa and April, again in Mississauga.