Island Gymnastics Academy

Academy Girls bring home medals from Taiso Cup in Nova Scotia!!

 The Island Gymnastics Academy girl’s competitive team recently competed at the Taiso Cup (Feb 10-11) in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia bringing home plenty of medals. As a qualifier for both the Atlantic and Eastern Canadian Championships, this competition helps determine who will represent PEI later this year.  The Academy had 27 girls travel to Nova Scotia for this annual event.

 In the Argo girls division, Sydney Landry won vault in Level 1 and Emma Christensen placed third on floor in Level 2.

 The Tyro girls had their best meet this season. In Level 2, Dara MacInnis claimed 1^st on vault, 3^rd on bars and 2nd on beam, for a bronze medal finish. Dara is currently the highest ranked Tyro 2 gymnast on PEI. Hannah Fong also placed 5^th on floor exercise. In Level 3, Tessa McGuigan won the bars event and earned a bronze medal in the all-around.  Alicia Muttart was 2^nd on beam and Selina Mahajer was 6^th on vault and beam.  Paige Mills was 2^nd all-around in Level 4, winning the bars title with her highest bar score of the year.

 In the Novice division, Clare Murphy led the way in Level 2 with a bronze medal all-around performance, claiming 3^rd place on bars and beam. Jenny Campbell was 1^st on floor exercise, with Elizabeth McQuaid taking 3^rd on vault. Samantha MacAdam was 5^th all-around. Level 4 competitors included Alison Muise who placed 3^rd on bars and Annika Landry who tied for 2^nd place on vault. Natalie Haddad, competing in the Open 3 division, placed 3rd on floor exercise.  Cassie Feehan placed 1st on vault and second overall in Open 5.

 Sharon Gareau, Women’s Program Director and coach at the Academy says “This annual competition features the best gymnasts from across the region.  Our girls competed very well and continue to improve with each competition.  We expect much success from our teams when we head to Newfoundland and Quebec City to compete for PEI this spring.”

D’Amour tough as gold!!

Gymnasts from the Island Gymnastics Academy recently returned from the US Winter Cup Nationals in Las Vegas. The competition took place from February 1-5 with over 1200 male gymnasts competing in several categories. Highlighting the competition was seasoned veteran and former Canadian National Team member Matthieu D’Amour.

Known for his extreme strength on the rings apparatus and powerful vault, D’Amour landed short on a vault during warm-up. “It’s a vault I’ve done hundreds of times, but with high difficulty skills like my vault, there’s always the chance of injury” says D’Amour. He continued through the pain to win a gold medal on both of his specialties (rings and vault) and silver on the vault exercise in the Level 10 category. Upon returning home, he immediately went for X-rays where it was determined he had fractured his foot during the competition. “For an athlete to endure that pain, and not only persist through the competition but to come up as a champion at this level of competition with a broken foot speaks huge volumes of Matt’s persistence” says longtime Academy coach Jim Rand.

Joining D’Amour on the medal podium were teammates Sam Mallett, Matt Gallant and Carson Younker in the Level 9 category. With a lengthy resume of International competitions now under his belt, Sam Mallett had one of his best competitions to date, receiving a silver on vault, silver on high bar, bronze on parallel bars and an impressive bronze all-around. Matt Gallant received a bronze on the rings apparatus and Carson Younker helped the three-man level 9 team clinch a bronze medal in the team category. “To send such a small group of athletes to Las Vegas to compete at an International level and return with 8 medals, says huge things about the caliber of gymnastics we are producing on PEI” says Rand.

The boy’s team is now preparing to travel to Elite Canada from February 16-19. Although originally scheduled to compete, D’Amour will be scratched from the event due to the injury suffered at the Winter Cup. This will leave 36 year old Scott Chandler (Canada’s oldest gymnast) to compete solo in the Men’s Senior Category, while joined by 11-year old Sam Gillis in the Argo category.

The women’s team in now preparing to send a squad of 27 girls to the Taiso invitational in Nova Scotia, along with  10 girls to Miramichi for an Atlantics qualifier.

GOOD LUCK to our girls program travelling to the Taiso Atlantic Cup in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia.  Have a great competition!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to Matt Gallant, Matt D’Amour, Sam Mallett, Carson Younker and Jim Rand!!  The boys returned from the U.S. Winter Nationals in Las Vegas with 9 medals.

Level 9 – Matt Gallant – Bronze on Rings

                 Sam Mallett – Silver on High Bar and Vault, Bronze on P Bars and All Around

Level 10 – Matt D’Amour – Gold on Rings and Vault, Silver on Floor

Great Job Boys !!!!!!!