Kingdom Gymnastics Tumbles into Top Five

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Created on Thursday, 05 April 2018 01:48

Written by Emma Quinn

ST. JOHNSBURY- The Kingdom Gymnastics training facility may be small, but that does not define their capabilities. All teams placed in the top five of their divisions at the Junior Olympic State Championships in March.

 Owner Donna Reed said she was very proud of her girl's placements, "the overall outcome for us, I thought was fantastic. There are some really good gyms in the state and we tend to have more of the smaller teams, and I thought my girls did really well this year."

Donna's girls were very proud of their accomplishments too. Eight-year-old Eliska Siebenbrunner placed the highest of her career. "Well I got the highest score I've ever done. I got a 95.75 on vault. I got two first places on other events, but I got first place on vault."

And her friend, ten-year-old Aubrielle Gibson said she's happy with her placement but always strives to get better with practice. "I did good, I got first all around in our age division. And I did really good on beam and floor. When I compete, I try to get a higher score, I try to beat my personal best."

Paige Currier a level six gymnast said States was her best competition to date, "States was probably one of my better meets because I got high scores on most events." She said her mind was setting on taking meets one event at a time, "When I finish it, I feel relieved that I have one less routine to do, I'm proud of myself."

Lizzy Jones another level six gymnast, was very satisfied with her events. Especially after getting injured at the meet. "I got the highest vault score I've gotten in a while. I pulled my hamstring in my vault, so I was happy that I got a high score."

One goal Coach Reed has for her girls was to learn skills that they will carry on when gymnastics is over, "I hope they walk out of here with life skills. Learning not instant gratification, that you have to work hard and sometimes wait for your goals to be accomplished. To learn sportsmanship and teamwork, respect."

That message was being delivered to her girls, and many of them carrying that faith was always stronger than fear. Lizzy Jones says, " the biggest life lesson I've learned from gymnastics is to face my fears because I've been scared of a lot of skills. But my coaches make me do them and I realize there not as bad as I thought they were."

Currier says, "gymnastics has taught me to be brave, like going for skill. And face my fears because I have done some skills that I have not liked before. But they turned out that they were pretty fun. I think I'll carry that in my life. "

Currier said that she struggled with certain events in the past and learnt that hard work and dedication pay off in the end. "I was really weak on bars, but I feel like I've gotten a lot better, and improved a lot more with my skills. I just practiced a lot and focused on what I needed to do better."

For Siebenbrunner and Gibson, hard works means moving up and meeting new challenges. "Since I'm in level four now, we get to jump to the high bar and we get these things called grips for our hands" said Gibson.

The teams have finished their season. They are now in the gym gaining skills and working on new routines for next season when they will compete in late October.