It was the "clash of the titans" for the local and international gymnasts who converged at Atlantis Convention Centre, Paradise Island for the biggest gymnastics event in the Caribbean region for 2011. The Atlantis Crown Gymnastics Invitational has been dubbed a "gargantuan success" by visiting gymnasts from the United States of America and Trinidad and Tobago who enjoyed the "sun, sand and sea" of The Bahamas, fused with displays of athleticism to the highest degree.
The two days of intense competition of strength, grace, flexibility and agility showcased the jewels in "the crown" with gymnastics routines up to the highest level, Elite Level, by ambassadors for the "mother of all sports". For the local gymnastics community, it was the most anticipated showdown between Nassau 'Nastics (NN), the oldest gymnastics program in the country and BGPBC-Bahamas Star Gymnastics (BSG), the neoteric club in its second year of operation. It was a contest between head coaches Trevor Ramsey and Alexander Mayet and their athletes of NN and BSG respectively.
In the end, the team from BSG under Mayet would medal in six of seven levels versus three for their rival, NN. The talent pool of both gym clubs are closely matched but it was the results from Friday's judging which revealed the competitive edge of coaching under Mayet's leadership.
Mayet, a Cuban trained gymnasts and former member of Cuba's men's national team, took over the helms of the training program at BSG less than three months ago and has improved his athletes' conditioning in such a substantial way that they emerged the victor. Kevan Dean, a BSG volunteer/parent-coach, stepped in as specialist vault technician after being certified in September at the Federation of International Gymnastics' Women Artistic Gymnastics "WAG" course held locally, through a joint initiative of the Bahamas Olympic Committee and the Gymnastics Federation of The Bahamas.
Mayet and Dean are to be credited with two of their athletes, Athalia Swann and Toneka Johnson, earning first place on the vault apparatus of Levels Six and Eight respectively. The coaching team was rounded out by specialist coaches Kachara Marshall, on compulsory and optional routines, and Monique de Swanton, on dance elements.
Zia Joos, a novice competitor, captured second place in the All-around for Level Two and scored higher than 8.0 (out of 10) on all four events. The legendary Becky Chipman's grand-daughter, Kyla Rolle, walked away with third place overall for Level Three and also medaled on all four of her events. Level Four Sydney Wells fought a wider field of competitors and wrestled a third place finish on floor exercise. Caitlin Cash's Level Five performances won her a fifth place medal position in the floor apparatus.
Swann medaled on all four events and exclaimed "yes" when her first place in vault was announced. Her performance on the floor exercise was labeled "electric" by many spectators. Battling to recover from a poor showing on her first two events, Kianna Dean stepped onto the awards podium in third place for the floor exercise. Adding to her collection of medals was Johnson who amassed more hardware on Level Eight vault (first place), floor exercise (sixth place) and All-around (sixth place). President of the Gymnastics Federation of the Bahamas (GFB), Barbara Thompson and Miles Yallop, liaison officer for gymnastics in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture presented the medals to the athletes at some of the sessions over the weekend.
One local gymnastic enthusiast, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, admitted that, "the gymnastics clubs in The Bahamas have appeared to heal some of the wounds of their acrimonious past at this weekend's event. The two clubs' rift had widened over the years with very little harmony being achieved until the intervention of the Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC) and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture about a year ago. A major bridging of the divide was experienced with the coaches from both clubs enrolling in the recent FIG WAG Level One course in September, but this Atlantis Crown event has further closed the gap in relations. The sport and athletes will benefit the more key players agree to cooperate for the benefit of the athletes and remove selfish personal agendas."
Meet directors, Al and Cindy Scharns of Branch Gymnastics and Claudia Kretschmer of Gym America, were praised for a professional and impressively managed meet. They have received rave reviews from competing gymnasts and their families on the choice of The Bahamas as the venue for this event, which is predicting a doubling of future entrants and is already scheduled for December 2012. Until then, the "crown" jewels will get back to the hard work of preparing to sparkle, glitter and shine at their next appearance in the sunshine of the Bahama isles.
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