Seven gymnasts from Bahamas Star Gymnastics (BSG), one of two Nassau-based clubs, competed in a high-level gymnastics competition in Tampa over the weekend, the club announced. The Tampa Bay Turners Invitational 2012 (TBT) was the second meet of the season for the Bahamas Star team.
Head Coach Alex Mayet reports that the all-girls squad held their own among more than 700 top-notch athletes representing more than 30 gymnastics schools throughout the USA, Costa Rica and the Bahamas competing in Levels 2 through 9.
“We are so proud of this team’s performance. They demonstrated elegance, grace, skillful precision and accuracy at this meet. What’s more, we learned a lot from the experience,” said Coach Mayet. The coaching team in attendance concurs that the TBT meet was a rigorous and challenging experience for the BSG athletes who were stacked against competitors that were in most cases competing in their eighth or ninth meet for the season.
The seven-girl squad, despite their limited exposure to competition, earned admirable scores and a number of top-place medals showing notable improvement from their first meet of the season, Atlantis Crown, held in December 2011 on Paradise Island. Leading the pack was Level 2 newcomer Zia Joos, a grade three student at Xaviers Lower School for whom the TBT meet was only her second gymnastics competition ever. Joos improved her first meet scores on three events: vault, beam and floor resulting in a cumulative score of 34.4 points for all four events, earning the 3rd place Team Banner for her level. Level 3 gymnast and Queen’s College student Kyla Rolle overcame her big meet jitters and matched the 8.65 vault score the earned at Atlantis Crown finishing the TBT meet with a respectable 31.6 combined score.
Level 4 was represented by a dynamic duo, both Queen’s College students. Fourth grader Rachea Knowles proved that hard work pays off by earning personal best scores on bars, beam and vault. Her greatest achievement in the TBT meet is a net vault score of 9.4, ranking her among the top 100 gymnasts on Level 4 Vault. The scores are being tracked on mymeetscores.com for competitive meets reported for the 2011-2012 competitive season. Her performance was secured the title of most improved meet-to-meet gymnast on the team with overall score of 32.4.
Her Level 4 teammate, Sydney Wells, the petite 2nd grader scored 8.750 and received a 6th place medal for her elegant floor routine, improved her vault score to an 8.8 and her bar event score to 8.75, giving her a combined score of 33.525, an improvement from her score of 33.350 at the last meet. Wells brought home two medals from the TBT meet, one of which was 12th place All Around in her level.
The Levels 5 and 6 squad included Xavier’s Lower School 5th grade honor student, Caitlin Cash who faced a very competitive field of athletes but was still able to improve her scores on vault to 8.85 and the floor with 8.575. Athalia Swann, a 6th grader at Xavier’s Lower school, also improved her floor score to 8.8 and earned a 3rd place medal in that event. After a rocky start in her first meet last month at the Atlantis Crown, Aquinas College Aces 10th grade honor student, Kianna Dean, was determined to make a notable showing at the meet and that she did with increases in her scores on vault and beam events resulting in a 6th place medal on beam with her 8.575 score and an overall score improvement of 1.425 points for a combined event score of 31.775.
“We are proud of the accomplishments earned at the TBT meet and pleased the gymnasts understand that the focus is forward,” comments Kevan Dean, assistant coach. Earlier in the season vault skills and techniques were identified as an area for improvement. Dean, the team’s “Vault Technician,” is particularly proud of TBT meet scores on this apparatus.
The Team is continuing their training to build on what was learned at the TBT meet in preparation for future meets at home and abroad. The goals are vast and the Club is expanding even further with the recently launched Boys Gymnastics program. “We hope to have a Boys’ team competing internationally by next season,” Dean asserts. Meanwhile, the next meet is in February in Ann Arbor, Michigan at The Wolverine Classic. The coaches say the Stars Plan to shine in the snow too.
Bahamas Star Gymnastics (BSG) is a non-profit organization that exists to operate a gym school offering gymnastics and related training at the Source River complex. The Bahamas Star Parent Booster Club (BSPBC) is a subsidiary group that exists to support the competitive gymnasts at BSG. Currently, the Club (BSG) hosts recreational and competitive gymnastics training for girls and boys under the direction of Head Coach Alexander Mayet.
