LONE “STAR” MOUNTS HIGHER AT WOLVERINES CLASSIC
Persistence…perseverance…perspiration equals monumental success. This was the winning formula which catapulted young Sydney Wells to mount the top of the podium thereby claiming the gold medal and the Uneven Bars Champion award on Sunday evening, far away from family and teammates. Wells, who celebrated her eighth birthday last week (Feb.21) would be the solo flag bearer for her Club and country at the Wolverines Classic hosted by GymAmerica in Ann Arbor, Michigan February 24-27, 2012. This lone star represented her cheering squad back at home with her personal best performance in the Uneven Bars and other apparatus in amazing fashion to bring back glory for all.
Eight years ago, Sydney Wells was fighting for her life as a premature baby hooked up in an incubator with up to eight tubes sustaining her. Eight years later, the petite structured gymnasts earned a 9.15 (out of a possible 10) on the Uneven Bars (1st place), 9.15 on the Vault (3rd place). 9.05 on the Floor Exercise (5th place) and 8.05 on the Balance Beam. Well’s All Around Score of 35.40 (of 40 pts) secured her a 4th Place All-Around (AA) among 24 other competitors in her age category within Level 4. These scores represent the highest All Around scores by any Bahamian gymnast for the competitive season to date. This is only her second season as a competitive gymnast and predictions within the international gymnastics community project a potential Olympian in the making.
Wells was accompanied by her coach, Kachara Marshall, who is also in her second season with Bahamas Star Gymnastics. Marshall reported the scores and the thrill of victory for the small contingent from the frigid temperature zone of Michigan. Wells, to date, is the only gymnast who has competed in multiple regions of USA for the 2011-2012 competitive season. Marshall notes, “not only has she improved her AA score, but her confidence has soared progressively”. Nicknamed “Peanut” by her Club’s summer camp clinician, Coach Don McPherson of Aerial Gymnastics in Chicago, Illinois, Wells has improved her scores from Wolverines Classic last year (from 12th place to 4th place), her Atlantis Crown performance in December (2011) and her results from Tampa Bay Turners Invite in January (2012).
Third grader at Oakesfield Primary School, little Wells spent her mid-term school break building a snowman, engaged in a work out session at GymAmerica with some of the very girls she became friends with for the first time last February and experiencing one of the best hosted meets, Wolverines Classic. The parent Club of GymAmerica, led by her host Erika Daman and family, along with its owner, Claudia Kretschmer, secured free housing accommodations and ground transportation for the squad. Other travel costs were defrayed by fundraising efforts of Bahamas Gymnastics Parent Booster Club.
Head Coach of Bahamas Star Gymnastics, Alexander Mayet, travelled to Michigan to understudy GymAmerica’s hosting of a competitive meet. Mayet proposed that for gymnasts to improve to the Olympic level, it will take a combination of proper training on the ground as well as maximum exposure to competitive meets here and abroad. His background of training in one of the world’s most superior sports system in Cuba has given him first-hand knowledge of the requirements for an Olympic bid. In this vein, his brainchild of a first local inter-island competitive meet may soon be materialized in the BGPBC-Bahamas Star Gymnastics Invitational scheduled for April 2012.
Mayet comments “[Uneven] Bars and [Balance] Beam have been the weakness for Bahamian gymnasts for a long time so Sydney’s victory as Level 4 Bars Champion is a significant feat for her team and country”. He also confirmed that “pint sized” Sydney will skip Level 5 and compete Level 6 in her next competitive season. There are 10 levels in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics before the highest level, Elite Level, which is competed at the Olympics and other major international competitions.
Sydney will join her fellow teammates as they depart Nassau on Thursday (March 1) to compete at the Tim Rand American Twisters Gymnastics Invitational in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Bahamas Gymnastics Parent Booster Club (“BGPBC”) was formed as a non-profit entity in 2009 with one of its primary goals of supporting gymnasts. Bahamas Star Gymnastics (“BSG”), also a non-profit entity, operates the training facility at The Source River Center, formerly Bacardi Plant and home of other talented gym stars from levels 1-9. Classes for boys and girls are scheduled weekly. While incorporated as separate entities, both clubs work jointly to promote the sport of gymnastics in the country. The relationship established by both BGPBC and BSG with clubs in the United States led to the hosting of Atlantis Crown Gymnastics Invitational in December 2011 on Paradise Island.
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