Alberta Winter Games Trials 2017

December 15, 2017

This past weekend at Pine Valley Gym Centre, we hosted the 2017 Trials to Alberta Winter Games and Canada Winter games. This was the first competition that we’ve held at Pine Valley and we are so overwhelmed by the amount of support we’ve received from our local community and the greater provincial gymnastics community!

The trials were hosted by the Alberta Gymnastics Federation and over 215 gymnasts from across the province competed in our gym in Tawatinaw. Of these athletes, PVGC had two of our own compete in the trials. Mehr Kaur and Jayde Semashkewich represented PVGC with great results! Jayde placed 3rd in her session and was chosen to be a part of the Alberta Winter Games team and will be attending the games in Fort McMurray during February of next year.

We would not have been able to host such a fantastic event without the help of all our volunteers and staff, without them none of this would be possible, so thank you! We’d also like to thank all the AGF staff, coaches, and judges who helped make the competition run smoothly and on time, as well as congratulate all the athletes who qualified in their zones to the Alberta Winter Games.

We’d like to send a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped make this a success and look forward to hosting similar events in the future!

2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships

Photos via 2017 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Facebook Page

What does PVGC have to do with the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships that took place in Montreal, QC last week? Lots! 

We were the first stop for the Chinese Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics National Team in Canada, and they spent a week with us in Tawatinaw training at our facility. We are humbled that they chose our location for their acclimatization and preparation for the World Championshops.

Xiao Ruoteng of China was crowned the All-Around Men's Champion, and teammate Lin Chaopan took the silver medal. Fan Xilin dominated the Women's uneven bars competition winning gold and competing a novel dismount never seen before in international competition that cemented her name into the International Gymnastics Federation's code of points; the new dismount she competed has been named 'the Fan' in her honour. 

Canada's Elsabeth Black (Halifax, NS) became the first Canadian to win a medal in the All-Around competition and finished in the Women's All-Around competition in second place. Black's medal has been the best finish for any Canadian and we are so very proud of her! Zachary Clay of Langley, BC had a very successful finish in twenty-first place in the men's All-Around competition and was the sole men's athlete from Canada who qualified for the All-Around competition. Brooklyn Moors of Cambridge, ON had a strong finish on the floor exercise in fifth place and finished fifteenth in the Women's All-Around Competition; Moors also won the Longines Artistry Award that is handed out to one male and one female athlete at World Championships, what a huge feat, go Canada go! 

Overall, we are very proud of both teams and congratulate them on such a beautiful performance. We wish everyone the best in their future endeavours and competition. 

Chinese National Team in Tawatinaw

Embed from Getty Images

On September 23, we will be hosting something very exciting!

We are honoured that the Men's and Women's Chinese National team in Artistic Gymnastics will be staying and training at Pine Valley for a week and on SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 23, we are allowing guests to come view their training and join us for a meet & greet and dinner afterwards.

We have limited tickets for viewing and dinner so grab them quick!

If you know a gymnast who is interested in training at Pine Valley Gym Centre PRIOR to the National team training, we can make it happen! There will be open training from 12 PM to 3 PM and gymnasts will get to train on the same equipment as the National Team.
 

First week of summer camp recap

Our first week of summer camp kicked off with a bang!

It was a lucky coincidence that all of our campers in the first week were artistic gymnasts so we spent our mornings in the gym and our afternoons and evenings in the outdoors with our counsellors.

We had two lake days at Long Island Lake and Forfar, and we spent our time hanging out on the beach, kayaking and canoeing, and cannonballing off the dock! Campers played outdoor games, went for nature walks, participated in archery, volleyball, paintball, outdoor trampoline and campfire sing-alongs.

Below are some of the things our campers had to say:

“This camp was a lot of fun! I loved playing all the games. Going to the lake was fun. The dorms were really clean and nice. The food was super good and everybody was super nice and overall it was a really awesome camp! I would totally come again next year!”

“This camp was so much fun! The food was amazing!! I would definitely come back next year. I learned so many new things and made so many new friends! Thank you for the best week!”

“I had a lot of fun at this camp. I made a lot of new friends. I learned a lot of new things like how to paintball and how to do a front walkover on beam. Training was very fun. I would definitely come again, thank you for a great time.”

“I liked how we got to go to the lake and we made marshmallows and I liked training with new friends, it was amazing and I loved it!!”

All in all, it was a great week spent and we hope to see everyone back next year!