Day 1 Complete!

We have wrapped up our first day of competition.

The day felt a little long, what with the 2 hour training, warm-up and competition but everyone was physically on top of their game and they were fit and ready to go when the time came.

Elite Canada is unique in Canada because it is level free! Actually it's more accurate to say that everyone competes in one big level. The categories are simply "Men" and "Women". This means that Novices to Seniors are all competing one against the other. Top 10 will go to finals.

Beatrice and Corissa started us off in the first flight. Both had struggled in training with their DMT routines a bit.

Bea's training and warm-up got better and better. Beatrice did a nice 41/ to 8-2o that was meant to be straight but was quite clean and confident. Her second pass was to be a 8-1o to 8--o but the 8-1o was not as strong as usual for Bea and the routine was unfortunately cut short. We know exactly what to do in training in the coming weeks to correct the problem.

Cori likewise had difficulty showing her usual excellence and is saving it for Trampoline tomorrow.

Caitlin B looked great in warm-up and showed her best 43/ to 8--p ever. She did two in warm-up that were awesome so we had great expectations and then the competed pass was even better! Her second pass 8-1o to 8--o was also excellent and only lacked a kick out to be stellar.

Janelle and Caitlin D were in the last flight. Janelle was super-de-dooper and rocked her 8--o to 812/ in warm-up (better than EVER) and the one she competed was also great. Stuck out of the box (possibly out of the continent) but otherwise very nice. Her second pass was a very solid 8-1p to 8--p that lifted nicely and dropped juuuuuust inside the box.

Caitlin D had a stellar 42/ to 8-1o that stuck in the box with good form. Her second pass was a 41/ to 8--/ that was a little scrunched in the double straight but lifted nicely and dropped her down in the box so she made the absolute most of the pass despite the awkward line in the double lay.

In the end Janelle is currently ranked 3rd and Caitlin B is currently ranked 8th going into finals day after tomorrow. Caitlin D just missed by 0.5.

Tomorrow is an easy start (we don't have to be at the gym until 2:30pm) and we intend to look around Trois-Rivieres a bit before rocking on tramp!

GO Corissa!

GO Caitlin!

GO..... other Caitlin!

Stay Strong,

Jamie

ps Video to come next post!

Elite Canada!

We are here in beautiful Trois-Rivieres Quebec at the Elite Canada Trampoline and Tumbling Championships.

Corissa Boychuk, Janelle Desmarais-Moen, Beatrice Prcic, Caitlin Brown and Caitlin Dube are all here and ready to Rock!

Our hotel is very nice, the flight was easy and the venue is enormous!

Quebec is holding a provincial competition at the same time as Elite Canada and they are literally holding two competitions in the same gym! There is no sharing of equipment. This one enormous room has two full tumbling floors, two DMTs and 8 trampolines! Two different departments take care of scoring even. Definitely different.

We have had our 2 hour training and have gotten used to the equipment (the trampolines are quite different from ours). In an hour or so Beatrice and Cori will start us off on DMT followed by Caitlin Brown in the 2nd flight and both Janelle and Caitlin D in the 3rd.

Wish them luck!

Stay Strong,

Jamie

More South Africa To Come!

We never had real access to internet again (as you will see from the photos we weren't in downtown Calgary).

However there are tons of photos and stories to tell so we WILL SHOW IT ALL. But first we will enjoy our Elite Canada Aventure.

Stay Strong,

Jamie

Alexandra Township Trampoline Club

We spent the afternoon in Alexandra just outside of Johannesburg. After piling into our bus we were driven for an hour and a half, or so, to a dilapidated hall where we met some truly great little people and their coaches.

We did a little intro where Stephan spoke to everyone and then each athlete spoke a little about themselves and some of their accomplishments. You could tell most of them are a little uncomfortable tooting their own horn. On the other hand you could also tell that Jason has done this many times before! It's interesting when you hear the list. These are some accomplished athletes.

The athletes were split into groups and trained for around 40 min with our athletes coaching them.

Up until recently they had virtually no equipment. The trampoline you see below is around the size of a single bed and those are blankets wrapped around the springs for padding. They also had a mini-tramp. Not long ago the club was gifted with two brand new Eurotramp Trampolines with end-decks and mats as well as a brand new DMT and landing area. This is beautiful equipment and these coaches and kids sure love it all!

Alex and Emily coached on the mini-tramp. Emily is one big cheering section all by herself! She and Alex did a great job and the kids clearly loved them. Rosie and Jason took one tramp each. They were awesome too. Cori, Julie and Denis coached at the DMT. They were focusing on sticking and Cori had them do a burpee for each step they took on landing. Some of them were terribly excited to learn and get better. They were so, so pleased to have the attention of these Elite Athletes for an afternoon.

After the first round we took a 5 minute "Coke Break". They have been sponsored by Coke and they proceeded to pass around 600 ml bottles of Coke to everyone and we posed for a photo before the kids downed it all. Some of these kids weighed 50lbs and they sucked back the whole bottle and then tried to train again. It was less than successful for most. Not a recommended mid-training snack! (Additionally there was Coke everywhere. Many of the kids had been bouncing on the DMT with their bottle and then they opened them here, there and everywhere.)

We helped put all of the equipment away and then headed out on our bus back to the University. On the way I caught this photo of a lady carrying her goods in a box balanced on her head. Great skills! (Note the razor wire in the background).

Well time to head to bed. We compete tomorrow mid-day. Julie, Cori, Alex and Denis have DMT prelims and later on Jason and Rosie will have Tramp prelims. There are very few athletes in the Senior level but I am excited to see the Age Group South Africans as well as the Namibians and Zim's (people from Zimbabwe).

I'll write again tomorrow.

Stay Strong,

Jamie

Training Day 1

Here is a panoramic photo of the venue as we walk up to it. Very pretty.

The venue inside. Here's where the action will take place.

Team Rhino Cheer! You might notice that we've figured out that their horns are on their noses. In Washington we seemed to think their horns were on their foreheads.

Today started out with breakfast (the food has been great!) and training in the competition venue.

The equipment is quite good and the venue excellent. The building has a park and pond out front that is chock full of all kinds of egrets, odd long-legged ducks and the odd kayak. Everyone's legs were a little dead but still accomplished a lot. A good intro to the space and the equipment.

Denis looks great at his first international meet since 2007. He laid down all 4 passes at this practice as well as both his tumbling passes. Alex got to know the equipment and did some of his passes on each event. Emily looks strong and is flying down the very powerful floor. Jason and Rosie took the day to get used to the Eurotramp 4x4 tramp (they are powerful but a little less stable than what we are used to.) Julie and Cori did their two easier passes and all of their mounts.

Afterwards we grabbed lunch (good again) and played some Beach Volley-Ball in the court beside the residence before heading to our first outreach experience.

Julie receives the Ball in the epic Corissa and Alex vs Julie and Alex game.

Cori ready for anything!

Cori's reaction after a close one. (I know she looks like the ball bopped her in the forehead but she's okay).

We're having a blast and learning a lot about this fantastic country. Still at the same time I wish I could also be at home and there for the Phoenix Meet this weekend!

You guys are going to Rock!

Stay Strong,

Jamie

Travel Photos

Hello All,

Internet is sporadic here so I'm a little behind but I wanted to post some photos from the travel!

Here's us in the Calgary airport loading up on coffee at 4:30am.

In Chicago we were still perky and tried to spell "CHICAGO" (you have to use your imagination and the "O" is Julie's mouth)

Here we are in Washington, DC getting onto the plane and looking forward to seeing Rhinos (I think Stephan is an Elephant).

In Senegal we were sad that we couldn't get off the plane just to walk around a bit.

We finally landed in South Africa and checked our firearms (?!!)

More to come,

Jamie

We're Here!

The travel was looooong.

But good.

We had no hiccups or difficulties and every step was smooth. All the luggage got where it was supposed to etc.

It's funny how much we've gotten used to those little seat-back tv's. None of our flights had them (although the long ones had the big shared tv's with one movie). Additionally South African Airlines does not allow Ipods etc. to be used even for listening to music and playing little games. Even my Kindle (e-book thing) was not allowed during take-offs and landings.

Still it just gave us all a reason to chat and visit even more than usual. This is a great group of people to be with. Jason, Rosie, Alex, Denis, Emily and our girls are all pretty awesome. Our team therapist is Stephen King (great name hey?) and our intrepid GCG leader Stephan Duchesne was my seating companion for the 17 hours from Washington to Johannesburg. We didn't even get off the plane in Dakar we were literally on the plane for that long. Definitely a first for all of us! We were met at the airport and quickly bussed to the University of Pretoria where we are staying and competing for these first days. GCG staff person Traci House met us here to round out our group (she's been here for a week already and is nut brown).

South Africa is incredibly beautiful. The weather is balmy and everyone has been very friendly so far. The residence rooms are very nice and the food last night and this morning has been excellent. This is not always true when we travel and is much appreciated! It's going to be 32 degrees and sunny so we'll have to slather on the sun screen but certainly no one is complaining. We are about to walk to the gym for our first training. It's apparently only a 1/2 km away. After lunch we will be heading out to a township to visit a local club and interact with the coaches and athletes there.

I'll talk about it when I get back tonight.

Enjoy training,

Dream Big Dreams,

Stay Strong,

Jamie

Last Day in Airdrie

We trained today for a couple of hours to fine tune things and stay limber before our epic travel over the next couple of days.

Both Julie and Corissa trained awesome! All 4 routines sweet, clean and high. Both look in excellent form and stuck more than one in the box. Laughing, smiling and anticipating the trip to come (maybe not the flights though).

It feels positively hot outside at -17 degrees with the sun shining and it's a beautiful day with the snow sparkling. Odd to think that it will be 28 degrees tomorrow in South Africa. I might melt!

We are meeting at the airport tomorrow at 4:30 in the morning in case anyone wants to come say goodbye.

Just kidding. Definitely just text the girls your best wishes sometime.

Stay strong,

Jamie

South African Adventure!

We leave Monday for South Africa!

It's going to be an awesome trip.

The FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) is supporting the development of the various continents in the sport. As result they gave funding to bring some of the top athletes in the world to Africa for a sport development initiative.

The Select Canadian Team will consist of:

Denis Vachon, Alex Seifert, Corissa, and the amazing and incredible Julie on DMT

Denis, Alex and Emily Smith on TUM

Jason Burnett, Karen Cockburn and Rosie MacLennan on TRI

Me coaching.

This group of 8 athletes have all been top 3 in the World at World Cups, World Championships, and the Olympics. Quite a group!

We are travelling on the 7th and 8th (21 hrs and 10 min IN THE AIR) to Johannesburg.

We then will move on to Pretoria (Tshwane) to train and compete for 4 days.

For the 4 days following we will be participating in clinics, training camps, and shows for local athletes and coaches as well as demos at a village school.

I'm sure we'll also fit in some touristy time as well. We know that we're doing a day trip to Sun City (check out the website http://www.sun-city-south-africa.com/). Cori, Julie and I are hoping to see wildlife especially.

Keep an eye on this spot for photos, videos and anecdotes.

Stay Strong,

Jamie

(23 hrs and 50 min in the air on the way back)