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Kevin Nagel Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports tics Club started a program soon after. And now, others at the club are taking notice. "I did artistic (gymnastics), but I would watch the routines they were doing in acro," said 10-yearold Juliana Summers. "I really wanted to try it. They were balancing on people. It was so cool." Lake and Summers are among the gymnasts that will compete at the Acrobatic Gymnastics World Age Group Competition in Putian, China in March. Canada will send an 18-member team, with 14 of them from the Oakville Gymnastics Club. Five Oakville teams were chosen following a selection event in December. Acrobatic teams perform two types of routines, a balance routine where athletes demonstrate strength, poise and flexibility and a dynamic routine, which incorporates throws, somersaults and catches. Older age groups perform a third routine that combines elements of the other two. Don Holmes, the club's head coach who had been overseeing both the tumbling and acrobatics program, brought Scott Middleton, a former coach with the United Kingdom's acrobatics team, and Greg Boosey, a former tumbler and Cirque du Soleil performer, to coach Oakville's acrobatic team. The athletes train 23 hours a week, six days a week. Middleton said it is a tough training schedule but it has paid off in the athletes' strength and conditioning, which has allowed them to expand their skills. "It is a lot of hours, especially when you're in school," said Horn, a Grade 11 student at Oakville Trafalgar High School. "It can be hard finding the motivation when you're having trouble with (a skill), but you just have to keep pushing, knowing it will pay off." "And once you get it," Hickey said,"it's a really nice feeling." Horn was competing in power tumbling when Holmes suggested trying acro. It was unconventional skills that sold Horn on the change. "I liked it better than tumbling," she said. "I like the wow factor it has." The 14 athletes going to worlds will be going to Belgium in three weeks in order to get some experience competing at an international competition. Horn and Lake competed together in Portugal last year, but Hickey is a newcomer to the group, having joined them in the summer as their new `top.' Summers' partner in the mixed pair, Theodore Rots-Chan, has been training in acrobatics for three years, twice as long as his partner. He was involved in dance when his younger brother convinced him to try the sport. While his brother has since moved to tumbling, Rots-Chan, a Grade 7 student at St. Dominic, is finding success in acro. While the 12-year-old hasn't 33 | Thursday, January 28, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" Oakville acrobatic gymnasts to represent Canada at worlds By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Perched on her hands, Tessa Hickey carefully draws her legs back, raising them slowly. The 13-year-old's arms tremble slightly as she points her toes skyward. Under normal circumstances, a headstand might not be a noteworthy feat for a gymnast, except that Hickey is seven feet above the gym floor. And performing the move while balancing on the knees of teammate Kelsey Horn, who is also upside down. Horn is holding herself up with her hands on the knees of Sophie Lake, who is leaning back at a gravity defying 60-degree angle, only keeping herself upright by holding on to Horn's feet. It looks like a graceful game of human Jenga, where one wrong move could bring their tower crashing to the ground. If you don't immediately recognize it as acrobatic gymnastics, well, you wouldn't be alone. "I didn't even know it existed," Lake said. "I was in the recreational gymnastics program and a coach came up to me and asked me if I wanted to try it. I really didn't know what it was." Though the first world championships were held in 1974, acrobatic gymnastics is still relatively new in Canada. It was only recognized as an official discipline in 2009, and the Oakville Gymnas- Oakville Gymnastics Club acrobatic gymnasts (bottom to top) Alexandrea D'Souza, Erin Oswald and Charlotte Penner practise their routine in preparation for the Acrobatic Gymnastics World Age Group Competition in China in March. | photo by Jayson Mills -- Special to the competed internationally before, he got a taste of performing under pressure as part of the opening ceremonies for the Pan Am Games. "I don't think I'll be as nervous," he said. "I sort of have experience performing in front of a million people." Oakville will also send Allison Attard, Ally Swanepoel and Emma Shemko (women's group See Oakville on pg. 34 Register Now Oakville Little League - 2016 Youth Baseball Registration Register Now Division Blastball Minor T-Ball Major T-Ball Minor Major Int / Junior Senior Big League Age 4 5-6 7-8 9-10 11-12 13-14 15-17 18-20 WHERE: OAKVILLE LITTLE LEAGUE FIELDHOUSE, 425 Cornwall Road WHEN: SATURDAY, January 30th & February 6th from 9:00AM to 3:00PM Oakville Little League offers: The largest youth baseball organization in Oakville. The highest caliber, fun and fair-play house leagues. Grass infields, pitching mounds, outfield fences & dugouts for ages 9 & up. The only All-Star program to compete in Big League, Senior, Junior & Little League World Series Play downs. Fees include: Major League replica uniform, individual & team photos. Proud Sponsor of Oakville Little League For more information call 905-827-1831 or register online at www.ollb.org