North Peace Gymnastics Association impresses at Provincial Championship

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The North Peace Gymnastics Association (NPGA) had an impressive showing at the Xcel B.C. Championships in New Westminister from April 12th to April 14th.

The club’s Platinum Team placed first overall in the meet, which included disciplines such as vault, floor exercise, beam, and parallel bars.  

In addition, Kathryn Yates and Anika Carroll took the top prize in their age category.

Twenty-two athletes from the club faced stiff opposition from some of the 33 other teams that came to the Queens Park Arena last weekend.

Mimi Lassard, the NPGA’s competitive coach, says her athletes competed at the highest level and ultimately left everything out on the floor.

“The end results show you how hard they have worked,” said Lassard, a gymnastics coach for the past 10 years. “They’ve put so much literal blood, sweat, and tears into this. The results were just remarkable.”

Lassard says the club has been preparing for the Xcel competition since last September, when it discovered a provincial meet would be this year.

She says the team improved significantly after an international competition in Las Vegas in January, the GymCats Vegas Cup.

“[Vegas] taught them a lot on handling pressure and crowds,” said Lassard. “Many clubs are doing things differently than we do. Going there helped set up their mental game for coming to provincials.”

A highlight of the competition was Yates, who scored a perfect 10 during her floor exercise, something Lassard says Yates truly deserved after all her efforts.

“She’s worked hard to get to that point,” Lassard said, adding many of her teammates ran down to hug her, holding back tears.

The NPGA’s next competition is the Northern Lights Invitational and Zone 8 Championships, scheduled for April 27th and 28th in Fort St. John.