During the 2013 competitive season, Gymnastics Saskatchewan started a new program for provincial 3, 4 and 5 women's artistic athletes call the Grand Prix Program. This program gives athletes an opportunity to compete for spots on Team Sask.
Participating gymnasts must attend a minimum of three competitions sanctioned in province during the season and try and accumulate the highest all around score they can achieve. The top three contenders in each Saskatchewan age category from P3 to P5 are named to Team Saskatchewan. The design of this program demands consistency and great execution.
Weyburn Gymnastics Club's Taylor Elmy earned a spot on Team Saskatchewan in the provincial three 16 and older age category, along with two other athletes from the QCK Gymnastics Club in Regina. Elmy worked hard to earn this spot, training nine hours a week throughout January to the middle of May.
The Weyburn Gymnastics competitive girls train from September through June for nine hours a week. However, due to Taylor's non-gymnastics-related knee injury, she was unable to train the whole season, which added to the challenge of being named to Team Saskatchewan.
The Grand Prix Provincial 3 team represented Saskatchewan at the Hollywood Classic in Calgary on May 11. Elmy got the opportunity to work with coaches from Prince Albert, Saskatoon and Regina when she attended the competition in Calgary.
Elmy took away the silver medal on bars out of 12 competitors and placed Ninth overall.
"The competition was fierce and all athletes selected to team battled their way into those spots," said Mike Amouri, Grand Prix Coordinator. "I couldn't be happier with how they performed."
"Competing in Calgary was a great experience!" said Taylor Elmy, who noted that she was able to meet so many new people, as it was more of a team event than an individual one.
This is Taylor's eighth year with the Weyburn Gymnastics Club and seventh year competing at the provincial level with her coach Melanie Dammann. This will be Taylor's last competitive year due to a knee injury.
The Weyburn Gymnastics Club sponsored $150 of Elmy's travel costs to Calgary for the competition.
