Taylor Kennedy has won a title at the Western Canadian Gymnastics Championships (WCGC). Kennedy, of the Polarettes Gymnastics Club, captured gold in the Bars Competition. Her win is the first ever in bars in the Yukon’s history, and second-ever Yukon gold medal at the WCGC. Anna Rivard won the only other gold.
The competition took place in Langley, B.C., at the Events Centre on the weekend of April 19 to 21. What’s Up Yukon spoke to Kennedy’s coach, Ewan Campbell, recently about Kennedy’s historic triumph. He said the Polarettes sent six Level-8 athletes to the event: four older and two younger.
Campbell said it was exciting “because you need at least four scores to have a team.” He added, “So this is our first time having a full team go down to [Westerns] and compete, which is a pretty big deal for the Yukon.”
The young Level 8s were Kennedy and Genevieve Lefebvre. The older 8s were Lily Witton, Olivia Vangel, Jenna Henderson and Layla Hombert. They were accompanied by Cambell and by the Polarettes head coach and executive director, Kimberly Jones.
Campbell described how Kennedy’s big win on the bars came about. “There’s different rotations, so we had five rotations for four events: vault, beam, bars and floor, and then a bye.”
Kennedy had a bye and then started the competition on the vault. Bars was the second event. “We’d only seen two other groups compete on bars beforehand, which meant that we knew Taylor had done quite well. But she scored higher at other competitions, and Westerns had the top athletes in Western Canada competing. We knew she did well, but we weren’t sure how she’d do in the final rankings of it.
“And I’ve been asked by the kids to not check the scores out on the floor and see where everyone”s placing. They just find it a little bit distracting. So that whole time I just was in the moment and had no idea until the very, very last rotation.”
Jones told Campbell she was going to be watching the bars closely.
Kennedy was still in first, at that point, with the strong Alberta team left to compete.
“Taylor ended up holding on to the lead, did the best gymnastics of the day, which is very exciting for her,” said Campbell. Campbell was stoked about Kennedy’s win. “It was a huge deal for the team as a whole. This year we raised the expectations on them a little bit. We knew that they could go out and perform, so we were asking a little bit more from the whole team and it’s nice to have that reflected in rankings at the end.”
Campbell said Kennedy had a low-key reaction to the win. “She’s a very reserved person when it comes to being in the spotlight, so she was pretty quiet but you could tell that she was excited about it.” Campbell said that bars is Kennedy’s best event. “She made the event final for bars at B.C. Championships at the start of April. So she was top-eight in B.C.”
When asked what kind of potential Kennedy, 13, has, Campbell said it’s tough to say. “At the end of the day, she can go as far as she wants to go. But gymnastics is a tricky sport. It’s very demanding on the body and we train less hours than other places in the country. So it’s a bit of more of an internal motivation for the kids if they want to take the next step or not. And I think Taylor does and she’s trying to move up to Level nine next year, which is a big push for her and she’s motivated to do it, and training to meet those goals.”
Above Level 9 is Level 10, and then Elite Canada where gymnasts are competing for a spot on the national team. According to Campbell, if Kennedy made the Elite level, she’d be the first Yukoner to do it. “Big ask,” he said. “But,” he continued, “things happen. Gymnastics is scary. The beam is only four inches wide. The skills she’s doing are already skills that I personally cannot comprehend ever doing.”
Campbell said the goal is to make those skills bigger but there is something more important. “I think she can get along pretty comfortably, but we just want to make sure that she stays involved with it and enjoys the gymnastics. It’s more important than anything else right now.”
Campbell was asked what it means to the club when you get a result like this.
“I think it shows the rest of Canada that good gymnastics is happening up in the Yukon. I know here it’s such a small community and we don’t get out very much. And when we do, it’s a bit of a big deal. So to be able to go to one of the largest competitions in Western Canada, for this level, and compete with the best of Alberta and B.C. and Manitoba and Saskatchewan, it just shows people the Yukon is serious about what they’re doing; and kids are bought in—and training to make those things happen, which is fun.”
Campbell said the team’s overall results were “really positive.”
He said, “We had the whole team scoring in the all-rounds, which is where they just add up the scores from every event so you can see who’s performing consistently across all four apparatus. Most of our kids were around the middle of the pack. We had a couple of kids that were higher, a couple of kids a bit lower, and the other young [Level] 8, Genevieve Lefebvre, ended up placing eighth in the all-round, so just outside of getting a ribbon—but a hugely impressive showing for her as well. The whole team did incredibly well. Season’s best on at least one apparatus for every kid.”
Overall, they finished fifth out of five teams. Having said that, Campbell said “they hit their routines.”
He continued, “Usually you go and you’re just kind of focused on what your scores are gonna be and you want your team to do well but your score is the only one that’s gonna affect your placement. But in the team, they add up all the scores. So it adds a little bit of different pressure where if you don’t hit your routine, then the team score is going to be lower. So you want to do well for them in that respect. It’s just a little bit of a different competition environment for them.”
He added, “I think they did very well—super positive with each other and lots of cheering. Had to come up with their own cheer, which they very proudly shared with everybody.”
Up next for the club is a fun season-ending meet in Delta, B.C., the first week in May. Jones and developmental coordinator Stephanie Caron will both be taking maternity leave next season as well.
Campbell said, “The team had a fantastic competition. We’re all very proud of Taylor. We’re excited to go again, next year, and do it again to hopefully similar levels of success.”
