Gymnastics thrives in capital
Tundra Tumblers recovers from possibility of folding
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Friday, May 27, 2016
IQALUIT
Pulled from the precipice of folding last year, the Iqaluit Tundra Tumblers Gymnastics Club is now thriving.
Tyra Akeagok, front in pink, and her group bask in cheers from the crowd after their performance. - Stewart Burnett/NSSL photo
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A packed audience turned up to see the proud performers at their year-end show May 15.
Youth performed a series of gymnastic feats for a crowd of proud parents and family members - many to the tune of unconventional music like the James Bond theme.
About 60 students took part in the year-end show and the club had 76 enrolled in the program this year.
Lead coach Katherine Canil gushed about her students.
"They were amazing," she said.
She said as a coach, it was a great joy to see the students master the skills, perform them and then have all their peers cheer them on during the final event.
Gymnastics is a mental, physical and social sport, Canil said.
"It's a sport of good physical conditioning, but moreover it's a sport of goal setting," she said.
Students start by learning to hold a plank for 10 seconds, then 30 seconds, and work up to completing the move in a tougher position.
It might have been surprising to onlookers in the packed Aqsarniit Middle School gym watching the well-choreographed routines to know the gymnastics group nearly folded last year.
It was then the board made a big push to get parents and volunteers out to do the necessary gymnastics training and help run the course, which proved successful.
"These are all people who have full-time jobs," said Canil. "What has been happening this year has been quite amazing."
During this time, the group took the opportunity to rethink how it the program was run.
"No longer did we have a situation where the vast majority of resources were concentrated on one small group of children," said Canil. "Now we try to get it so they have access to good quality gymnastics education for everyone in the program, regardless of your starting ability."
Everyone in the program is part of one big team, she said, and individual classes are smaller so students get more time with instructors.
The group is now in danger of becoming a victim of its own success, said Canil. It will need more volunteers for next year starting in September.
She's hoping to find more people to volunteer as coaches or even just to help with set up of equipment, which is a big job in itself.
"I feel right now we're much more in the line of hockey, judo, taekwondo programs that are very open and inclusive, that make room for everyone regardless of their ability," said Canil. "And I'm very happy that that's happening."
