A group of young gymnasts from Newmarket and Aurora continue to twist and turn in the air as they practise their routines to face international competition next month.
The junior rhythmic gymnastics team from Silhouettes of York Gymnastics Club will compete at the Pan American Championships in Guatemala from June 2 to 6. This significant event attracts top talent from across the Americas.
“It’s a challenging competition,” said head coach Iana Nadtotchii. “I’ve been to it with other girls before. It’s difficult as we’re competing with other Spanish-speaking countries.”
The Silhouettes offer opportunities for skilled gymnasts. Athletes compete worldwide in the United States, Europe, Australia and South America. They also provide national-level groups. The club has had many national champions and national group champions.
The team consists of Angelica Hing, Sofie Belova, Natalie Grigore, Martina Ma, Emily Pimenovsky, and Anastasia Sennikov. Five of them will compete together, while an extra serves as a spare, ready to step in. They practise with clubs and hoops, and on their collaborations.
They train for about 25 hours a week. Their practice sessions take place at the KC Badminton Club in Aurora, even over the weekends, as they strive to perfect their routines.
“It’s been going a lot better,” said Anastasia Sennikov, 15. “When you first get a routine, it’s all new and hard to do everything clean, but as you practise a lot, everything starts forming and getting together in good shape.”
Nadtotchii said the girls need to work well together, whereas one performer only has to rely on themselves. It can make it difficult to have each one of them on board.
“They need to not only see each other, they need to feel each other,” said Nadtotchii. “These girls have been together for a couple of years already. They know each other. A group routine is one body. I tell the girls at the end of the routine that it doesn’t matter which girl made the mistake, it’s the group that made the mistake.”
Sennikov finds it essential to practise a lot, but she said the team needs to be mentally ready and know they can do the routines. She builds confidence within herself when the routines become familiar.
“We need to memorize everything and stay on what you have been choreographed to do,” said Sennikov. “If you’re mentally ready and physically ready, those are the two most important things, personally for me, that helps me do the routines.”
Sennikov said they have a lot of practice to do but will be ready to go. She said her coach knows best, and she listens to her instructions carefully.
Nadtotchii said the team has became better and stronger over the years as they gained more experience. As they improve, she provides more challenging choreography, which can be difficult to learn and implement.
“Their routines are extremely difficult, which gives the risk of making a mistake, but they are ready for it,” said Nadtotchii.
As Nadtotchii coaches the girls through a routine, she finds she has to cater to them differently based on their personalities. Some girls need to be aggressive and mad to perform better, while others need to have a hug and hear nice words.
She focuses on the technical aspects of their routine, like how they catch and release and what she, as a coach, can control. She only steps in when one of the girls shows emotions that overwhelm her performance.
Nadtotchii also considers environmental factors, as warm and humid temperatures can make it difficult to perform under the heat. Other teams may be used to scorching heat. Nadtotchii usually travels with her team a day or two earlier to train before hitting the stage.
A GoFundMe page has been established to help cover the cost of the girls to travel to Latin America for the competition.
