Makayla Beam from the Kicking Horse Gymnastics Team has had great success this year placing eighth overall in provincials. Beam, 16, qualified for provincials by being one of the top six girls, score-wise, in our zone.
Eight hundred athletes took part in the provincials which took place April 7th, 8th and 9th. Beam was the only representative from Golden. The Kicking Horse Gymnastics Team consists of nine Flyers, 15 Aerials and 125-non competitive members.
Since the age of three, Beam has been involved in gymnastics but stopped competing for four years at the age of 10. Now 16, Beam has become a competitive gymnast who has proven her skill time and time again.
Artistic gymnastics consists of four disciplines: Floor, which is basic gymnastics moves, tumbling and dance incorporated into a one minute routine, Bars, which is a routine of grips, spins, kips and dismount, Vault, which is front handsprings over a table and Beam, an event consisting of mounting, leaping and dismounting.
At provincials, Beam placed fourth on the beam, ninth on floor, 11 on vault and 22 on bars giving her fifth place overall.
“I used to train 14 hours a week when I was younger,” says Beam, “I travelled with a team and competed when I was little.” After moving to Golden five years ago, Beam did some recreational gymnastics but focused more on dance. “Since Christine came here last year I have become more focused on gymnastics rather than dance. I started training and competing last year but tore my knee during the Olympic demonstration sport event held at the rec plex last year.”
Beam’s knee hasn’t held her back too much. She trains eight hours while still going to high school and is working on gaining her Level 1 certification to coach the sport.
Beam will be attending a provincial coaching clinic, which she says will give her the chance to give back to the sport what she has learned from it.
