Four lucky girls from the 100 Mile House District got to show off their rhythmic gymnastics skills at the 2018 BC Games in Kamloops, running from Feb. 22 to 25.
“I liked all of it,” said Cate McArthur, one of the athletes on the team of four. “I liked when we got placed fourth, that was amazing.”
McArthur, Alexa Ohlund, Nicole Hollander, Allie Donnelly range from ages 10-12 and competed as a team twice. Hollander also competed as an individual three times. As a team, they came in fourth out of six teams, but one team didn’t actually compete but still put on a performance.
Their team performance was a ball routine, where they pass a ball or throw a ball while doing dance steps and jumping. One of Hollander’s solo performances was a rope performance, where she essentially did turns and jumps while throwing the rope to her self.
They can only compete in the B.C. Games once but enjoyed the experience a lot.
“It was fun. I liked it because you have a lot of independence because your parents weren’t with you the whole time,” said McArthur.
Three of them have been in the sport for over three years, with only Donnelly being in her second year. Most of them joined up because of their siblings or thought it looked like it could be a good time.
“I always wanted to do gymnastics since I was little. It looked like it was cool so I wanted to join,” said Ohlund.
McArthur found it great that she got to see her sister, Jill perform in the games during the past and this time it was the opposite, though the elder McArthur apparently had no tips for the youngster.
All four of them agreed their parents and coaches were the biggest influences on their minor rhythmic gymnastics career. With Hollander being the eldest, the three younger girls said they also looked up to her.
As they are only allowed to compete in the games once, they are looking at coaching when they are older.
“I can teach them because I got taught and I could coach the future generations,” said Hollander.
Rhythmic gymnastics focusses on the technical handling of apparatuses such as ropes or balls. Other objects are clubs, ribbons and hoops.
The sport was developed in the 1800s but didn’t become competitive until the 1940s in the Soviet Union and eventually became an Olympic sport in 1984.
