St. Albert gymnast Marisa Dick medalled for the first time in five trips to the Canadian championships by winning gold on floor.
The Grade 10 Bellerose Composite High School student also finished fourth all-around in the open 16-plus category at nationals recently in Ottawa.
“It means a lot. I was super surprised,” Dick said. “I was really happy because I wanted to win a medal at nationals and it finally happened.”
The Trinidad and Tobago national team performer pulled off her 1:30 minute routine without any major flaws.
“I just made all my leaps and turns and stayed on my feet,” said the Capital City Gymnastics Club member.
Dick, 16, was nervous going into nationals with only a week of preparation after a hyper-extended left arm cut into her training.
“About two months before nationals I wasn’t really training,” she said. “I hadn’t done a full floor routine for a while before I came to nationals so I’m glad it went as well as it did.”
Dick also placed seventh on bars, eighth on beam and tied for eighth on vault.
“I did as good as I thought I could do,” said the second all-around open gymnast at provincials.
Dick had hoped for a better showing on bars and beam but was satisfied with her vault.
“I’m usually better at beam. It’s my favourite and it usually goes the best in training,” she said. “I was fairly happy with my vault because I did a lower level vault than I usually do. The difficulty wasn’t as big.”
Last year Dick placed ninth all-around in the junior high performance division and the year before was unable to crack the top 10 in her junior debut at nationals.
This year Dick was restricted to the open division because of her international commitments with Trinidad and Tobago. Next week she will attend the country’s national championships.
“I’m doing more like a demonstration when I’m there. I’m not really competing against anybody else,” Dick said. “I just want to do the best that I can do and show them that I’m still as good as I was last year.”
Dick will wear Trinidad and Tobago’s red, black and white colours at the Pan American Gymnastics Championships, Aug. 6 to 12 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and at worlds, Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 in Antwerp, Belgium.
“I’m super excited,” said Dick, who has dual citizenship because her mom, Hannifer, was born in the Caribbean country.
Dick was the first junior elite gymnast to perform for Trinidad and Tobago at the 2012 Pan American Games in Columbia. She tied for sixth on floor, placed seventh on vault and finished 15th all-around out of 35 gymnasts.
“It was really honouring because I was making history in the country. They’ve never really had high level gymnasts before in Trinidad,” Dick said. “I did feel pressure for that first competition but now I know they just want me to do my best.
“It also boosted my confidence for sure because I know sort of what to expect now.”
The five-foot gymnast has modest goals for both competitions.
“I hope to make event finals on any of the four events. That would be great,” Dick said of the Pan American meet. “If I could get an event final at worlds that would be amazing too.”
Dick is feeling good about herself while preparing for the biggest meets of her budding career.
“My confidence has been really built up this year,” said the bronze medallist on vault at the 2011 Massilia Cup, a junior/senior high performance meet in Marseille, France, with a provincial team made up of representation from the Capital City and Stampede City clubs. “I’m not really working on a certain event, I’m just working hard at all of them. On bars I’ve improved. I’ve got more consistent and cleaner when I compete. Vault is one I have to improve on but I think I have the best chance of getting event finals in that event.”
