St. Albert gymnast Emily Pilat returns to westerns wiser from last year’s experience.
“I learned how to have confidence,” said the 11th all-around Junior Olympic Level 9 (14-plus) finisher out of 27 competitors at the 2016 championships in Richmond, B.C.
“It was a new stage so a higher level than I’m usually used to, like provincials.”
Pilat, 15, was poised to improve on her western debut this weekend in Brandon, Man.
“I want to make it to finals for two or more events instead of just one,” said the sixth-place performer on floor last year.
The Dynamyx Gymnastics Club athlete was satisfied with her results as the third highest-ranked Albertan on the seven-person provincial team on floor and all-around.
“For the first time it was really good,” Pilat said. “Being sixth best on floor out of four provinces means a lot so I was doing something right.”
Was she surprised?
“No. My floor was strong all year.”
Pilat also placed 11th on beam, 16th on bars and 20th on vault.
“My vault could’ve been a lot better. I fell on one of them so now I’m coming back with an upgraded vault. I did a tuck at westerns so now I’m doing pike. I’ve upgraded the difficulty just a bit.”
Pilat qualified for this year’s meet by placing seventh all-around at the University of Calgary International Cup/Trials to Westerns last month.
“I stole the last place to go so now I’ve got to prove myself and pull out what I’ve got now.”
The Grade 9 Vincent J. Maloney student tied for fifth on vault and was sixth on bars, seventh on floor and 10th on beam.
“She started out really well in that meet but I think honestly for most of the athletes participating the nerves got the better of them at the end. We finished on balance beam so the way the rotation went was they started off on floor, which most of the girls love, and progressed to vault and then comes the hard events,” said Dynamyx coach Kelly Baird. “A lot of them sort of fell apart at that point so up until bars was finished she was looking great. She was top three kind of thing but whether you’re going to stay on bars or whether you’re going to stay on beam kind of got in everyone’s head so that is something especially we’ve been trying to concentrate on since we’ve come back (from trials) and that is not let it get to her.”
Baird is happy with Pilat’s progression since the season started.
“We missed a couple of meets at the beginning because we tried to do a little extra training this year so more preparedness for the athletes and I think it worked in her favour. She came out stronger than normal at the beginning,” Baird said. “She’s done really well on her events, we’ve just had to work a little bit on building confidence but every meet seems to have helped her come along.”
A more confident Pilat should pave dividends in her second trip to westerns.
“Experience is going to play a big role,” Baird said. “She’s going as an independent athlete coached by other coaches at this meet and is totally fine with that. She just seems to be in a good place. We’ve done lots of repetition of each routine so she seems to have again gained confidence from all of that and she has placed quite high in most of her events this year. She’s managed to stay on the balance beam, which is a big thing for girls, and that will help her out once she’s back in the big arena again.”
A marked improvement in confidence is Pilat’s biggest strength since the last westerns.
“I wasn’t always the most confident person out there. I would just do my thing and then get off instead of expressing more emotion like other gymnasts do,” said the 2015 alternate for westerns.
Pilat uses “key words” for motivation, including the slogan “Just Do It.”
“I’m a Nike girl too so that one helps.”
Pilat’s last meet before westerns was provincials earlier this month in Fort McMurray.
“It boosted up my confidence a lot more,” she said of finishing third on bars, fifth on vault and beam and tied for seventh on floor for fourth all-around.
“I hit every routine but it could’ve been neater. I fell on beam on the dismount (and) I would’ve been first on beam if I didn’t do that.”
A “tiring” weekly practice schedule cuts into her classroom time at VJM.
“I train 18 hours a week, four and a half hours on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday so I have to leave school early every day that I have to train,” said Pilat, who has high hopes of achieving Level 10 status next year for a shot at nationals. “I have to upgrade all of my routines to do that.”
This is the seventh year in the competitive stream for Pilat and her first major breakthrough was qualifying for the 2014 Alberta Winter Games.
“I’ve been in gymnastics since I was two so this is going on my 13th year,” she added. “I just love the feeling of being able to fly.”
