Youth Olympics
Cambridge’s Emma Spence adding to her international experience with a trip to the Youth Olympic Games
Gymnast tumbles her way to Argentina
CAMBRIDGE — When she returns home from her latest adventure, Emma Spence is looking forward to snapping photographs and spending time in the kitchen.
For now, her hobbies are on the back burner and the focus is on school work, artistic gymnastics and representing Canada at the Oct. 6-18 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.
Spence, along with sprinter/hurdler Adam Exley and archer Benjamen Lee, both of Kitchener, are three of the 71 athletes that will represent this country in the third edition of the global competition. Archery coach Shawn Riggs of Kitchener is one of the 28 coaches who will travel to Argentina, the Canadian Olympic Committee announced Tuesday.
“It’s huge; this is something I’ve wanted to do ever since hearing about the Youth Olympics being a thing,” said the 15-yearold Spence, a Grade 10 student at Père-René-de-Galinée. “I’ve been working toward this for the past two years, so this is very exciting for me.”
Spence is coached by Denis Vachon, Elvira Saadi and Victoria Moors at Cambridge-based Dynamo Gymnastics and is in her second and final year on Canada’s national junior team. The Cambridge native has previously represented her country at competitions in France, Japan and Colombia and will be making her second trip to Argentina this year.
The current campaign has been a successful one for Spence, who started in February with a four-medal performance (three golds, one bronze) at Elite Canada in Gatineau, Que. Since then, she finished sixth all-around at the International Gymnix Junior Cup in Montreal; fifth allaround with a team silver at the Pacific Rim in Medellin, Colombia; second allaround at the Canadian championship in Waterloo; and fourth all-around with a team silver at the Junior Pan American championships in Argentina.
The impressive results come at a price for Spence, who puts in long hours and must sacrifice time with friends and family to be successful on the world stage. Her average day, now that school is back in session, includes spending her morning at Père-René-de-Galinée, training for five hours in the afternoon at Dynamo Gymnastics and heading home to do homework. Online classes are also part of the package.
“I don’t really get a chance to go out to parties or anything like that, but when you’re at competitions, that’s when you realize the sacrifices are actually worth it. You meet people from all around the world and that’s something that regular people don’t have a chance to do,” she said.
“I love being able to perform and show everyone what I’ve been working hard to achieve, especially at these big competitions, where you meet new people and show them what you can do.”
Spence has been competing in gymnastics since she was seven and will make the jump to the senior level next year, most likely making her debut at Elite Canada. She lists the Woo sisters, Rose and Victoria, and Ellie Black as Canadian gymnasts she admires and is looking forward to see how she stacks up against them when the 2019 season rolls around.
Prior to that, and after she returns home from Argentina, she’s pumped about creating cookies, cupcakes and muffins and actually enjoying them.
“I really like baking but it kind of sucks because I can’t eat it (while in training) and I end up giving everything away to other people, which is nice,” she said.
“When I get back, I plan on baking a lot and I’ll probably eat some of it.”
Exley is a Grade 12 student at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School who earlier this summer represented Canada at a U18 competition in Jamaica. He trains with Cambridge-based Invictus Athletics and, in August, finished first in the 110metre hurdles at the Legion Canadian Youth national track and field championship in Brandon, Man.
Lee is a Grade 11 student at Kitchener Collegiate Institute who last year had a fifth-place finish in his age group at the world archery youth championships in Rosario, Argentina. That outstanding performance led to Lee earning one of 55 Fuelling Athlete and Coaching Excellence grants from Petro-Canada earlier this year. He punched his ticket to Buenos Aires with a strong performance at qualifying event in Guatemala City.
The Youth Olympic Games, which were first held in 2010 in Singapore, will attract close to 4,000 athletes between the ages of 15 and 18 to Buenos Aires. They will compete in 241 medal events across 32 sports.