Gymnasts getting jump on regional competition

Amy Blyckert takes a breath, eyes focused, muscles relaxed and ready. The music begins and her teammates call out encouragement.

“Come on, Ame. You got this.”

As she moves with the music to the mat’s corner, they continue to cheer. Compact and powerful, she sprints, launches into the air and flips before landing back on her feet, back arched, arms held high.

“Good job, kid,” hollers her Northwest Gymnastics Academy coach, Mike Armstrong, before she makes another pass from the floor exercise she’s perfected to perform at the Level 10 Junior Olympic National Championships meet in Iowa. It’s her second year to qualify.

“Amy will do a double flip on the floor,” Armstrong said, noting it’s a technical skill that earns extra points. “It’s not normal to go through the air and flip twice.”

In quick succession, three of Blyckert’s teammates take turns on the floor, then the uneven bars, practicing for their own championship meet this weekend. Younger gymnasts turn to watch, occasionally mesmerized.

Alina Helbing, 13; Kyra Mcfeely, 15; and Kennedy Cribbs, 15, all from Northwest Gymnastics Academy, are the only local athletes to qualify for the Women’s Junior Olympic Level 9 Western Championships meet. Brooklynn Tarr from Dynamic Gymnastics in Spokane qualified as an alternate.

They’re excited that this year the prestigious meet is in Spokane, hosted by Spokane Gymnastics and the Spokane Sports Commission at the Spokane Convention Center, Friday through Sunday.

“It’s the same gymnastics you watch on TV,” said Spokane Gymnastics owner and meet director Nadine Burgess. Some of the 450 athletes competing this weekend have Olympic aspirations for 2020, she said.

“This is their biggest meet of the season,” Burgess said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s amazing what these gymnasts can do.”

The gymnasts compete in the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise against the top Level 9 gymnasts from the western half of the country. To qualify, first they had to perform well at local meets, then state, then a multi-state regional meet.

At the Region 2 meet, Mcfeely and Cribbs tied for first in their age group in the floor exercise while Helbling won hers. Cribbs also won the all-around title. To get to this skill level, she said, takes sacrifice and time.

“You have to put in time to get the skills you want,” she said. “When you do well, you feel accomplished.”

The girls practice about 20 hours a week, year-round, though they say they gladly give up other activities and time with friends to train.

“You guys are my best friends,” said Cribbs, leaning in to hug her teammates.

For Armstrong, seeing their confidence grow is the best part of coaching.

“It’s a sport where you’re constantly being criticized or you criticize yourself,” he said. “The feeling of doing it, there’s something about it that’s so personal, dealing with fears and doubts. It’s very gratifying to see a kid get that confidence, to see their shoulders go back.”

Even at this level, where walking handstands and trampoline tumbling are mere warmups, the athletes said they constantly face fear as they learn new tricks and compete for the judges.

“Gymnastics teaches you how to live your life,” Blyckert said. “Facing fear, you have to be strong, flexible, quick and have balance.”

To overcome that fear, Blyckert said she focuses on the skills she’s built.

Still, falling in practice is inevitable.

Blyckert said when watching a competition like the championships this weekend, spectators see a polished routine. “You don’t see all the times they fell,” she said.

“It’s not as easy as it looks,” agreed Helbling. “When you do it good, it looks easy.”

For Northwest Gymnastics Academy athletes, it often looks easy. The gym, which opened in 1984, has qualified gymnasts for the national meet every year since 1989.

“It’s a great gym. They’re the only local gym that consistently sends gymnasts to nationals and western,” said Jun Helbling, Alina’s mother. “I appreciate Mike and Nancy’s dedication and how much time they put in. They really care.”

Helbing enrolled her daughter in gymnastics classes when Alina was in preschool, never dreaming she’d become so competitive.

“At that age, I just wanted her to be coordinated,” Helbling said. “The only option was gymnastics and soccer. Soccer is outdoors, so…” She paused and laughed. They chose the indoor sport.

“Alina loves gymnastics. As a parent, I like it because it teaches her time management and she stays out of trouble,” said Helbing, noting her daughter, along with most of her teammates, maintains A’s in school.

“They’re all good students,” Armstrong said. “They tend to be diligent and structure their time.”

Though the girls train four hours a day, five days a week, Nancy Armstrong said it’s significantly less than the 30 to 35 hours typical for Level 9 and 10 gymnasts across the country.

“For them to be midpack and keep up with those girls, for us that’s a huge accomplishment,” she said. “They can go do some school functions and not worry about it.”

The coaches and Level 9 gymnasts said they’re looking forward to showcasing all that training in front of a home-town audience.

“They don’t get a whole lot of recognition,” said Mike Armstrong. “They love what they do and are competing against the best at their level.”

“I love the whole experience of competing,” Mcfeely said. “Overcoming your fears, that one shot to do it in front of the judges. All our hard work has paid off for this one meet.”