Scott eyes provincial podium

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This article was published 13/05/2016 (3661 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Spanning 16 feet in length, but just a mere four inches wide, the balance beam is a challenging gymnastics apparatus.

It’s also the most difficult for Emma Scott.

“You don’t have a lot of room to do things there and I’ve split the beam a couple times,” she said in between practice routines Thursday at the Brandon Eagles Gymnastics Club. “It’s not fun. It’s not my favourite.”

Although she admitted the beam scares her, the five-foot-three, 14-year-old has worked extensively on improving her state of mind when it comes to the beam and the uneven bars, the other apparatus she occasionally struggles with.

Scott’s coach, Alex Empey, said the Level 6 gymnast’s mental approach has improved during the season, which ends this weekend at provincials in Winnipeg.

Five other Eagles — Morgan Boryskiewich, Daphne Wiseman, Natasha Jones and Daphne and Rebecca Jones — will also be competing at provincials, in Level 5.

“More of her improvement has been mentally as opposed to physically,” Empey said of Scott. “She’s strong and powerful, so vault and floor are definitely her strong events, whereas we’ve noticed on beam and bars she has a bit of trouble, but she has started coming into her own. She has been placing better than she normally does and she’s really been working on believing in herself.”

Scott, who is a Grade 9 student at Vincent Massey, said the vault and floor routines are more power-oriented events — “not exactly as graceful as the other ones” — and they allow her to use more of her physicality.

She gets her athleticism from her mother, who stays in shape via yoga and running half-marathons.

“She always encourages my sister and I to stay fit because she was overweight once,” Scott said of her mother. “She tries to encourage us not to get there, so my mom’s my inspiration.”

Scott also dances weekly and used to be involved in ballet, both of which she said have parallels with gymnastics, especially when it comes to the floor routine.

While Scott has made strides this season, she and Empey are both looking ahead. Scott would love to move up a level and qualify for the western Canadian championships next year.

“She loves being here and she works hard and she’s starting to kind of come into her own,” Empey said. “She’s really improved at her physical ability and a lot of her difficulty she’s been working on it and I think next year it will definitely go up a little bit.”

However, her goal this weekend is to achieve excellence.

“I’m really, really excited. My last competition wasn’t exactly my best so I’m hoping to redeem myself for provincials and hopefully get first,” Scott said.

If she happens to win her level, Scott will be invited to a special banquet. The buffet she’s heard that exists is serving as a bit of extra motivation for her, too.

“I’ve never been so hopefully this is the year,” she said.

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