Long hours will pave path to the Olympics

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Roundoffs, back walk overs, and hand springs are what Wendi Ecker Calliou does for fun.

The 11-year-old gymnast trains at Capital City Gymnastics Club 16 hours a week to pursue her dream of becoming an Olympic gymnast. She entered the world of competitive gymnastics last year when she qualified for the provincial gymnastics championships.

"I was really happy, scared and excited," said Ecker Calliou. "There was lots of tough competition."

Although Ecker Calliou didn't place in the four events of floor, vault, beam and bars that she competed in, she did come home with a relevant accomplishment that marked her competitive debut.

"I won two competitions," said Ecker Calliou. "One was for holding a handstand longer than the others and long distance walking across the floor."

"For Wendi it was a very big accomplishment to qualify; she trained very very hard and she made it," said coach Charlene Alton.

Although Ecker Calliou competes in all four gymnastics events, she excels in beam, which is her main focus.

"Her best event is beam, I would have to say she does the best on beam," said Alton. "She has a very nice line, that means when she does things they look very graceful and she is right down the centre of the beam. She is very tight and she shows it off, it looks very nice."

The hours of training necessary to become a champion gymnast takes plenty of hard work and determination , but it also requires support and commitment from family.

"It's not only the commitment from the child willing to work very hard in putting in those hours, but it requires a lot of family support," said Alton. "That can be from mother, father, grandparents whoever is willing to bring them to gym, pick them up, take them to all the competitions. To make sure she gets to all those extra workouts. Wendi is a very good example: she had a lot of private lessons with me that her grandmother paid for, so she could have that one-on-one instructional time, so she could improve some of her skills, and so that is very, very important."

Ecker Calliou's family has been extensively supportive as family members rotate responsibility in getting her to her training sessions and competitions.

"Between me and my daughter we split it up, we take turns doing lots of the things," said grandmother Doris Calliou. "It takes commitment that includes weekends for the trials and travel, and it is a lot of commitment for the whole family. Sometimes my husband comes and my other daughter, so it's like a whole family affair."

Ecker Calliou is currently training to qualify for this year's provincial gymnastics championships in May and she is feeling positive about the upcoming trials.

"I want to train really hard, win and get to the Olympics," said Ecker Calliou.