Taking the road less traveled in gymnastics has worked well for Sarah Flett, who eschewed NCAA offers and at 22 years old is poised to be one of a deep Canadian team's breakout stars at Elite Canada this week in Mississauga, Ontario.
At last the past two Canadian National Championships, Flett has impressed everybody (including at least one NCAA coach who offered her a scholarship a few years ago) with a strong double layout on floor combined with clean, mature execution on all events.
At her first major international competition -- Elite Massilia in Marseille last fall -- Flett, who is coached by Rachelle Valel and Peter Grozdanovic at Springers Gymnastics in Manitoba, won silver on vault behind the likes of Tatiana Nabieva.
At an age when the body and spirit can begin to burn out, Flett loves the journey in gymnastics and has no plans for it to end anytime soon. "I just wish to enjoy to process because if you don’t enjoy the everyday grind, then it’s just not worth it!" she wrote recently in an e-mail interview, where she took the time to answer a few questions about her still budding gymnastics career, why she opted out of the NCAA and what she enjoys (and doesn't) about the sport. Here's what else she had to say:
Q: Let's start at the beginning -- how and why did you get involved in gymnastics? Did you love it right away?
Sarah Flett: "I started gymnastics when I was 3 because my sister (older by 3 years) was already in the sport. From what I recall, I loved it. I was that irritating kid that bounced around in line while waiting for a turn -- I would love to get rid of the video evidence! Nonetheless, I actually quit gymnastics when I was 10 because I hated it -- I was afraid of everything and just wanted to play a sport where I wouldn’t be afraid to go to training everyday. I played badminton and got in to rowing and dance for 2 1/2 years. When I was 13, a new gym opened and I went to visit. I decided to try recreational camps for the summer just for fun. It was during this time that I found a new love for the sport. And here I am now, 22 and still in love!"
Q: Was there anything you found difficult to learn? Conversely, what came really easy to you?
Flett: "I have always been strong and powerful so skills and movements that require quickness have always been the easiest. However, the beginnings of backward twisting I remember being difficult. I think learning a full twist took the most time, but it is such an important basic, it was worth the time. Because I am so strong and not flexible, I have found any skill on bars takes longer for me to learn -- what can I say, I was not designed for bars! Specifically, giant 1/2 probably took the most time."
Q: You're 22, right? I heard you were courted by the NCAA. Why did you choose not to go that route?
Flett: "Yes, I am 22. I was indeed offered some pretty amazing opportunities college wise, and people ask me all the time why I didn’t take any offers. Firstly, I have developed a rather irreplaceable relationship between myself and my coaches. I feel like we have continued to grow and learn together and are just hitting our stride. Had I have come through the system at a standard pace, I probably would have been ready to move on to college gymnastics. Sometimes you just feel you’re in the right place, and I feel like I am."
Q: What are the advantages to being an elite gymnast who's no longer a teenager? Any disadvantages?
Flett: "I think as an older athlete I appreciate being in the sport more. There are other responsibilities as an adult that you have to take on - you’re no longer just a 'gymnast.' I think I have a better perspective about what’s important. Yes, to be at the highest level of anything you have to spend a lot of time, energy, and focus. But you can’t do gymnastics forever and not many can make a living off of doing it, so you have to work hard in all other life’s areas so you can be just as successful and happy when you are no longer in the gym. The disadvantages are as you would probably guess. I can’t do as many numbers on certain events, so more focus is required for each element to make it as well executed as possible. Thank goodness for TumbleTraks and trampolines!"
Q: Could you describe what a typical day is like for you?
Flett: "Depending on my class schedule, I’ll head off to school sometime in the morning, spend a few hours there for my classes, head to the library or Starbucks to study, and then return home, eat, and get ready to go to the gym. Two days a week I’ll head to the gym an hour before practice starts to get some extra time on event while there’s no one else in the gym. I train five hours a day, five days a week. During the week I am done at 8:30 so I’ll head home after gym, eat dinner with my family, ice, watch some TV and then go to bed."
Q: What's the best thing about gymnastics, in your mind?
Flett: "I love the challenge of the sport. You have to be so many things all at once -- graceful, poised, strong, fast, coordinated, controlled... I feel like the gym provides a great place for kids to learn how to problem solve. You have a problem (being afraid, learning a skill, dealing with teammates and coaches, injuries etc.) and you have to learn how to overcome that problem. I am only 22 and haven’t experienced that much 'life' yet, but I think being in the gym is a miniature 'life' where you encounter difficult challenges every day and you are expected and encouraged to conquer them."
Q: What's the hardest thing about gymnastics?
Flett: "Probably the politics. I genuinely care and wish the best for all the athletes I meet which probably hampers my 'game playing' abilities. I know egos, attitudes, and personas are all apart of any sport, but I think I’ve definitely had to enlarge or at least pretend I have a big ego to play with the best of them. In the end I would just want any athlete’s gymnastics to speak for itself, regardless or where they are from. Secondly, as any coach or athlete would find, it’s difficult to know when to do more and when to slow down. To be consistent, make improvements, and learn new skills you have to put the numbers in to perform your best when it counts, but if you overtrain you’re left injured and unable to perform at all. So I think there is a constant balance gymnasts and coaches are always trying to find between doing high volume and [keeping healthy]."
Q: How do you feel about the current code of points?
Flett: "I hope the code progresses in a way that considers the athletes first and foremost. They should never take away touch warmup - it’s vital for the gymnasts’ bodies and minds. Either way, if they want to make competitions more exciting or appealing to watch, changes should never sacrifice athletes’ warmup time or anything that will add extra risk or anxiety -- gymnastics is dangerous enough!"
Q: How do you deal with fear in gymnastics?
Flett: "Fear is good to have in gymnastics - up to a certain point. It can keep you focused and safe or it can cloud your focus and hamper performance. When I’m afraid to perform a skill, I will try and imagine myself performing it and how it will feel exactly when I do it. I will watch videos of other people doing the skill and rehearse in my head what it will feel like when I perform the same skill. However, sometimes fears are not “logical” - these are the most frustrating because you can’t understand them. When this happens, I go back to the basics of the skill and perform lots of numbers where I am 100% successful. This helps to rebuild my confidence and the proper connections between my mind and my body."
Q: Who inspires you?
Flett: "My parents. Simply, they are good people, who love and work hard. I take inspiration from everywhere, whether it’s the kid in the gym who’s excited she learned her first cartwheel or the person who holds the door open for five other people before they come inside. I am a quiet observer. I learn and find inspiration everywhere I go about how to be a better person. Gymnastically, I definitely followed Kyle Shewfelt’s story. I enjoy reading his blogs. They often change my perspective about something and in turn change my actions for the better."
Q: When can we look forward to seeing you in competition again?
Flett: "My next official competition will be Elite Canada. Hopefully, Canada will be running on a high from qualifying the women’s team to the Olympics."
Q: What are your goals in gymnastics?
Flett: "My main goal is to make our Canadian national team and compete for Canada. Other than that I just wish to enjoy to process because if you don’t enjoy the everyday grind, then it’s just not worth it!"
Q: What do you like to do when you're not in the gym?
Flett: "I love having long dinners at my house. We can sit for hours just talking and eating - it’s a nice thing that I appreciate because I know it won’t be like that forever. I also have a strange and slightly cliche favorite moment. Every night when I come home from the gym around 9ish, I come up to the back door and I can see into my kitchen. I see my mom and my dad chatting while getting dinner ready and it makes me think 'you are pretty darn lucky to have this.' Not everyone has a great family and a warm house to go home to -- but I do and that’s pretty darn awesome. At that point, 20 missed Jaegars and 10 missed beam routines seems pretty insignificant."
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