New Brunswick has some high hopes for 12-year-old gymnast Sarah Perreault — they hope she’ll be the first from the province to make it on the national team in 10 years
“When you love something you want to work for it and so I think that helped me a lot,” said Perreault, who is competing at the Atlantic Rhythmic Gymnastic Championships this weekend in Moncton.
Perreault has only been performing rhythmic gymnastics for a year and a half, but her coach, Stephanie Legere says she is a natural athlete.
“Stretching an athlete — the pain is a lot…usually the athlete will say stop right away and you can feel it in the athletes muscles — but when you feel it in her muscles, she says ‘keep going,'” Legere said.
Legere was the last New Brunswicker to be on the national team back in 2006. She ranked fourth in Canada and sees the grit and determination she had herself in young Perreault.
“She is just appealing on the carpet, you can tell she loves it and [has] really found the sport for her,” said Legere.
Perreault won big at the Atlantic championships last year and is hoping for a repeat performance this weekend.
“I try to think of doing each move at a time and perfecting just that one move and not thinking about ‘oh I have to do this next, I have to do that,'” Perreault said.
“Just forgetting about the audience and forget about that in my own bubble and just take one step at a time.”
Her favorite routine is done with a hula hoop, which she says she loves because she used to play with a hula hoop as a child.
She says she hopes her determination will one day put her on a podium at the Olympics.
“When I was younger I always wanted to go — like watching it on TV, it was always a dream,” Perrault said.
First, she has to make it on national team in May. She says the idea of being the first to represent her province in ten years would feel just a good as that moment she knows she’s nailed her routine.
“It feels really good, it feels like all that hard work paid off,” she said.