Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “.
A fairly rare occurrence in local sporting circles will be celebrated this weekend and will become official early next week.
Olivia Daniels of the Phoenix Gymnastics Club has committed to Fairmount State University in West Virginia for the Fall of 2021 and will be part of the Acro & Tumbling team.
Daniels is a Level 9 Provincial artistic gymnast, Level 8 Provincial Floor champion & provincial level 8 bronze vault medallist, and it’s rare that a performer from our area would be recruited in such a fashion and offered such an opportunity.
Daniels, a Grade 12 student at Owen Sound District, admits her desire was to attend post secondary in the United States as she saw nothing similar offered for gymnasts in Canada at the university level.
Daniels will be part of the Falcons 35 member Acro & Tumbling team, an activity she describes as a cross between cheerleading & gymnastics which features tossing, pyramid building and tumbling.
In the short term, Olivia Daniels has a number of specific goals.
As a performer, she’ll continue to be coached and trained by Petra Ballantyne at Phoenix Gymnastics, her coach since age 6 and the Level 2 days.
The hope is that she’ll be able to compete come early 2021, but again, COVID-19 has the final say on any projected dates.
And maybe more specifically, Daniels primary goal is to up her Grade Point Average prior to heading to West Virginia where she will study exercise science and then possibly move into coaching & physical therapy.
The official signing day for Olivia Daniels is Wednesday but in between, the Phoenix Club has a signing celebration planned for this weekend to mark a rare, but very special achievement.
I’m Fred Wallace