After a pair of slip ups on her ground and beam routines, Megan Phillips vaulted and spun her way to a top spot to end 2018 in style in Repentigny. (Daniel J. Rowe, The Eastern Door)
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In gymnastics, competitors need to know that a mistake or two will happen, but that those mistakes must be forgotten within seconds.
Seventeen-year-old Megan Phillips, who competes in the elite Level 10 gymnastics category, won her second Quebec Gymnastic competition Friday night in Repentigny against the top gymnasts in Quebec.
“I started on the beam,” said the future Ball State University prospect. “It didn’t go as well as I hoped.”
Phillips landed two back flips on the beam in style, but lost her footing doing a side, and was forced to remount the bar. She finished well, shrugged it off and hit her floor routine.
On the floor, a quality performance was hampered a little bit when Phillips drifted slightly outside the boundary on the last pass of the floor routine.
The two errors meant she would need near perfection on the vault and uneven bars if she were to win her second competition of the year.
Did she nail those two routines?
Yes she did.
“I was so proud of my vault,” said Phillips. “Then I went on the bars and had another great routine. Those two routines really helped me regain the points I lost because of my fall.”
Not only did she regain her points, she pushed past Myrelle Morin to take top spot and win the day.
“I was surprised to end up in first place because of the fall,” said Phillips.
It was Phillips’ second first-place finish of the year.
For Mike Phillips, watching his daughter excel consistently is nothing new.
“I’m used to it, honestly,” said Mike. “I only get nervous for her on beam and bars. Falling on the beam can ruin her confidence. I was happy she was able to shake off her one fall.”
Falling, however, is a part of gymnastics, and Phillips said gymnasts need to shrug off every mistake and not dwell on them.
“I just try to forget it happened and move on to the next routine since I can’t redo or change the routine I just did, but I can make the next routine better,” she said.
Of course, that next routine Friday night was the vault, which Phillips executed flawlessly followed by her excellent bars performance.
She spoke about the feeling after pulling off the vault without a hiccup.
“You just get this feeling of relief since you are done, and of pride,” said Phillips. “I was just really happy and proud that my hard work paid off.”
sports@ed.quanglo.ca
