CANADA vs- USA

A couple of weekends ago, our team had a camp with the Americano's and then faced off against them in a friendly competition. It was a little bit early in the year for the guys to be completely prepared, but they did a good job! GO-CANADA-GO!

When I initially heard about the camp back a month ago or so, I decided that I would not attend, not only because I would be just returning from Hawaii, but I also didn't want to be embarrassed by not being in the shape that I want to be in.

It's kind of weird how I write and show my progress on this blog, but I don't want people to actually see my efforts up close and personal. I guess I feel like I am risking a little bit more when I am exposing my weaknesses. No matter how hard you try, you feel like a little bit of an idiot when people who are your competitors are able to see exactly how far behind them you are. It's not the greatest feeling for you, but probably a pretty good feeling for them! Ha, Kyle can't even run yet...team Canada is so screwed! I thought it would be better to have them wonder, or check out this blog, than to let them know where I really am in the gym. Not that I am disappointed with where I am, I am just not at a point where I want to show off my stuff to my competition!

Anyway, I watched the meet on Friday night and the USA won. Darn it! The Americans looked good though. Blaine Wilson is back...33 years old...that's flippin' insane! The Canadian guys looked good too. So good, I took pictures of them all for you to see (Bow chicka wah wah):


















































































In order of appearance: Adam Wong (A Wong), Nathan Gafuik (Nate, Nate Dog or Naysin), Ken Ikeda (Kenji), David Kikuchi (Dave, DK...creative, I know!), Grant Golding (G or G-spot (we're a bunch of guys, give us a break!)) and Brandon Oneill (Busy B or B sac...). I don't really have a nick name, although the guys at U of C sometimes call me Spesh (like Special K) or Shewfly.

And a couple more contenders for Olympic spots, Casey Sandy (Case) and Jared Walls (J-rad or Troll) but they didn't compete:


































I wanted to take a moment to show off my team. These guys are awesome! I know that I get a lot of the media attention, but every single one of these guys has been extremely committed to gymnastics for their entire life as well. Each one of these guys has represented Canada at major international competitions. Each one of these guys is dreaming about achieving amazing results in China. Each one of these guys basically eats, sleeps and breathes gymnastics right now and I think that they deserve exposure and recognition just as much as I do.

I want everyone to know that I would not have been able to achieve the results I have without my team. We push each other and we support each other. I want everyone to know that these were the guys who qualified this team to the Olympics. I want everyone to know that this team is going to surprise a lot of people in Beijing. This is the best that Canada has ever had (sorry to all of you past National team members out there, but it's true!). We achieved history in 2006 by coming 5th in the qualification (behind the super powers China, Japan, Russia and Romania) and 6th in the finals. I have a feeling that more historical results are going to be earned in Beijing!

I can't wait to get back into the mix and show that I deserve the honor of competing alongside these awesome athletes, and more importantly, incredible individuals.

Thanks for your support guys (and we'll get our revenge on the USA in China!),


Kyle