By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Two young gymnasts from Bowling Green earlier this summer earned top national honors.
Mackenzie Waddington, 12, placed first overall in Level 4 competing with girls 11-14, in the YMCA Gymnastics National Championships in Cincinnati.
Her brother, Xavier Waddington , 11, placed second in the boys competition.
The children of Ben and Jen Waddington, owners of Waddington Jewelers have participated in gymnastics at the Greater Toledo YMCA for about five years. Their mother, Jen Waddington, coaches in the program. Their father, Ben Waddington, said he drives the shuttle bus.
Mackenzie, who is a member of the GymCats, placed first in parallel bars and the vault, second in the beam, and fourth in the floor, putting her in first overall.
While girls compete in four events, the boys compete in six events.
Xavier placed first in the floor and second in his five other events – pommel horse mushroom; vault, parallel bars, rings, and high bars.
His father noted that a 14-year-old from California placed first in four of the events.
The floor, Ben said, is his favorite event. “I like the tumbling around and flipping on the floor,” he said.
Mackenzie doesn’t have a favorite, “I like it all.” There is an exception: she finds the beam “nerve wracking.”
Her mother, who competed in gymnastics when she was young, first introduced her daughter to the sport when Mackenzie was 5. They participated in a Mommy and Me program at the university. But Mackenzie wasn’t interested, and wasn’t interested when she went back the next year,
Finally, when she started gymnastics classes at the Y, she decided to stick with it, and joined the competitive team the next year.
The family brought Xavier along, and he started as well.
“He got into it because we were taking Mackenzie and they said, ‘we have a boys team.’ So, he tried it and liked it,” Ben Waddington said.
Far fewer boys participate than girls. At the championships, 2,700 athletes from across the country competed, but only about 50 were boys.
Growing up in Alliance, Jen competed for 10 years through the Y program. “I did gymnastics, and it was fun. It kept me in shape but competitively I did not go passed the Y.”
She values both the benefit of the sport as well as the approach taken by the Y. “Gymnastics teaches kids a lot of life skills. Outside the gym there’s time management. There’s goal setting. There’s a lot of strength and coordination so that even if they don’t continue in gymnastics, it’s a great combination for any other sport.”
Both Xavier and Mackenzie, who attend St. Aloysius School, participate in track and field. She runs, throws discus, and shot put, and does high jump. He does high jump, throws shot put, and runs in the 4 x 100 relay.
They train at the Y 9.5 hours a week. That’s not as many hours as at the private club, Jen Waddington said. “It’s a more balanced regimen” and a better fit for multi-sport athletes.
If a youngster is aiming at being a college gymnast, the Y coaches will help to the extent they can. But they’ll recommend a private club if they feel the athlete needs more intensive training.
“If you want to be an Olympian this is not right fit,” she said.
For the Waddington family, the Y has been a winning fit.
