by MICHAEL DASHIELL
Sequim Gazette
For French exchange student Julie Pineau, some things need little translation.
For example, the thought of quick, strong strides leading to flips and turns and twists simply brings a smile to her face.
“I feel like I’m flying.”
Pineau and fellow Sequim High student Ennisa Albin have joined forces with more than a dozen Port Angeles athletes for the 2014-2015 high school season. Since Sequim has no team, athletes like Pineau and Albin are allowed to compete and score for the combined squad, although they are in a sense “on their own” come the postseason, says Port Angeles/Sequim team head coach Megan Hoover. Instead of joining Port Angeles athletes if the Roughriders advance to regionals and state meets, the Sequim athletes will have to try for postseason berths as individuals.
While the students may come from different schools, that doesn’t seem to be an issue, the coach says.
“I think there’s a big sense of camaraderie,” Hoover says. “They’re all part of the team.”
The transition to the team for Albin, a freshman at SHS, was relatively easy. A gymnast since third grade, she and family soon moved to the peninsula and she took middle school classes in Port Angeles. Like nearly all of the gymnasts on the Port Angeles squad, Albin also competes for the club Klahhane Gymnastics team.
Her favorite events? Easy. “Floor and beam,” she says.
Hoover says those are Albin’s best events, too (bars and vault are the two others high schoolers compete in). The coach says Albin is one of few athletes to have routines worth a possible 10 points; most have eight-point value routines.
The transition for Pineau was not as simple. While her sister was an exchange student to the United States about five years ago and gave her some insight into what her year would be like, Pineau knew very little beyond conversational English. Gymnastics, however, provided a common language.
A gymnast since she was eight years old, Pineau joined club teams in France; high schools in her country don’t offer gymnastics.
“I’m in love with gymnastics,” she says. “When I miss a practice, I’m sad.”
Hoover says the coaches knew they had something special in Pinaeu early on.
“It was obvious she was a good athlete,” Hoover says. “(In) an exchange year, it can be pretty lonely. This provided her a sense of family. She’s more comfortable, trusting.”
That seems to ring true when Pineau reveals, “It’s the best year of my life.”
As for her top events, Pineau says she like floor and vault and isn’t crazy about all the pain the beam event causes.
“She’s an all around competitor; she’s good at all four (events), a real solid tumbler and vaulter,” Hoover says of Pineau.
The coach says Pineau has a good chance to qualify for the state competition in floor and vault, and while Pineau may dislike the beam, Hoover says she’s really good at it.
Hoover likes her team’s chances of a deep run into the postseason. Sub-regionals is set for Feb. 5 at Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines, and Hoover in particular has high hopes for a number of Roughriders, including senior Elizabeth DeFrang, sophomore Maya Wharton and freshmen Cassii Middlestead and Sydney Miner.
And who knows? Perhaps their teammates from Sequim will be along for the ride.
