January to May 2018 Competition Season

The first full competitive season in 4 years was full of challenges and memories. Competing as a High Performance Junior on as many as all 6 events (University of Calgary International Cup March 23, 2018) was an accomplishment in itself. Each injury and surgery over the last 4-5 years meant time away from the events, a lengthy post green light rehab period, re learning skills and the body adjusting to having grown taller since last doing skills, and one part that was not as strong yet as the rest. That led to more injuries at times, frustration and opportunities to practice patience and mental performance training.

September and October 2017, returning to events after 8 weeks in a brace post tibia surgery (July 5th surgery, green light September 14th) led to some persistent soreness in the left elbow, but no lower body pain surprisingly! Elijah reported that the tibia avulsion injury and surgery was one of the easiest to recover from at his September 2017 surgical follow up. The elbow pain persisted on pommel horse and parallel bars through early November, then thankfully resolved. The sports doctor had determined that it was some swelling in the joint but no tendonitis or growth plate involvement. It may have resulted from the months off the left shoulder (February to May 2017) to heal a previously undiagnosed shoulder fracture. Elijah had just been cleared to strengthen the shoulder and return to events when he avulsed the tibia growth plate on a normal front layout, front layout double twist landing. 8 weeks of compression sleeves, ice, physiotherapy and modified training helped heal the elbow.

November 2017 saw a bone bruise on the right heel from layout tkatchev on high bar. The swelling and pain lasted all the way til March, 2018! Thankfully, he was able to perform 5 compulsory Junior MAG routines at the December Elite Testing Event and qualify to compete at Elite Canada for the first time in 5 years (he had actually qualified in 2016 and 2017 but had to withdraw both years due to injury):

Elite Canada Screening Event December 2017

The smiles speak volumes to that moment.

Although the right heel bone bruise hampered vault and floor preparation, Elijah competed 5 optional routines (no pommel horse) at the first National Qualifier at GymPower January 13th, 2018. Again it was a positive experience, competing some skills he had never had the opportunity to compete before (tkatchev on high bar, tsuk layout 1/1 on vault and various rings skills). Endurance in routines would come as the season went on. The meet ended with floor happening after 10:30pm! Juniors from China and Saskatchewan joined Elijah as the only Alberta Junior, in the competition which made for lots of great camaraderie.  It was also a great time with friends from Saskatchewan. The boys all went out to dinner at midnight after awards!

GymPower 2018 First National Qualifier

The time between GymPower and Elite Canada was very tight and the right heel had flared up again, but preparation continued and we traveled to Quebec City, Quebec for Elite Canada; the first Elite Canada competition for Elijah in 5 years. It was a very positive experience with renewed acquaintances, time with friends in the hotel and being on the national stage again in a phenomenal venue. Although the heel was the main issue, Elijah qualified for the Vault final (top 6 among 20 juniors) day 2. The vault was good on the day for a happy Bronze medal! He also completed a full floor routine with no falls, rings, high bar and parallel bars. Endurance became a bit of an issue towards the last routines in the All Around, but coach Bin was very happy considering optional routines were only started the month before. Physical testing went well considering all the time off upper body work last year (June 2016 - June 1, 2017 shoulder fracture) and he was 2nd in Flexibility.

Elite Canada February 2018

Elite Canada February 2018

Following Elite Canada, preparation for the University of Calgary International Cup began in earnest. All was well with the right heel bone bruise easing off, when the right wrist and forearm took over with pain on pommel horse and parallel bars. Three weeks later with physio, some training modification and icing, the right wrist and forearm more or less resolved but the left wrist became painful along the ulna side. Dr. Auld diagnosed a ligament strain and prescribed heat, ice, taping and reduced training load. Unfortunately the wrist worsened leading up to UCIC which led to a disappointing meet. The front giant/endo healy type skills on high bar were particularly painful as was the whole of parallel bars and pommel horse. In any event, a huge win was Elijah's first meet in 5 years competing all six events. It was an international event with Juniors from USA as well as Canadian national team members. He tied for 6th on vault, but was bumped out of finals and was 7th on high bar (also just out of the finals).

UCIC 2018 Highlights

A week's rest from routines helped the left wrist settle. Nonetheless, we were concerned enough that the doctor ordered an x ray the next week which showed growth plate irritation and edema over the carpals. An MRI the following week confirmed that there was no ligament or tendon damage but the growth plate was inflamed. Dr. Auld prescribed more rest and modified training - no pommels, less parallel bars and icing after every training. That seemed to work for a time but in early May the recovery had plateaued. 

In the meantime after virtually full rest from events for 3 days, Elijah competed 5 events at Provincials, removing some elements (flares on floor and endo healy on high bar) in order to compete and maintain eligibility for Nationals. Thankfully, his wrist felt ok during the meet and he was able to compete a full parallel bars routine with new peach to giant mount and land his dismount as well as a full high bar routine (without endo healy but did make giant after tkatchev). He had great warm ups as well including sticking a 2.5 back layout on floor. The joy in this meet was definitely at a high.

Alberta Provincial Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2018

Provincial Championships April 13th, 2018

National Artistic Gymnastics Championships May 23-27, 2018

Waterloo, ON

Following the positive Provincials experience, modified training continued to try to settle the wrist down without a full rest. With not much improvement, we met with Dr. Auld May 7th to get advice on Nationals (May 22 - 27). Dr. Auld showed us the MRI and x ray images and assured us with modified training, resting the wrist with a brace at all times whilst out of training, icing daily and minimal repetitions (loading) he could do Nationals. Following Nationals, Dr. Auld suggested a full rest for the wrist and follow up in early June.

Coach Bin Fan, Elijah and his physiotherapist kept a close eye on loading and how the wrist was handling things from Provincials through May 20th (last training before Nationals' departure). As frustrating as it was for the athlete not to work each skill or event to perfection, the wrist was not getting worse - it was holding its own.

Team Alberta, WAG and MAG, left for the Canadian National Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Waterloo, Ontario May 21st. After a long travel day beginning with a 5:14a departure from home to the Calgary airport, flying into Toronto then taking a tour bus to Waterloo, the team arrived safely. Tuesday was a training day at a local gymnastics club. Wednesday was the first official training day with training at the venue two times. Thursday morning Physical Testing took place. The wrist made all 3 tests: flexibility, parallel bars strength and rings strength, a challenge, but Elijah accomplished them with a great attitude and enjoyed training with his Junior friends. Highlights were a full floor routine practise with many stuck landings and great twisting, great peach mount warm up on parallel bars, full high bar routine in warm up, full rings routine, good vault warm up and time with physiotherapist friend Kate Richardson. Kate looked after the athletes at CGC before moving to British Columbia a year ago.

The team returned for the official opening ceremonies at 7p where Elijah was honoured by the Alberta Gymnastics Federation to be their flag bearer.

Friday was a lighter training day in the training gym in preparation for Junior Qualifications Saturday morning.

Warm up for the Junior All Around event began at 10am Saturday.

Elijah's first event was vault: a fantastic beginning. One large step but great height and form to sit 4th going into finals on Sunday morning. Parallel Bars was a tougher go (with the wrist issue), a bit low on peach mount but pushed through and landed the double back dismount. High Bar was fantastic! Tkatchev was not only caught to giant but straight legs and pointed toes everywhere, hit all handstands, very close to handstand on stoop 1/2, and nearly stuck dismount to sit in 1st going into Sunday's finals. Floor was also very strong - little hop or step here and there, just .2 out of finals. Rings was a strong finish with handstands held and a stuck landing! Great outing for sure!

It was a great day and amazing to witness Elijah return to the National Championships after a 5 year absence and perform with joy and class throughout.

Finals began very early Sunday morning with vault first. The vault was high and clean with one step; good for a Bronze medal. The wait for High Bar final was an agonizing 2 hours in the stands on day 7 of a long week. After one touch, Elijah hit his high bar routine save for touching his hands on a high and 'floaty' dismount. Tough break for 5th in the final standings. Nonetheless, it was a great effort start to finish at his first Nationals since 2013!


National Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2018

National Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2018 Routines

Following the successful Nationals, Elijah and coach Bin Fan received word that he had ranked 7th overall among all Junior Men age 16-17 years. Also, he was invited to the National Camp July 1-7, 2018. A fantastic result after the first season back from injuries.

More Nationals Photos:

National Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2018

National Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2018 Routines

Elite Screening Competition December 9th, 2017

Junior MAG Compulsory Routines 2017

Training and Gymnastics February 20th, 2017 to August 22nd, 2017

Training and Gymnastics February 20th, 2017 to August 22nd, 2017

A lot has happened in the last months!  This is a parent perspective on Elijah's journey since January 20th.

Elijah got through the National Qualifier January 17th weekend, but his shoulder was very sore, as was his right knee. He took a month off tumbling to rest the knee from what the doctor thought was Osgoode Schlatters' disease (growth related) and we asked for yet another scan of the left shoulder. It didn't make sense to us that 9 mos later, after all the physio treatments and daily exercises, he was still buckling in support on that shoulder. Dr. Auld agreed and ordered a bone scan.

The next day, Dr. Auld phoned me to say that the February 17th bone scan showed a serious displaced fracture of the proximal humerus, Elijah was to stop all upper body work, and he was sending us to Dr. Lisa Phillips, the only sports specialist orthopedic surgeon at the Alberta Children's Hospital. Dr. Phillips was absolutely amazed at Elijah's range of motion considering the 'ball' at the top of the humerus had sheared off. Dr. Auld assumed that it happened at the National Qualifier in January where he competed high bar, parallel bars, floor and vault, as the October MRI and September Diagnostic Ultrasound had been clear and only showed irritation of the growth plate. Dr. Phillips took an x ray 4 weeks following the bone scan and met with Elijah. She reviewed the images taken in September and October and showed us that a fracture of the proximal humerus growth plate was clearly evident back in September. Likely he fractured it in June when the pain began on p bars during tippelt. Since the fracture was missed by the radiologist, the sports doctor and physiotherapist did not prescribe rest. Had he rested 6 weeks in the fall, it would have healed fully. Instead, now it was displaced and, being a growth plate, could not be surgically repaired. Elijah was to stay off the shoulder for 3 months, allow the fracture to heal and the growth plate to close.

This was tough news to hear, but:

“Go back?” he thought. “No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do

On we go!”

Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit, Riddles in the Dark

Miraculously, this is how the shoulder looked April 29th after the prescribed rest. Dr. Phillips declared the bone fully healed and the growth plate closed. It healed in perfect alignment in  3 of the 4 planes. In one plane, the bone healed slightly off centre meaning his overhead range of motion was affected. Dr. Phillips was convinced that Elijah's body (muscles and ligaments) would compensate and adjust for this unevenness and that he would be able to perform on all 6 events again. If it was a huge hindrance, once grown, she could re break the shoulder and line it up, but that was an unlikely necessity.

During that rest time, Elijah continued to train legs daily, keeping up strength and flexibility in legs and core, and tried to stay positive! He also coached a full session of pre school and kindergym kids on Saturday mornings during this time. He especially loved being with one of his 5yr old boys who needed extra help because of his developmental challenges. It was wonderful to see Elijah grow as a coach and young man during this time.

Some tumbling while shoulder rehab'ing:

In addition, Elijah grew almost 8 inches from the time the shoulder was fractured to the rest period, which meant a lot of adjustments for his tumbling, runs and gymnastics in general. He persevered and regained some of his tumbling skills during this time.

March 24th Elijah completed the all day National Sports School physical testing. It involved a lot of jumping and sprinting with no warm up at all. Two days later his left hip became very sore. This persisted for weeks, resulting in a hip scan (fortunately normal, just growth plate tugging from too tight tendons during the rapid growth time) and many days off floor and vault. We were thankful that no damage had occurred but it was very frustrating for Elijah to cope with another injury when he was already resting the shoulder. Compression shorts kindly provided by 2XU for free, helped ease the strain and in recovery.

May 1st Elijah was given the all clear to begin strengthening the upper body and returning to arm events. By June 5th he was touching all the events and starting some basics again. The shoulder has so many little muscles to strengthen that it is a slow process even though none of the ligaments or tendons were damaged in the shoulder. 

It was great that he could 'play' again at the park and not worry about his shoulder being broken.

We had fun times outdoors biking, scootering, climbing, during this time since for months biking especially was off limits.

In June, Elijah was slowly starting back on events and continuing vault and floor (still no hands for the most part) when on June 22nd he 'tweaked' his right knee. He had not had any knee pain for some weeks and was actually being super careful after the hip strain in March. He said a simple front layout punch front layout double twist on rod floor to a soft mat caused some pain below the knee cap. He stopped tumbling and went on to other events. When I picked him up (it was a Thursday), he said, ' maybe no hike in Canmore this Saturday, I tweaked my knee'. To be safe, I booked a physio appointment the next day and Dr. Auld Monday. Physio thought it was just a strain, but Dr. Auld agreed we should get an x ray and ultrasound to be safe. Tuesday the x ray revealed a fracture of the tibia tuberosity at the growth plate. He could still jog on it! I asked for Dr. Phillips to review the x ray. She called Elijah in on Friday to say that there was no ligament or tendon damage, but she recommended open fixation (with screws) to re attach the pieces of bone and would do that July 5th during her on call day. 

July 5th Elijah showed up at the Alberta Children's Hospital and fasted until an operating room became available at 5pm. It was a short successful surgery and an hour after, he was hungry and ready to move. We went home that night, Elijah equipped with his brace set to 180 degrees. It would be moved 30 degrees every week and a half after the 2 week check to ensure he regained as much motion and quad strength as possible. 

Ready to go home!

2 days later, back at the gym:

And continuing shoulder rehab:

And back in action:

And throughout this time, Elijah continued to play guitar!

Music and Toby Therapy

Now it is August and Elijah says the right leg is doing great: range of motion, strengthening, biking at the gym. The shoulder and right wrist (from 2014 surgery) and elbow soreness is what he notices most. Eugene Marte, physiotherapist at Winsport, is caring for him now, trying some shock wave therapy on the elbow and working on range of motion on the left shoulder. He measures the range of the shoulder each week and is noticing improvements (sometimes by 5 degrees) from week to week in overhead range. Leah Oreel and Gina Perez provide massage support and Dr. DJ Ledrew provides chiropractic care. 

We thank God for His faithfulness through these latest trials and know His plan is bigger than the daily circumstances we face.