PAST Phoenix Gymnastics
PRESENT Millennium Sports Facility at Hillcrest Park
FUTURE NCAA Div. 1 University of California Golden Bears
Aaron Mah knows there will be a few crashes on his way to the top.
The first all-round Canadian champion gymnast films those falls and posts the videos online, sharing them with thousands of followers like a trail of breadcrumbs to remember where he came from.
In one hyperkinetic sequence of fails, Mah face-plants off a pummel horse. In another, he swings over the high-bar, looking for the one-hop-and-half-turn of a skill since incorporated into his routine, already the most difficult among Canadian competitors his age, but in the clip he posted on Instagram last month Mah misses his grip and is pitched backwards. His momentum flings him over the bar, 10 feet in the opposite direction where he hits the layered padding at Phoenix Gymnastics, the club he’s trained at since he was a child.
In another clip, this one a slow-motion sequence of Mah taking off, flat as a board, to spin twice and flip twice before sticking his landing, he flexes another muscle — humour — when he writes that his tumbling is like his coffee. “#DoubleDouble,” reads the punchline.
“Gymnastics is the hardest sport in the world,” said Mah. “What separates gymnastics from every other sport is that there are no limits to what you can do. Gymnastics is constantly evolving and the athletes need to keep improving in order to raise the bar and stay ahead of their competitors.”
Like the adrenaline and danger of extreme athletes, gymnastics is also an extreme sport. “The amount of physical stress that is put on your body is unparalleled,” he said.
A student at Magee secondary where he studies in the SpArts program to accommodate up to 30 weekly hours of training at the club in Hillcrest Park, Mah finished second all-around at the 2014 Elite Canada Championship and won the all-around Canadian title later that year. He accepted a NCAA Div. 1 scholarship and by the end of the summer will be training with Brett McClure at the University of California, Berkeley.
“The culture around extreme sports and gymnastics, it’s very, very similar,” said McClure, a silver medallist at the 2004 Olympic Games. “A lot of them are adrenaline-seekers who push the envelope constantly. That’s really what it takes to be a successful gymnast.”
Still growing at 17, Mah’s coaches know the next step in his development means he must get stronger. He’s got to pack it on.
“That’s the first thing on my list,” said McClure, who added that despite years of daily training, many freshmen are relatively weak. “That first year will be a struggle.”
But McClure believes Mah could wear the Maple Leaf at future Olympic Games. “Once he gets stronger and capable of handling more, it will set him up on a platform to take off.”
Mah, “is one of those guys who really likes challenges,” said Phoenix Gymnastics coach Sasha Pozdniakovu, listing characteristics like “good mannered,” and “persistent,” along with, “He’s really brave and he loves doing tricks.”
And, said the coach who’s known Mah for four years, “He knows how to fall. He says it’s fun.”
