When Aaron Mah debuts a new high bar routine at the Pacific Rim Championships this weekend in Richmond, his will be the most difficult ever attempted by a Canadian junior gymnast.聽聽聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 up there with the best juniors in the world,鈥� he said Thursday before the men鈥檚 all-round competition began in the evening at the Richmond Oval.
The international meet is the largest so far for Mah, the most successful male gymnast in the 45-year history of the 麻豆传媒映画Phoenix gymnastics club, and the routine has been in the works for several months.
鈥淚 have a lot of combinations and hard skills. I鈥檝e been working hard,鈥� he said.
The routine鈥檚 high difficulty of 5.4 is based on demanding technical elements, many named for the sport鈥檚 innovators and risk-takers, including a Takamodo half, which connects into a Tkachev release, as well as does two more releases, a Yamawaki and a second Tkached, this one a half release.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty tricky,鈥� said Mah, 16. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be my routing for a while until I move up to senior.鈥�
The national men鈥檚 coach, Tony Smith, persuaded Canadian athletes to step up the difficulty of their routines, and Mah accepted the challenge.
鈥淗e鈥檚 been really pushing us to add difficulty because this is what you need to compete with the rest of the world,鈥� said the Grade 11 Magee student. He placed fourth all around at the 2013 Canadian championships and won gold in the parallel bars and high bar.
At Phoenix, Mah trains with a coach who arrived in 麻豆传媒映画with impressive international credibility. Sasha Pozdniakov competed in Russia, but as a coach he taught athletes in that country who later won gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Under his guidance, athletes in New Zealand won national and international competitions.
Pozdniakov moved to 麻豆传媒映画in 2010 to coach the boys program at Phoenix and has since helped two athletes, including Mah, reach the national team in their age group. He has said his favourite thing about coaching is watching young boys grow into strong men.
With Pozdniakov, Mah has room to experiment and the encouragement to work hard.
鈥淗e鈥檚 really supportive [鈥 and usually gives me freedom to create my own routines. The difficult one he鈥檒l attempt this weekend came together one day at practice, spontaneously,鈥� said Mah, who trains about 25 hours a week.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have it down on paper. I did it one day just for fun. He thought it was fantastic.鈥�
Mah has posted videos of his training on Instagram and found that the clips are popular with his friends. He鈥檚 testing himself and the video will be analyzed so he can see what is and isn鈥檛 working.
They鈥檙e mesmerizing and not because they鈥檙e pretty. In one, he spins erratically off the high bar. On the video, he posted #bailoftheday.
鈥淚鈥檝e had numerous comments, 鈥榃ow, I love to see you fall!鈥� I don鈥檛 like to see it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 like to see skills hit well with nice, clean form. Gymnastics is a beautiful sport. I like to see it done well.鈥�
