In the school of gymnastics, boys are usually outnumbered by the girls by a wide margin.
But you don't have to tell Ben Garcia there's a place for males in the world of pommel horses, parallel bars, rings, vaults and gym floor mats.
"People think it's always only for girls, but it's not," said Garcia. "The Greeks, thousands of years ago, only had men doing it. I just like gymnastics and how physical it is."
Garcia, 14, has been around gymnastics ever since he was a toddler and has the physique to prove it. His mom Carol is a coach at the Prince George Gymnastics Club and his 17-year-old sister Storm is a Level 5 gymnast. He competes in trampolining and coaches kids in the gym.
But in all that time, he's never had the chance to compete for his school. That wait will come to an end, March 11-13 in Delta, when PGSS becomes the first Prince George school to enter a team in the provincial gymnastics championship.
"It's feels pretty cool to represent our school," said Ben Garcia, who showed off his gymnastics ability at school last week with a backflip off the PGSS bleachers.
Derek Prince, 17, attended a few drop-in gymnastics sessions last school year and liked it enough to stick with it. Prince also plays school volleyball and since he joined gymnastics his leaping ability has grown considerably.
"My friends used to make fun of me, but now that they've seen it they see how cool it can be," said Prince. "I'm just looking forward to being in a gymnastics competition, it would be cool if we could get kids from different schools in Prince George to hold a competition.
"I'm doing all six events. but floor and rings are the only routines I've actually worked out. I have my parallel bar routine done, but I have to work on it some more."
Maizie Bernard, a PGSS teacher/sponsor and former competitive gymnast, got the team started last school year, however they did not compete in the provincial championship. As many as 15 PGSS students now attend the twice-a-week practices at the Prince George Gymnastics Club.
Storm Garcia, a Grade 12 student, is a Level 5 gymnast who just ended her career in the competitive stream last spring. She's never been to a high school meet and she's looking forward to the provincial event with some trepidation.
"It's pretty exciting and I think everyone is nervous, even the coaches, because we've never been to it before," she said. "But I think we'll be OK. Everyone is doing pretty well. I think it's going to be more relaxed and everyone's going to enjoy themselves. Just being with school people is a big difference for me.
"It's kind of more fun for me. It's still hard on the body, I have aches and pains. I'm not training as much, so I think I'm getting sore faster, so if I get in here and train three days a week I'll be OK."
Although she's no longer training for high-intensity zone and provincial championships, Garcia has stayed active in the gym as a coach, and she's still a competitive athlete in trampoline.
Her best friend, Vanessa Mueller, 17, had no gymnastics background before she started the school workouts a year ago but she's now part of the provincial-bound team.
"I'm just doing this mostly to have fun with my friends," said Mueller. "I think I want to keep doing it after high school, it's a lot of fun."
Other PGSS athletes who will be competing at provincials are Sabrina Bergeron, 13, Kalena McCarville, 14, and Jessica Peterson, 14. Bergeron also competes with the Prince George Gymnastics Club, while McCarville is returning to a sport she used to practice as a little girl.
"I like floor and beam -- it's hard, but when you can do stuff it makes you feel good," said McCarville. "It's pretty cool being on a team. The trip to Delta is going to be a lot of fun."
PGSS has a selection of coaches helping with the team, including Bernard, Carol Garcia, Karen McCarville, Dawn Doran, Tom Muirhead and Colleen Kaminski, who coaches the boys.
"We're trying to do fundraising in the school so that the other kids know these kids are going to provincials," said Karen McCarville. "We want to promote gymnastics so that maybe we can recruit more for next year."
