On Saturday, December 1 and Sunday, December 2, Riverside Secondary had the opportunity to host a gymnastics event called the Flicka Invitational. This event invites gymnasts to perform and compete from beginner level to professional level at Flicka gymnastics in North Vancouver. It allows gymnasts to compete from as young as kindergarten to high school aged athletes.

Riverside Secondary had the chance to hold this event in the gym through an organization called Port Coquitlam Sport Alliance. This organization is a group that works to oversee amateur sports in Port Coquitlam and coordinates the different activities that they do. The event came to be at Riverside through a connection to Poco Sport. Mr. Rob Colombo is the president of this organization and organized and provided the opportunity to host the gymnastics event at Riverside. “Poco Sport alliance has several connections to the city and the school district, so in terms of collaborating, I was able to use my job at Riverside as athletic director and the president of Poco Sport to have the event take place at Riverside,” said Colombo.

The facilities at Riverside were ideal for an invitational gymnastics competition. The main gym has a screen that provided scoring updates and highlights, and the gym also has an amazing sound system that helped announce scoring. The theatre provided an area for awards after the competition. The Flicka Invitational acts as a trial for Elite Canada and the 2019 Canada Summer Games. “I was able to combine both of my jobs as president and director to help facilitate the use of the facility” said Colombo. It was a very enjoyable successful event.

Feature photo courtesy of Ryan Clark of Poco Sport