Balance and focus

SITTING between both her parents in a booth at a restaurant in Montego Bay, 10-year-old Dojanae Garwood didn’t hold back as it relates to her aspirations as a gymnast.

“I want to be the first Jamaican girl to go to the Olympics and win and medal,” she said in a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer.

She draws her inspiration from one of the most successful gymnasts, the most prolific the sport has ever produced.

“I actually used to watch videos when I was smaller,” she said. “There is this gymnast called Simone Biles, and I absolutely adored her and I used to practise at home, and then mommy and daddy saw and they decided to put me in gymnastics.”

If she is successful in her quest Garwood would go one step further than Olympians Toni Ann Williams and Danusia Francis, who have made their way to the Olympics but have failed to medal.

Dojanae, a grade-five student at Montego Bay Preparatory School in the western city, is seemingly on the fast track to making that dream a reality.

“I think it was two years ago when they went to the Dominican Republic doing the gymnastics; she did exceptionally well. She came third in Dom Rep overall as a pre-USA Gymnastics, level three,” her mother Natalie Garwood told the Observer.

“She came first in beam, second in bars, second in vault and overall third. There were many countries that were represented there, I think it was over 15.

“After that she went to Jamaica School of Gymnastics Classic and she came first. They picked from that now the team to represent Jamaica and so she became part of the all star team that represented Jamaica in Panama in 2023. When she went, she came first overall.”

Natalie said her daughter had started her gymnastics journey at Montego Bay based outfit, First Dance Studio but having recognised the progress that she was making, she was moved to Nishida’s in Kingston. Then came her first instance in representing Jamaica at an event.

“She was placed in level two USAG,” Natalie said. “She’s no longer in pre — she is now in the full USAG competitive programme. She spent like two months in level two, she did the trials and they put her in level three. She spent five months in level three and then she went and competed at Carifta.

“She is the only one from Montego Bay that went to Carifta to represent Jamaica, so they picked the Carifta team based on assessments over the three months, and she was the only level three to medal for Jamaica at the Carifta. She got a bronze at the Carifta for beam.”

Dojanae says the beam is one of her strong events but she flourishes across most of the others as well.

“I do feel good on beam, I like floor, but I am best on beam and vault,” she said. “I also like doing floor routines because you get to dance around the floor, and then you have more space, and you get to express your passion.”

Dancing is another major passion, and Natalie says it was during an event when her daughter was about five that they realised that she had talent.

“During COVID, while she was at home, she was invited to a birthday party and a young lady said to us that when they were dancing, she was dancing to the beat,” Natalie said. “She was just creating these moves to the beat and [the young lady] said to me, ‘Why don’t you put her in dance class because there is something different about her.’ “

That led to dance schools where her talent quickly shone through, and it was while at First Dance she was encouraged to take up gymnastics, where she has since made an impression.

Her mother said she is making great progress towards her dream and explained that she has now scored out of her group, based on the scoring system, the points she would have gathered for level three.

“The coach is now thinking of moving her to the Xcel programme, and it’s a programme where you create your own routine instead of the compulsory routine,” Natalie said. “That gives them a competitive edge sooner, which could possibly lead them to getting selected for bigger competitions like the Olympics sooner.

“She has started practising at level four level, and even though you are doing the Xcel there are still some compulsory elements that we must accomplish like the double flip, cartwheels on beam, and so on.”

The results of her most recent event have given her and her parents more confidence as she motors on towards her goal.

“We went into Bahamas and she came fifth overall at level three, and then we went to USA in January and she came first overall in Orlando at the Sand Dollar/Whitlow Invitational,” Natalie said. “Then we went over to Texas at the Simone Byles International Invitational and she came second overall for level three.

“When you talk about competition, that’s the real competition. You had the US teams in their home space and she was able to dominate like that.”

What has been impressive is that Dojanae is only able to train formally once a week as she only goes to Kingston on a Saturday to train at the facility.

“It’s a dedication, it’s a sacrifice, but we see what we are reaping because other kids get the chance to have practice in the week while she only has to make use of the practice on weekends for four hours,” Natalie said.

“What we have been doing at home is our own conditioning, so in the mornings we have transformed the home into a gym. She has her bar at home, she has her beam, a tumble mat, pull up bar, and dumbbells.”

Her father Delroy says they will do whatever is required to make her dream a reality.

“Though very expensive, I will work my hands off just to ensure that the money is there for her to travel the world to go to these meets,” he said. “Every year she has to be travelling at least three times to different countries, and I look forward to that.

“She is excited. She is doing what she loves, and because she is doing what she loves and wifey is doing what she loves — she loves to travel — as long as they are happy, I am happy.”

While, however, highlighting unwavering support for his daughter in her quest, he is urging sponsors to come on board if they can.

“It’s very expensive. And the cost for just the programme in Jamaica, it’s costly, and just to be a part of the whole gymnastics organisation in Jamaica, it is costly — because we don’t have any sponsors at this level. The parents must foot all the bills until they are at a particular level where you can get outside sponsorship,” he said.

“It would be nice for corporate Jamaica to see a talent and see how best they can assist in channelling this skill so that, at least at a point time, if you can see her on the big stage you can say, ‘Wow, I also assisted that little girl to reach where she is.’ ”

He is now looking forward to the future as he believes they may have a major decision to make.

We’re willing to uproot,” Delroy said. “She wants to go to Immaculate Conception High School. It is just across from Shortwood Teacher’s College, where Nishida’s Gymnastics is located, and we are willing.”

Getting her school of choice should not be an issue either as they said Dojanae continues to surprise them with her various talents which, other than the gymnastics and dancing, also include tap dancing and athletics, while she has been doing well in school.

“In her academics she has just been excelling,” Natalie said. “She is now wearing the badge for grade four PEP — fifth place overall highest scorer at her school. She is a sub-prefect and she has her honour roll pins.”