CATTAI’S Emily Jones has returned from Europe in good spirits after her team finished eighth at the World Vaulting Championships for Juniors.
Jones and her fellow Australians in Team Zelos competed in the Netherlands over five days, but spent a month training for the event in Germany.
Jones said it was an incredible experience.
‘‘The day of the opening ceremony was the best day of the entire trip,’’ she said.
‘‘The atmosphere of the whole arena ... everyone was cheering and waving flags and it was awesome.’’
The first leg of the trip to Europe, which began at the end of June, involved a vaulting clinic in Denmark, which featured several prominent vaulters.
Jones said she used the clinic to practice with some of her team members for the upcoming championships, while learning from some of the best in the business.
‘‘The coaching was amazing. We had so many different points of view and we had some very good vaulters there to do it,’’ she said.
‘‘We had our own horse to train on and met some of the people we were going to compete against.
‘‘I think the training definitely helped [prepare for the championships]. We focused a lot on compulsories.’’
In vaulting, there are compulsory moves and freestyle moves.
The compulsory moves must be completed by everyone in the competition, while freestyle moves are made up by the individual teams.
Jones said the preparation in Denmark and Germany really paid off for the team.
‘‘We weren’t expecting to do that well because the first two rounds we didn’t do so well,’’ she said.
‘‘We got a score of 6.1 [in the first round], which is about average, and so for our second round, we were aiming to get a 6.5 which is pretty good.
‘‘We actually got a 7.4 and everyone was amazed. That was the best feeling ever.
‘‘No-one was expecting that.’’
Jones said while the competitive side went well for the Australian team, the social aspect of the championships was just as good.
‘‘One of the best parts about being there was meeting everybody, she said.’’
‘‘There were 27 countries there and everyone got to present a video about what vaulting was about in their country.
‘‘We also traded badges from our equestrian foundations and we ended up with all these different badges from across the world."
