Tamsin Lourens


		Tamsin Lourens National Senior Level 9, Sapphires/Okanagan, MB

PROFILE

Name: Tamsin Lourens

Club: The Sapphires RG Club, MB,
(Since September 2009 trains at Okanagan RG Club)
Coach: Camille Martens
Level: Senior – level 9

Hobbies and interests: Travel, music, playing guitar and singing, photography, “lake life”, snowboarding & friends!

Tamsin started her Rhythmic Gymnastics career when she was 7 years old. After participating in the Kids in Progress gymnastics program and Rhythmic Gymnastics camp at Mini U, she fell deeply in love with the sport and joined ARGOS Rhythmic Gymnastics Club as a Pre-Novice gymnast in 2001.

When Natalia Rybak, Alegria Head Coach came to Canada in 2004, Tamsin became one of her first gymnasts in Manitoba. Tamsin was Manitoba’s highest scoring Junior at the 2008 Canadian Championships and the only one to qualify for Elite Canada 2009. Tamsin has also enjoyed participating in various competitions across Canada, in Europe. Coaches and judges in Canada and Europe have recognized and realized her potential in succeeding in Rhythmic Gymnastics. Since September 2009, Tamsin moved to Okanagan to train under tutelage of one of the most dynamic coaches in Canada, Camille Martens.

Tamsin is very talented with strong character and loves challenges. Her routines are not only filled with difficult body elements and apparatus use technique, but also rich in artistic expression. Her favorite elements are risk elements; she also enjoys working on creative performances with her coach Camille.

Tamsin is not only a gifted gymnast every coach would love to train, but also a team leader in fostering an environment for attracting younger gymnasts to the sport. She is not only a role model to many younger gymnasts, but also the inspiration to many young girls who will participate in Rhythmic Gymnastics in the future.

With natural born talent and passion for the sport, with the highly qualified and most experienced coach guiding her, with the best possible conditions that her parents have created for her at home, with the special dispensations to accommodate her training schedule from her school, a very bright and promising future in Rhythmic Gymnastics is ahead of Tamsin.

Vernon News, February 7, 2010

Vernon gymnast shines at L.A. Lights

by Castanet Staff - Story: 52557
Feb 7, 2010 / 9:00 am

A Vernon teen has garnered a bronze medal and came in fifth overall at the L.A. Lights gymnastics invitational in Los Angeles.

Tamsin Lourens, 15, says her third place medal for her ball routine was a surprise, but felt right.

"My ball routine in LA was the best I have felt in my whole life in rhythmics. I felt free and open, but grounded. That is my goal for this year, to ground myself and to know where I am in space. I felt in control and smooth, like everything just flowed together like it was meant to be."

Tamsin moved from Winnipeg last year to work with coach Camille Martens in Vernon.

"The decision to leave Winnipeg did take a huge toll on me," she says. "It was an insane decision, but everyone I spoke to wouldn’t allow me to even think about staying. I had to go.

"My mom had always thought I belonged in B.C. with Camille and encouraged me to go despite it being so hard to be apart."

Tamsin has participated in gymnastics since she was 7 years old, and she says she has always noticed the Okanagan club.

"I dreamed of being here since I first saw them at westerns in Regina in 2004. I loved the flare the gymnasts had and the great relationship they had with their coach. Through the last few years I remember so many instances when I notice the Okanagan club and longed to be there, and now to be here is like a dream come true."

In addition to Tamsin, Kelsey Anderson, 16, Victoria Podollan and Kiah Ward, 15, and Melea Ward, 12, all competed in the invitational, which saw 300 athletes from 18 countries compete. Kelsey finished seventh overall.

"I was really pleased with our girls and their ability to work with flare on the international stage," said Martens. "They performed well earning many positive comments.

"Their attitudes and work ethic are strong and their potential huge. It is a coach’s dream."


	[Tamsin Lourens]