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Richmond gymnast wins provincial award

Chris Kaji has been recognized for his rapid progress as an elite gymnast. The Richmond Gymnastics Association member has won B.C. Gymnastics’ Bill Mackie High Performance Athlete of the Year, based on his showing throughout the 2014 season.

Chris Kaji has been recognized for his rapid progress as an elite gymnast.
The Richmond Gymnastics Association member has won B.C. Gymnastics’ Bill Mackie High Performance Athlete of the Year, based on his showing throughout the 2014 season.
It was only about five or six years ago when the 14-year-old joined the Richmond club and began working with competitive men’s head coach Frank Szabo Jr.
“As every athlete, Chris had to start from the bottom, climbing the ladder to success,  day-by-day, month-after-month and year-after-year putting in countless hours of hard work and effort,” said Szabo Jr. “Even though he is so young, he has already gotten a glimpse of what it feels like to be successful in the difficult sport of gymnastics.”
By the time he was 11, Kaji had already earned a spot on the Age Group National Team. He has been there ever since, showing that he indeed has potential that he can build on.
After winning some medals at the Elite Canada meet and the most recent Canadian Championships, Kaji was invited to a series of training camps where he was appointed to travel to Germany with the Canadian Junior National Team to attend international training camp.
The 10-day camp concluded with Canada finishing ahead of Germany and Belgium in a friendly competition.
It was the day after he returned home from the European camp, Kaji was recognized by Gymnastics B.C. at a special awards ceremony.