History of Alegria
In September 2004 the Rhythmic Gymnastics Manitoba (RGM) Board of Directors elected to hire a new coach to run their highly successful provincial centralized high performance program. After a world-wide search, Natalia Rybak was hired. Natalia was a member of the Soviet National Team and the Ukrainian National Team. She was the champion of the USSR and all around champion of Ukraine. She has coached children from pre-school to national level and world class athletes in Russia, Ukraine and Poland for over 23 years. Natalia commenced her employment with RGM at the end of October 2004.
During Natalia’s first year in Winnipeg, she coached two veteran gymnasts in the program. Samantha Duha, a junior national stream gymnast, and Tamsin Lourens, a novice national stream gymnast, became Natalia’s first athletes in Canada.
The high performance program was named Alegria: The Manitoba Centre for Rhythmic Gymnastics Excellence. The name “Alegria” was chosen for its meaning (in Spanish) of “joy”, in hopes that the program would bring joy for all those involved in its future.
In 2005 Natalia and RGM expanded the program to include 15 gymnasts. For the first time in Manitoba, younger developmental athletes (pre-national stream) were provided an opportunity to train with a senior coach in the province, a significant departure from past practices. The goal was to begin the development process much earlier, in keeping with successful European strategies.
In the same year, RGM decided to restructure the provincial team program, and, as such, eliminated support of the centralized approach. The direct relationship with RGM ended in June 2006.
Alegria is fortunate that Natalia decided to remain in the province and reopen the centre as a private entity under her ownership. She intends to maintain Alegria’s original focus on developing athletes for the national and international stage.
Athletes from Alegria have participated and earned medals at Provincial, Western, National, US State Championships, and US world invitational competitions, and participated in a European invitational event.
Today, in 2007/2008, Natalia has 21 gymnasts under her guidance, in both provincial and national streams. Of these athletes, four are on the provincial team, with many promising gymnasts in the wing. Success can be measured in other ways as well, as one former gymnast, Jenny McLeod, has become an outstanding assistant coach with the centre.
Written by Karen Duha