A year ago, Cade Pettie and Katelyn Dullard hadn’t even performed together. Now they are looking for gold at the Australian Gymnastics Championships.
The duo, who train at Footscray’s Team Adrenalin, will compete this week in the level seven mixed acrobatic category.
It will be the third time at the national titles for Pettie, 17, who won the level seven and level nine men’s pairs categories for the past two years.
He started gymnastics as a child when his parents decided that he had too much energy and needed to do something.
“I’m pretty excited,” the Doreen resident said. “I’ve changed roles this year. I’ll be the base person this time, doing the throwing, while I used to be the person being thrown around.
“It’s good for a change and it was always going to come around that I would do this role.”
Pettie said that despite being together for only a short time, he and Dullard were confident they could have success at the national championships and were already looking longer term.
Personally, he would love to join Cirque du Soleil.
“Katelyn walked in the door and we started to train together,” Pettie said. “We’re aiming to compete internationally next year.”
Dullard has set her eyes on gold at the championships.
The 11-year-old only joined Team Adrenalin last year, after starting her gymnastics at Keilor gymnastics.
She instantly fell in love with flipping after going to a holiday program last year.
Her talent was noticed straight away and coach Melissa Presti quickly predicted she would be good enough to compete at nationals.
“It’s very exciting and I want to win,” Dullard said last week.
“There’s some great competition and it will be hard, but it’s fun and it’s a challenge.
“I expected to get this far. I train as hard as possible.”
Dullard, whose favourite part is flipping, said she loved getting to work with older and more experienced gymnasts such as Pettie and they made it fun for her.
Like Pettie, Dullard wants to compete overseas next year and hopes to eventually make the world championships.
She also wants to continue up the gymnastics levels and reach level 10, the highest.
The duo won’t be the only gymnasts from Team Adrenalin at the championships, with two other pairs and two trios also competing.
