With three Canadian titles already in her possession before the age of 14, it would be safe to classify Jordyn Yendley as a skilled and talented athlete.
Still, according to her coach at the Okanagan Gymnastics Centre, there's much more behind the 琉璃神社 teen's success in the sport of trampoline than her physical abilities.
"Jordyn comes to the gym motivated, she works hard every day to get better, and she's always been that way," said Jamie Gardner, a longtime coach at OGC.
"She's just one of those people that's self motivated, you really don't have to tell her much of anything. I think that's such a big part of her success."
With both her mental and physical attributes nicely synchronized at nationals last month in Edmonton, Yendley successfully defended her Canadian Level 6 title (17-and-under) in the double mini.
She also captured the national individual trampoline championship for the first time, competing against athletes as much as four years her senior.
Although the Grade 9 student at OKM went into nationals with high hopes, she admits winning double gold came as an unexpected and pleasant surprise.
"My goal was to be top four, so I was actually pretty shocked to win both events," said Jordyn, 13. "It came as a bit of a surprise, I didn't believe it at first, but then when I saw the results, I was pretty happy."
In addition to being largely self-motivated, Jordyn is also inspired by some of her older, more experienced OGC teammates鈥攏amely Trevor Stirling and Dani Gruber.
Stirling is an alternate for Canada this summer at the Olympic Games in Rio, while Gruber won a gold medal for Canada in the team double mini event at the 2015 world championships in Denmark.
As much as she enjoys competition and winning medals, Jordyn admits there are other aspects of the sport which are equally fulfilling鈥攊ncluding team unity and social interaction.
"I love being part of a team, training and travelling with them," she said. "Meeting new people is also one of the best things about it."
On the subject of travelling, Yendley's performance at nationals has qualified her for the Indo Pacific Championships this October in New Zealand.
Jordyn will represent Canada in trampoline and double mini, and will also compete with OGC teammate Emily Welsh in the synchro trampoline event.
"I'm looking forward to (New Zealand)," said Yendley, who also competed for Canada at the world age group championships last year in Denmark. "I'm going to try my best at Indos and hopefully it will help me move up to the next level."
