Mt. Spokane junior Jacquie Bonnett leads her team on and off the mat into the regional meet
Feb. 14—Jacquie Bonnett began her gymnastics career right after she learned to walk — she started with the sport when she was just 2 years old.
The Mt. Spokane junior is ready to lead her team as captain into the regional meet Wednesday at the Mead Gymnastics Center.
Bonnett took her first lessons at Dynamic Gymnastics Academy, where her interest in the sport was first kindled. From there, her love for gymnastics blossomed. By the time she had reached middle school, she was fully committed to the sport.
"In elementary school, I would do every school sport that I could, and then I kind of just stuck with gymnastics," Bonnett said.
After years of competitive club gymnastics, Bonnett's feelings about the sport had changed. She often spent more than five hours a day in the gym perfecting her skills, leaving her no time to join Mt. Spokane's gymnastics team.
The demanding club schedule eventually became too much . When the pandemic hit in 2020, Bonnett and her coaches noticed she was struggling to develop her all-around skills. As the 2021-22 high school gymnastics season started, she began practicing with the high school team.
There, she found a community of coaches and teammates that she has stayed with since.
"Everyone's just really fun to be around," Bonnett said. "I get a lot of freedom with the skills I get to do, and it's just really supportive."
Last year, Bonnett placed eighth at state in vault. This year, she placed first all-around in the first and third Greater Spokane League meets. Most recently, she placed first in vault and floor in competition at University High School.
"At competitions, I just pretend like it's practice," she said.
One of the few people who recalls Bonnett's early days in gymnastics is her current coach, Dana Trantum, who worked at Dynamic Gymnastics Academy when Bonnett first began. She left that academy in 2011, before Bonnett had entered the world of competitive gymnastics.
When Bonnett joined Mt. Spokane's team in her sophomore year, Trantum was impressed by her growth.
"I was really surprised by how far she had gone," Trantum said. "She looks just like she did when she was 2."
Even though she's back at Mt Spokane's gym full time, Bonnett is enrolled in the Running Start program at Eastern Washington University, where most of her classes are online. Despite having little time in the classroom at Mt. Spokane, she's managed to make room for her team.
"It gives me more time to prepare for gym," she said. "I can make bows for meets and stuff like that with my extra time."
According to Trantum, Bonnett's commitment to gymnastics has made her a clear leader since her first days in the gym.
"Last year, we had a couple team captains who did OK," Trantum said. "But a lot of times Jacquie was filling in that gap where we needed her to."
Bonnett is focused on the rest of the season and her upcoming senior year. This year, she brought one of her club teammates onto the team.
"I'm trying to upgrade my skills on floor, or just kind of all around," she said. "I just want to make it more fun than it already is and bring it to more people."
Bonnett isn't the only one who's excited to see what happens in the coming year.
"Her overall love for gymnastics, I've seen it grow," Trantum said. "When a gymnast loves gymnastics, it makes all the difference in the world."
