Jia Li began her coaching career in Canada in 2013 at Barrhaven Rhythmic Gymnastics Club. During the pandemic, Jia organized the club via virtual classes, setting up a training plan for each gymnast.
In the 2022/2023 season she faced huge volumes of work changing all of the training plans and schedules for gymnasts and groups as they returned to in-person training.
Because of COVID, the club lost over half their gymnasts. As a small club, it was very hard to rebuild but Jia did not turn away from those difficulties. She restarted her fundamental training for gymnasts from recreational to interclub to provincial taking on a high workload with long hours day after day. Jia’s motto is “attitude is everything”.
She continually contacted colleagues and other professionals to seek better ideas to improve gymnasts, doing whatever it took to manage the club.
In 2022/2023 her team won both individual and group provincial championships. Her gymnasts participated in seven competitions in average and won over 20 medals.
With Jia’s determination and long hours, our small club in Ottawa grew from eight gymnasts to over eighty champions. We are proud of our gymnasts and at the same time we applaud our wonderful head coach, Jia.