As nine year-old Scott Vaillancourt of Chelmsford tells it, he just kind of wandered into the sport of gymnastics. The third-grade student at École Jacques-Cartier, who has spent the past three years with the Extreme North gymnastics Club in Dowling, was prone to the natural gymnastics that house-settings provide. 

“I tried a few moves around the house – cartwheels, splits – but when I noticed that nobody else could do the splits on the chairs, I thought about doing gymnastics” said Vaillancourt. Still, the sport was pretty well uncharted waters for the soft-spoken youngster. 

“I never knew they had (parallel/high) bars or anything, just the floor mat” admits Vaillancourt. And it is on the floor exercise where he remains most comfortable, having mastered the press hand stand as part of his routine. “I like doing competitions and winning medals – everybody sees me” laughs the young gymnast coached by Sylvain Bastien. 

Having played hockey for a few years, it was only a matter of time before Vaillancourt would drift to an area where his uncanny flexibility would prove quite valuable. “I was really flexible and everyone wanted me to try and be a goalie” explains Vaillancourt.

He donned the pads this past season for the Rayside-Balfour NOHA Novice team and enjoyed a successful season, complete with “lots of shutouts”.