Having qualified for the World Championships last year, Jamaica’s British-born gymnast Tyesha Mattis has her sights set on repeating the feat as her season flips into high gear at the Supreme Ventures-sponsored Gymnastics Classic and National Trials.

Mattis is among over 70 gymnasts set to strut their stuff on the local scene in a bid to secure spots on the country’s teams to various prestigious events, including the World Championships, at the two-day trial scheduled to begin today at the Jamaica School of Gymnastics Slipe Road base.

Action is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am.

Though she didn’t have things entirely as she would have hoped, Mattis took heart from her performances, particularly at the Pan Am Championships in Brazil, as she enjoyed a fairly successful debut season for Jamaica after switching allegiance last year.

“Last year was very challenging; however, it was an amazing experience for me. It was my first time in Jamaica and I’m so grateful I got the opportunity to compete for my country, especially after not competing in four years,” Mattis told the Jamaica Observer.

“This was a high moment for me, unfortunately I didn’t get to compete at the World Championships, but I was so shocked to even be the top scorer on the team and was the only person to qualify for the World Championship. Everything was very overwhelming, but at the same time, I felt so blessed,” she added.

While disappointment still lingers about not making that World Championships appearance due to lack of sponsorship, Mattis remains motivated and confident ahead of what she hopes will be another successful campaign.

“I’m very excited for the new season starting with this National Trials and also to see what happens this year. You can only be so ready for certain things in life and I try not to overthink and stress myself out, I trust my body and believe in myself that I have done enough work to be where I am and deserve to be there,” the cheerful gymnast shared.

“I’m trying to make my starting value higher on all four apparatus in competition to hopefully get the chance of making a final in at least one apparatus and having new connections all around. I also have a new beam routine as well that I’m eager to show off in competition, so I’m just looking forward to doing my best and, more importantly, having fun,” Mattis noted.

The 23-year-old along with Danyella Holmes, Jamilia Duffus, and other senior athletes will be competing for five spots to the Pan American Gymnastic Championships in Colombia in May, which serves as a qualifier for the prestigious Pan Am Games in Chile. It also serves as a qualifier for the World Championships scheduled for October in Belgium. At the World Championships, gymnasts will have a chance to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Additionally, the selected gymnasts from the trials would also carry the country’s hopes at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in El Salvador in July.

“I feel like I’m at the peak of my gymnastics career and making the team for this year would mean everything to me as I would love the opportunity to represent Jamaica at the Olympic Games as well,” she said.

“So, again, I’m just hoping and going to do my best and hope that it will be good enough for me to be selected for the team to all the important international competitions because that’s the only way I will have the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. I wanna be a part of it all and I’m so excited and I’m just going to keep praying and working hard,” Mattis ended.