With more than 30 energetic youngsters eager to bounce from corner to corner, getting them to turn up for training is the least of Wavecrest Gymnastic Club coach Peter Adams’ worries.
Adams and his colleagues are hard at work putting the young ones through their paces ahead of their first competition for the year, covering various aspects of gymnastics, including tumbling, trampoline, acrobatics, aerobic gymnastics, artistic, rope skipping and rhythmic gymnastics. Yep, you name, they do it.
With the Cape Town Gymnastics Association’s district trials coming up at the end of the month, at Wasabi Gymnastics Club in Zeekoevlei, Adams and co will have their work cut out fine-tuning the technical aspects of their intricate manoeuvres.
Thankfully, with the help of supportive parents and the assistance from fellow coaches Sabrina Swartz and Joy Hass, the gymnasts can step in front of the judges with confidence and be competitive against better equipped clubs.
For Adams it’s all about giving the youngsters an opportunity to perform at their best, albeit with limited equipment and facilities. On a sunny day, they’ll fill up the quad at Wavecrest Primary, with apparatus laid out neatly and when the weather turns bad, they head indoors to continue training inside a classroom, he said.
“Our gymnasts competed at the South African National Gymnastics Games, in Pretoria, in October last year, where they obtained bronze as a team and we had seven of our children attending the SA Schools Games in December where the Western Cape came out tops,” said Adams.
He said travelling to and from competitions is one of the biggest challenges they face as it can be a costly affair. “Not having a proper venue for our gymnast, the lack of equipment, no funding or sponsor and the social ills we face daily within our communities, are just some of the challenges we deal with,” he said.
“But it’s about giving our kids a chance in life, creating a safe space and giving them a platform to showcase their talents and also to change the narrative,” he said.
To help raise funds for upcoming competitions, the club will be having a food sale on Sunday May 28.
“The funds raised is for our gymnasts to cover their competition fees and transportation as most of the parents of the gymnasts in the programme, are reliant on social grants and hopefully this will help alleviate the burden,” Adams said.
If you can assist the club in any way, call Peter Adams on 060 620 6475.
