We have developed a sustainable gymnastics programme which has settled into a wonderful rhythm of filling up with newcomers at one end and producing national representatives at the other.
In 1996 a talent identification project was undertaken to identify 7 and 8 year old girls with a special talent for Olympic level gymnastics. From 3000 girls screened, 30 were selected to receive specialised coaching.
to become financially sustainable within the next 5 years to continue providing an integrated High Performance training facility with community talent-identification centers feeding into it; and community clubs which offer classes for all and training for coaches from the community.
As most of these girls came from previously disadvantaged communities, it soon became obvious that this project could not continue without funding. Fortunately funding for a limited period was found. Soon we realised what a huge impact gymnastics made in these children’s lives. Our vision and passion grew. We got involved in the communities – setting up community talent-id centres and clubs – so that we could take gymnastics to the communities instead of taking the children out of their communities. We are proud to say that we not only supported the initial group of gymnasts, but developed an entire programme.
Most importantly, over the past 14 years, we have developed a sustainable gymnastics programme which has settled into a wonderful rhythm of filling up with newcomers at one end and producing national representatives at the other. We have:
Very few, if any, of these gymnasts would have had these opportunities if gym classes were not offered in their communities. We currently have 100+ gymnasts spread across the various community clubs.
Our vision for the next 10 years is: to become financially sustainable within the next 5 years to continue providing an integrated High Performance training facility with community talent-identification centres feeding into it; and community clubs which offer classes for all and training for coaches from the community. We could also:
We thank the following sponsors for their contribution to our programme over the past fourteen years.
We would also like to thank the Amatola Foundation, the Cape Town City Council, the Western Cape Sports Academy, the Western Province Gymnastics Association and the South African Gymnastics Federation for their support. Our final thanks are to Murray & Roberts for the 2005 Jack Cheetham Memorial Award. The prize money was most welcome, but even more so was the encouragement and recognition this award gave us.
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