Get Acro in the Olympics

The debate on whether or not acrobatic gymnastics should be included in the Olympic Games has been going on for years.  It seems unfair that some disciplines of gymnastics are classed as an Olympic sport but others not.  Acrobatic gymnastics takes just as much physical training and the gymnasts who work this hard should be recognised and allowed to take part in the Olympics like any other sporting person.  There was a petition a few years back to try and make acro an Olympic sport which me and many others in my club signed.  This petition is now closed and acrobatic gymnastics is being considered for the 2020 Olympics at the earliest.  Although the petition is closed I have still attached the link to it so you can see how many people signed and what they had to say about it.  If Acro does eventually get in the Olympics this just shows how many people's voices together e.g. in the form of a petition really can make a difference. 
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/get-acro-gymnastics-in-the-olympics/

Gymfest

There are many gymnastics events on throughout the year.  One that my club always takes part in is the Scottish gymfest which is an annual event usually in April or May.  It is a non-competitive, professionally run display festival which aims to promote gymnastics for all and shows the sheer enjoyment and appreciation of the sport that so many people have.  Everyone is invited to enter Gymfest from the beginner to the advanced gymnast.  Gymfest is a fantastic event which is great to both take part in and to watch.  It is a very varied show to watch as each club choreographs their own routines and there is a mixture of disciplines involved including acrobatics, rhythmic, artistic and there are always a couple of disability gymnastics groups which are always great to watch these people enjoying what they do and some of the skills the gymnasts have are amazing to see.  I have went to gymfest every year since before I can remember, the adrenaline rush you get from performing at this big a festival is amazing.  I am also always proud to be there with my team, Astro Gymnastics who have recently became one of the biggest teams at the festival and are at a much higher level as a club.  As gymfest is non-competitive it is a great atmosphere and so relaxed when on stage.  I personally much prefer display gymnastics to competitions which is why I gave up competing a long time ago.  Gymfest is a full weekend event with performances on the Friday night, Saturday morning and afternoon, Sunday morning and afternoon.  Gymfest is one of my best weekends of the year and I always look forward to it.  In the slide show are photos of my team at gymfest last year, both on and off stage.   

Astro Gymnastics

My gymnastics club is called Astro gymnastics and we are an acrobatics club. The club runs many different levels of classes throughout the week starting from as early as preschool (18months+).  The club is non-profit making and has been running for over 13 years, based in West Lothian.  The head coach, Caroline Gourlay started the club off very small.  The first classes trained in a small dance studio with limited space and equipment.  Since then the club has went from strength to strength and we are now based at West Lothian College where there is a massive sports hall and we have our own mats and lots of equipment to use.  The club is also currently looking for our own facility where we could keep the hall set up permanently which would save a lot of time before and after classes.  I trained with Astro since I was a young gymnast and always loved it.  There is always a great atmosphere in training sessions and great bonds between both gymnasts and coaches.  I stopped competitive training when I was about sixteen and I am now still involved with the club to this day coaching the younger classes and helping to organise routines if we have shows coming up.  The club are getting ever more successful and just last weekend one of our senior trios went to Ireland to represent Scotland in the Celtic cup.  This was their first time taking part in the festival and the Scottish team were the overall winner which was a huge honour.  I have included pictures of both our Senior and Junior display teams who are the gymnasts selected to represent Astro when we take part in displays.  We also have our own annual club display which the gymnasts are working towards just now in training.  This year it is in April and it is for the whole club to take part.  Every gymnast is in at least one routine and this takes a lot of organising from our coaching team. 

Pre school class

Junior Display Team

Trio at Celtic Cup 2011



Senior Display Team



Acrobatic Gymnastics

Finally, my favourite type of gymnastics is Sports Acrobatics (Acro).  This is the discipline of gymnastics that I have been involved with.  I went to my first gymnastics class when I was five years old and absolutely loved it and continued training up until I was seventeen, moving up through different levels, developing skills and really formed a love for the sport.  Acro gymnastics is performed in partnerships doing both balance and tempo routines.  Unfortunately, most people have never heard of it or had the chance to watch any of it.  This is a shame as almost everybody thinks artistic gymnastics is the only discipline, because they have never been involved with the sport.  Acro gymnastics is not currently in the Olympics and this is one of the main reasons the majority of people do not know about it.  Personally, I think acrobatics is the best form of gymnastics to watch to see what people can do working together.  Gymnasts can compete in either:

• A women's pair
• A men's pair
• A mixed pair
• A women's trio
• A men's four

Great Britain has a more successful acro team than they do artistic.  They are a highly respected country for achieving brilliance in the sport at European and World championships.  So why is it that the media are not interested in the sport?  I will never understand why it is not as big a sport as it has so much potential to be.

Rhythmic Gymnastics

Another popular form of the sport is rhythmic gymnastics which is personally my least favourite, although I do have complete respect for the gymnasts who take part in this.  It is typically females who train for rhythmic gymnastics and it is beautiful to watch.  In a rhythmic performance the gymnast will perform a floor routine to music using a hand-held apparatus which could be a rope, ball, hoop, clubs or ribbon.  It requires an advanced level of hand-eye coordination as the gymnast will perform tricks while holding the apparatus or release it while they do a skill and must catch it again; timing is essential.  There are both individual and group competitions available to enter and I have included pictures of examples of some rhythmic gymnasts. 

 

Artistic Gymnastics

There are three main disciplines of gymnastics.  In this post I will be describing artistic gymnastics as this is the most well-known and many people have never even heard of the other two.  Artistic gymnastics combines different apparatus and the gymnast is trained on all of these.  Women perform a floor, beam, vault and uneven bars routine.  Men perform on the floor, rings, vault, pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar.  In artistic gymnastics competitions, gymnasts are given individual scores for each event so they can either win on a single event or if they do well in all areas will have a chance of winning the all-round competition.  There is also a team competition so the scores of each individual gymnast in the team are added together to give their team score.  The team will be gymnasts from the same club or, in bigger competitions such as the Olympics or World Championships, they will be competing for their country.  Many aspects of fitness are required to take part in artistic gymnastics, the most important being balance, power, strength and flexibility.  It is a very technical sport which requires complete control of the body and also the gymnast must perform with elegance and grace to achieve high marks.  This video is a montage of the women's artistic gymnastics world championships 2009.  It shows clips of different gymnasts on different pieces of apparatus so please take a few minutes to watch this.

History of Gymnastics

Gymnastics is one of the oldest sports and first originated from the ancient Greeks.  From as early as the year 800 BC, the military used to include gymnastics in their training programmes in countries such as Greece, the Middle East, China and Italy.  The use of gymnastics helped to improve the overall strength, balance and flexibility of the soldiers. The Romans are responsible for adding the pommel horse to gymnastic practice.  It was a part of the cavalry training, allowing soldiers to practice getting on and off a horse quickly and with ease.  The word gymnastics comes from the Greek word "gymnos" which means naked.  In ancient Greece they used to perform the sport naked which has obviously now changed as in the modern day leotards are worn.  Gymnastics was also originally performed outside which you can see from the photo I have attached from the 1936 Olympics.  This is something which would never happen these days, all performances are in fully equipped gymnasiums and gymnastics would definitely never be considered an outside sport which just shows how much the sport has developed and changed over the years (See picture 2).  The International Gymnastics Federation was formed in 1881 and from there gymnastics became an international competition.  The Olympic Games were started up again in 1896 and gymnastics was a part of that competition and every one since.

1936 Olympics

2008 Olympics