Two gymnasts of the Kimberley Gymnastics Club won ten gold medals during a recent provincial event, and both qualified for the national championships later this year.
“Tayla Shone (age category 13 years) and Malayka Cleaver (age category 11 years) won first place for all the apparatus (beam, bar, floor, vault)”, says Melissa Buchweitz, owner and coach of the club.
Both also won the overall high score in their age categories during the provincial event on 19 August in the Free State.
They will represent the Northern Cape at the nationals on 4 and 5 October in Centurion, Pretoria.
This golden performance is the second in August for the club.
On 5 August, 17 gymnasts of the club competed in Bloemfontein at the Helena Botha gymnastics club, and came home with 22 medals, including nine gold, eight silver and five bronze medals.
Of the 17 gymnasts, 14 were on level 1 to 2, and three on level 4 to 6, and all of them showed great sportmanship and definitely showcased their love for the sport, Buchweitz comments.
“This is a step in the right direction for artistic gymnastics, seeing that only two clubs in the whole of the Northern Cape have artistic gymnastics.”
Buchweitz says artistic gymnastics is a discipline sport where gymnasts train on apparatus namely bar, beam, floor and vault.
“It is a sport where they train flexibility, mobility, strength and coordination. It also happens to be an Olympic sport, and the end goal for our gymnasts is to see them excel and make it to the Olympics,” says Buchweitz. Visit Kimberley Gymnastics on Facebook for more information.
