Gymnastics coaches get upgrade in GAP course

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TO further upgrade the level of coaching in the country, the Gymnastics Association of the Philippine is hosting a six-day FIG Academy for Artistic Gymnastics-Level 2 course at the MVP Sports Foundation Training Center in Intramuros that began last Sunday.

Featuring top foreign instructors sanctioned by the International Gymnastics Federation, known by its acronym FIG, six Filipino coaches — six male and one female — are among the 34 participants from 11 countries who are undertaking the course.

The other coaches come from Hongkong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam.

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“We want our local coaches to be updated and learn the latest trends and developments in the dynamic sports of artistic gymnastics so we welcome this course under the auspices of the FIG to be hosted in our country,” noted GAP president Cynthia Carrion.

“I hope that our coaches make the most of this course to enhance their learning and know how that they can share with our gymnasts in the national pool and clubs,” Carrion added.

The course is led by South Africa’s Derick Scholtz while the other instructors are Poland’s Andrei Levit and Japan’s Hiroaki Sato, the mentor of Japanese men’s all-around world and Olympic champion Kohei Uchimura; for men’s artistic gymnastics and France’s Eric Boucharin, a five-time Olympic coach who is now the director of the Singapore WAG Academy.

Among the subjects tackled during the course are the anatomy, psychology, physiology and biomechanics involved in both MAG and WAG as well as the proper way of executing and teaching routines on apparatuses such as the floor exercise, pommel horse, vault and uneven bars.

Scholtz said that part of completing the course are theoretical and practical exams for the participants.

“We have always said from the beginning that academy courses are sharing information, so it is impossible in one week to take all the information that we give them and make them master coaches,” he explained.

“What we want them to get out of this week is that we opened the door, just another way of thinking gymnastics,” he added. “If we can teach them to follow one element and to follow certain steps and principles they can apply for every single and other element that would be a great thing for me.”

The South African instructor noted that despite the apparent language barrier because of the many nationalities involved “the reception and response to the course has been fantastic and it is going to be better. It has been a phenomenal experience.”

The sentiment was shared by Sato, who has been coaching Uchimura for the last six years and handling the technical sessions of the course such as the floor exercise and vault.

“The response has been very nice. They (the course participants) are passionate and willing to learn. We are happy with their interest and attitude towards gymnastics,” the Japanese coach said.

Scholtz said it will be up to the respective federations on what level of involvement the coaches will have once they have passed and completed the course.

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