Philippines Hosts Another FIG Academy for Rhythmic Gymnastics

The Gymnastics Association of the Philippines had hosted another week-long FIG Academy in the country which was held from September 20 until September 27, 2015. It took place at the Gymnastics Association National Training Center located at Malate, Manila.

The event, a level 2 Academy for Rhythmic Gymnastics was held exactly a week after the Philippines organized a Level 2 Academy for Aerobic Gymnastics

It was the 6^th FIG Academy that was hosted by the country, the 35^th Academy for Rhythmic Gymnastics and the 209^th FIG Academy that was held since the academy program has started 12 years ago.

There were 17 coaches who partook in the said Academy. Six countries were represented by these coaches, including Hongkong, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and the host country, Philippines. The participation in this Academy was partially funded by the Asian Gymnastics Union through the use of International Gymnastics Federation’s (FIG) Development Fund.

Dr. Katja Kleinveldt, a German coach who abandoned her career as a medical doctor in order to fulfill her passion of coaching and teaching Rhythmic Gymnastics became the course leader for this Rhythmic Academy. Kleinveldt is currently the National Coach of Germany. She was accompanied by two other experts from Europe who are both in charge to discuss all of the technical lectures.

One of them was Nadya Alexandrova of Great Britain, a former national coach of Great Britain and Bulgaria and a member for the FIG Academy Working Group for Rhythmic Gymnastics. Another expert was Natalia Gorbulina, a Russian coach who has handled some of the world-renowned rhythmic gymnasts and was also a part of the Academy Working Group.

The examination proper was comprised of a theory examination and two practical examinations – first is the construction of a mini-routine and the other one is the demonstration of a rhythmic gymnastics skill.

Due to the coaches’ low level of experience, majority of the participants in the Academy achieved a relatively low score. Most of the scores are ranging from 51% to 87%. Despite being low, it shows a significant improvement compared from the Level 1 Academy that was held last year.

Cherrie Kwek, a rhythmic gymnast from Singapore got the highest mark of 87%. Philippines’ Enida Tolentino got the second highest score and the third best result was obtained by Whynn Reroma of the host country, Philippines.

The International Federation of Gymnastics expressed their sincerest gratitude for the Cynthia Carrion, the President of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines, for her eagerness and passion on hosting this event in an excellent facility with a lot of remarkable participants and a wonderful support staff. They have also acknowledged the efforts of Secretary General Bettina Pou for taking care of all the preliminary organizational work and assuring that all the necessities and demands were met during the Academy.

The FIG Academy Programme will resume with a very busy schedule until the end of this year. The programme will provide coach education workshops at the Men’s World Championships and the Trampoline World Championships and will also organize Academies in Jamaica, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Namibia, Benin, China and Qatar on November and December.

The FIG Academy Program

The FIG Coaches’ Academy Program is an education program provided by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) for coaches of various countries in all of the FIG disciplines (Men’s Artistic, Women’s Artistic, Rhythmic, Trampoline, Aerobic and Acrobatic). The program began with a goal of supplying the coaches with appropriate knowledge in accordance with the principles and content of the FIG Age Group information.

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