Frequently
Asked Questions

Gymnastics is much more than what you see at the Olympics. Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of sequences of skills requiring physical strength, flexibility, and kinesthetic awareness. As such this sport provides the basis for a child's fundamental physical ability and skills.

Anyone from walking to adulthood can join in gymnastics and benefit from balanced physical development as a foundation for all sports, not just the sport of gymnastics. All gymnastics skills can be broken down into the dominant movement patterns of spring, landings, static, rotation, swing, locomotion and hand held apparatus. In fact the German word for gymnastics is used to describe all sports.

There are actually seven Gymsports:

Tramp (Trampoline Sports)

MAG (Men's Artistic Gymnastics)

WAG (Women's Artistic Gymnastics)

RG (Rhythmic Gymnastics)

GG (General Gymnastics - including Display Gymnastics and Kindergym)

AER (Sports Aerobics)

ACRO (Sports Acrobatics)

All of our Gymnastics Instructors have been educated through one of the appropriate accreditation pathways.

Our coaches attend and complete a range of training and development opportunities each year to ensure they are up to date with best practice teaching principals.

your child's involvement in gymnastics will improve their spatial and body awareness.

In addition to learning and increasing body awareness, control, balance and strength your child will learn safe landing and falling techniques. These skills may decrease the incidence of injury when your child is performing gymnastics, other sports and doing physical activities.

Whilst there is always a risk of injury we have put in place measures to make our sport safe including:

• Basic skills are mastered prior to teaching harder skills
• All of our coaches are accredited and receive ongoing training
• Our club regularly undergoes risk management audits and equipment safety checks
• We are involved the Club 10 Quality Assurance Program

In the Australian Sports Medicine Federation Sports Injury Survey gymnastics had a risk factor of only .01. This is significantly lower than other sports including hockey .15 and netball .11. The risk factor was determined by the number of injuries admitted to hospital x100 divided by the average hours trained times the number of participants.

Club 10 has been developed by Gymnastics Australia. This scheme is an accreditation system that provides a framework for continuous improvement across ten key club operational areas.

The Club 10 vision is “An accredited network of vibrant and successful affiliated Clubs providing a comprehensive range of Gymsports, to Australians of all areas and abilities".

A Club achieves a Star rating, from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest), through and comprehensive auditing scheme. Australia wide in 2004 only 5 clubs where awarded a 5 star rating.

All of our introductory classes are designed to cater for children of varying ability, whether they have participated in gymnastics before or are just starting.

All of our programs have been designed so skills and activities build on the fundamentals. Activities are adaptable depending upon the child's individual ability and can be made easier or more challenging to ensure a positive learning experience.

In fact we believe gymnastics frequently benefits those most, who struggle with aspects of physical activities or development. We have also received feedback of increased self confidence for children who have previously struggled with sports.

The programs have also been designed to provide children with fun activities, which promote achievable challenges in a safe environment and build upon the fundamental skills of gymnastics, whilst also developing skills pertinent to other sports.

At the end of each term our Programs for Children over the age of 5 have a Certificate Week. Each program has progressive coloured certificates. There are 10 skills on a certificate and for each skill the children will receive a coloured sticker for good, very good or excellent. If they are unable to achieve a skill it is left blank. The children do not fail a certificate and have something to take home and show for their participation. We have received strong positive feedback to this system of recognizing achievement in a non competitive manner.

All of our Learn to Gym Programs are non competitive. When children progress from one of our award based programs where skills are learnt and reviewed; Girls, Boys, Tramp or Tumbling Club Badges, your child may have the opportunity to trial for a Development Program or a Competitive Team Program, then your child will be expected to be involved in competitions.