Boiling cauldron of gymnastics
By
KEVIN TUTTY
New Zealand gymnasts will be acutely aware of the gulf between their level of ability and that of the world’s leading gymnasts after viewing the Olympic Games in the last couple of weeks.
One Christchurch gymnast hopes In the next five weeks to gain an insight into the amount of training and dedication necessary to reach the highest pinnacle of the sport Patrice Irvine, a member of the Alpha Gym Club, left last week-end to spend five weeks in Japan, training at the Osaka College of Physical Education. Miss Irvine, a student at Sacred Heart College, will train with the top gymnasts at the college and get the chance to compare herself to them in two competi-
Mlss Irvine has been able to accept this desirable opportunity to train with some of the world’s best gymnasts, thanks to a sporting and cultural exchange established earlier this year. The exchange will enable Christchurch sportsmen and women and coaches from a number of sports to visit Japan for up to a year. All internal costs will be met by the Japanese, and while she is in Osaka Miss Irvine will stay with a Japanese family. International fares are the responsibility of the student. Aged 16, Miss Irvine has been a competing gymnast for five years. She is a grade II competitor but if she can handle the new routiner she will learn in Japan,*ind the six hours a
day of training, she should advance to the elite grade next year. Her coach in Christchurch, Mr Alf Holt, said that if the report from the college which will return with Miss Irvine is favourable, and providing she enjoys the training and competition, there was nothing to prevent her from returning to the college for up to a year; If the exchange proves of value to Miss Irvine, Mr Holt said the Alpha club would send more of its gymnasts to Osaka. Miss Irvine knows only a smattering of Japanese, but Mr Holt said that should not be a bar. “If she hasn’t done an exercise properly, she will soon get the message that she has to do W again — the correct
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Press, 17 August 1984, Page 19
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365Boiling cauldron of gymnastics Press, 17 August 1984, Page 19
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