ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS The year 2020 was a quiet, yet challenging year for all athletes due to the impact of the pandemic all over the globe. Many competitions such as Pacific Rim, Singapore Open and Asian Championships were cancelled. The nation went into “Circuit Breaker” from 7 April to 1 June, with all training across Singapore moving to online platforms. To support the HighPerformance programmes during the lockdown, Singapore Gymnastics organised several High-Performance workshops virtually. A “Live Questions & Answers” with Dave Tilley was organised, where Dave shared with participants on how to safely return to gymnastics after the Circuit Breaker. National Training Centre – High Performance Programme With the closure of the National Training Centre due to Circuit Breaker, training was moved online to “Home-Based Training”. Portable equipment was loaned out to gymnasts so that they could continue with some basic training at home. Although online training was unprecedented, the athletes and coaches were quick to adapt. After all, this was a new kind of normal across the globe! This “down time” from the gym was used efficiently with the coaches shifting their focus to work on the athlete’s physical attributes such as flexibility, strength, as well as artistry. The team worked with Alice Baquie (a certified Physio and Pilates instructor in Australia), who came up with programmes that targeted specific muscle groups identified by the coaches, to challenge and strengthen the athletes. This also further reduced the risk of injury, as the athletes returned to training in the gym post Circuit Breaker. The team also worked with Stacey Umeh, a Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) coaching academy expert, on artistry. Over the few weeks, Stacey conducted weekly ballet sessions with the athletes, working specifically on their movement, flexibility, balance, posture, and breathing techniques. Besides working on the physical aspect, the team engaged the nutrition team and sports psychology team from Singapore Sports Institute (SSI) and National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI) to work with the athletes. The nutrition workshop was a 2-part series where SSI nutritionist, Ms Liyan Huang shared with the athletes on the importance of having a balanced diet and the recommendations on how they could modify food intake during low training periods for elite athletes for example during Circuit Breaker. The athletes also had fun preparing their own meals based on the information shared by Liyan and did a short presentation on their meals before dining together virtually.
Singapore Gymnastics Annual Report 2020
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