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.

Winter Classic

Singapore Gymnastics’ men’s coaching team initiated the inaugural Men’s Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) National Training Centre Winter Classic on 19 December 2020. The MAG NTC Winter Classic was an in-house friendly competition where the NTC athletes were split into two teams. Team Red consisted of Cameron Pefianco, Eli Low, Jayden Han, Kaelan Leong, Terry Tay, Kho Tong-Yu, Xavier Pang and Zac Liew, while Team Blue was represented by Aiken Tang, Asher Phuah, Barr Abdul, Jonah Loh, Jovi Loh, Mikhail Haziq, Nathanael Pek and Robin Sim. The Red team came up on top with a team score of 318.05 and won for themselves Decathlon shopping vouchers worth $20 each. Team Blue was not far behind and was rewarded with Decathlon shopping vouchers worth $10 each. Besides the team prizes, there were 2 surprise awards awarded to the athlete that showed great “Sportsmanship” and an athlete that showed “Elegance” . Voted by the judges, the recipient of the “Sportsmanship” award was Terry Tay and the recipient of “Elegance” was Jonah Loh.

This competition would not have been possible without the support of Gymnastics Support Group Singapore, who sponsored the awards and goodie bags, including the judges who took time off from their busy schedule to judge.

National Squad

The 12th National Championships, held from 12 – 14 March 2021, had a total of 2 junior and 8 senior athletes qualifying for the MAG National Junior and Senior Squad. This is an essential component to be eligible for future selection trials for international competitions. Eli Low, making his debut as a senior athlete came in first place in the Individual All-Around category with a score of 70.350, with Robin Sim finishing close behind, scoring 70.250 and Mohammed Mikhail Haziq claiming the bronze medal with a score of 69.550.

The Women’s side had 2 junior and 6 senior athletes who qualify for the WAG National Junior and Senior Squad. Nadine Joy Nathan finished first in the Individual All-Around category with a score of 45.650, with Shandy Poh coming in second with 45.550 and Kaitlyn Lim placing third with 41.450.