Jamaicans to compete at world’s largest gymnastics meet

MEMBERS OF Nishida’s Gymnastics are set to compete at the annual Gasparilla Classics competition, the world’s largest gymnastics meet, in Tampa, Florida, February 25-27.

The team of 19 gymnasts and four coaches will compete against teams from countries such as the United States, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Colombia and Ecuador.

Nishida Gymnastics managing director, Shin Nishida, said this is the team’s first international competition since the COVID-19 pandemic and the gymnasts were looking forward to competing.

“In Jamaica we don’t have many other strong gymnasts other than us – we are the best gymnastics school in Jamaica so we have to go out to see good ones (and) this is a learning experience,” Nishida said.

Head coach and junior director of Nishida’s Gymnastics, Tristan Hall, said competing at international meets was important for the development of the gym and its members as they gain competition experience.

“As we are aware, the United States and other countries are very experienced in this sport of gymnastics, so competition with the gymnasts from those countries helps our students and coaches to see where we are on the playing field in comparison to those gymnasts,” Hall said.

COVID-19 IMPACT

According to Hall, preparation for the meet was not easy as the difficulties brought on by COVID-19 affected the gym and its members in many ways.

“Training competitive gymnasts during the pandemic was really difficult due to the many protocols that were put in place by both the Jamaican Government and the gym,” Hall said.

”These protocols limited the interaction with the gymnasts in terms of the number of training days and hours which was as a result of the curfews, lockdowns and gathering limits. This, in turn, slowed down the rate of progress and development for most athletes.”

Nishida added that the gym and some members were having financial challenges and visa issues to attend the Classics in Tampa.

“We don’t have any sponsors, we don’t get any funding assistance from the association [Jamaica Amateur Gymnastics Association] so basically parents have to fund all expenses [for the trip to the meet],” Nishida said.

“Because of the finances being tight, we can only afford one competition per year.”

Nishida said if the gym gets more sponsorship they could make it to more international meets to help the development of local gymnasts.

“[These competitions] help us to produce stronger and more experienced athletes who will be ready to take on the bigger games such as the World Championships or the Olympic Games,” said Hall.

Despite the difficulties being faced, Hall and Nishida have echoed sentiments to the effect they will remain focused on doing well at the competition and have hopes of continuing or bettering the legacy of local gymnasts training at Nishida’s Gymnastics.

The gym produced Jamaica’s first representative in men’s gymnastics at the World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, 2015, and later the first representative in the Pan American Championships in Colombia last year.