March Gymformation
Gymnastics Academy has grown from 30 to 250 gymnasts and families. There is much to celebrate in our Term One 2022 Gymformation, thank you all for supporting the club on this journey and making this possible - we value and appreciate every one of you.
FUN + FRIENDSHIP | PASSION + PROGRESS
Gymnastics WA Awards 2022
Following a challenging 2021, we had the opportunity to celebrate the amazing achievements of athletes, coaches, judges and the many staff and volunteers that support our sport at the Gymnastics WA annual awards dinner.
Junior International Athlete of the Year
We are delighted to announce that PGA Squad 1 and Future International athlete, Ursula Sadlo was awarded Junior International Athlete of the Year. Ursula represented WA at the 2021 Australian Championships on the Gold Coast, placing 1st AA, 1st Vault, 1st Beam 1st Floor, and 2nd Bars. Congratulations to Ursula – this is a wonderful recognition of your commitment to training and your outstanding performance throughout 2021.
Gymnastics WA Merit for Service Awards
We’d also like to congratulate Senior Coach Dhana Antulov and PGA Chairwoman Kim Tarzan who both received a Gymnastics WA Award of Merit for Service.
Dhana has been coaching for 27 years and has dedicated countless hours to gymnastics throughout her career. A respected High-Performance Coach, Dhana is continually engaged by both Gymnastics Australia and Gymnastics WA to coach our State and National teams.
Kim has given 30 years of service to gymnastics in WA. From leveraging her operational and strategic business acumen to provide governance at the Board level, to her many years of coaching and coordinating gymnastics programs, Kim is a dedicated and much-valued part of our gymnastics community.
PGA Nominated Athletes
Special mention to all PGA athletes that were nominated for an award; Olena Edmeades - Junior International Athlete of the Year, Summa Hill - Senior Levels Athlete of the Year, and Alex Blycha - Junior National Level Athlete of the Year. It is a huge achievement to be nominated and we are very proud of you all.
Australian Team Selection – EnBW Pokal Team Challenge, Germany.
We are excited to announce that Olena Edmeades has been selected to represent Australia in the Senior Women’s Artistic Gymnastics team. Joining her in Stuttgart is Dhana Antulov, who has been selected as an Australian National Team coach.
Congratulations Dhana and Olena – we are very proud of you both. We would also like to acknowledge our senior coaching team, Squad 1 training partners, judges, and service providers for their contributions towards this wonderful achievement.
Club Operations
In an exciting new development for PGA, we have created two new roles to assist with club operations and program development.
Firstly, we extend a warm welcome to Sharron Isard, who will be joining us to manage Administration and Member Support. A highly respected member of the Gymnastics Community, Sharron was this year awarded Gymnastics WA Life Membership in recognition of her commitment to gymnastics. A respected coach, judge and sports administrator, Sharron was previously the Branch Manager of one of Perth's largest clubs, Star-Mites Gym Sports, for more than 25 years. Sharron also has a deep understanding of High-Performance programs and brings with her a wealth of knowledge of the operational and administrative requirements of a gymnastics club. We are thrilled and feel very fortunate to welcome Sharron to the team.
We are also delighted to announce that our Development Coach, Shannon Crichton, has been appointed to the additional role of GFA Coordinator/Coach. This is an important appointment for the club as we move into the next stage of our growth, and Shannon brings many years of experience in gymnastics program structure/operations and coach development requirements that will benefit PGA.
Coach Updates
Firstly, we would like to congratulate Kiki Magiid for obtaining her intermediate coaching accreditation and Clara Kolm and Olivia De Rossi for achieving their beginner coaching accreditations - well-done team!
As our membership has grown so too has our coaching team. We now have 18 passionate, dedicated, and highly skilled coaches, including a number of current and retired athletes that have commenced a coaching career and we are thrilled to introduce you to the following new coaches:
Brooke Missen
We are very pleased to welcome Brooke to the PGA coaching team. Brooke previously trained as a gymnast in the high-performance stream, before retiring from the sport and transitioning to Diving WA. Welcome back, Brooke!
Jordannah Fauntleroy
Also a current member of Diving WA with a background in gymnastics, we are very happy that Jordannah has joined the PGA coaching team. Welcome to the team Jordannah.
Ebbeny Grosse
Ebbeny was also a high-performance gymnast, before retiring and transitioning to trampolining as an athlete and more recently, a coach. Ebbeny holds a beginner accreditation and has also commenced her intermediate accreditation. We are very happy to welcome Ebbeny back as part PGA’s coaching team.
Our new coaches are mentored, guided, and developed by our experienced senior coaching team. This commitment to training and development will help us ensure exceptional coaching for our athletes and will help us expand and create more classes and places to meet future demand. If you are an experienced gymnastics coach or would like to find out more about coaching pathways and training opportunities with PGA, please visit our Careers Page.
New Classes
Over the holiday period, we reshaped and scheduled our GFA class offerings and are thrilled by the level of interest we have received from you, our wonderful PGA community. Our staff are so excited to see so many smiling faces entering the gymnastics training centre throughout the week.
Due to the high demand for classes, we are now running GFA classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and most of these classes are already at capacity. With only a few vacancies across our GymFoundations, GymReach and GymSkills classes, please register your interest early in any new classes - click here to register or join the waitlist.
Alongside this membership growth work has been going on in the background to ensure our program has a strong structure, including the planning of assessments and grading days, events and further coach education. Information relevant to each class will be released to families once finalised. We look forward to seeing these programs and all our gymnasts grow and develop!
Member Benefits
Ascend Physio offers PGA athletes a 20% discount on physiotherapy services with specialist physiotherapist Jo Norcott.
Jo is a WAIS and Gymnastics Australia preferred physiotherapist who has worked with gymnasts for over 17 years. An internationally successful gymnast herself, Jo has a keen interest in paediatrics, joint hypermobility and postural issues.
Ascend is conveniently based at HBF Stadium. Please click here to book an appointment with Jo.
Class Updates & Notable Mentions
Squad 1 Notables
Squad 1 athletes have been working very hard in the lead up to their qualification competitions taking place from the 12th March. This competition will see some athletes competing in new levels for the first time as well as new skills being competed. Best wishes girls, we can’t wait to see you shine out of the competition floor.
Squad 2 Notables
Addy – front layout front tuck on the standard floor and clear hip to handstand on the high bar
Amber – round off flip layout full twist on the standard floor
Charlotte – welcome back Charlotte!
Indigo – achieved her full level 8 bar routine with kip cast to handstand ½ turn
Jasmin – 4 giant ½ turns in a row on the single high bar
Mikayla – improved running technique on vault and back twisting on trampoline
Squad 3 Notables
Well done to all the girls for continuing to work hard on overall quality and technique in your skills. The girls have been adapting really well to a new coach and new programs, and we’re looking forward to continuing to see them grow and develop.
Development 1 Notables
Phoebe, Saige and Penny - achieving their press to handstand on floor
Arabella, Saige, Beatrice and Phoebe - achieving their cast back hip circle on bars
Kayla -achieving her baby giant on bars and making great progress on her front handspring on floor
Summer - achieving her cartwheel on beam
Phoebe - achieved her long-awaited bridge kick over on floor
Competitions & Events
Senior Levels Competitions
The first qualification competition for our senior levels athletes takes place on the weekend this weekend at the State Gymnastics Centre in Leederville.
National Level 9 – Senior International: Saturday 12th March – 3.00pm- 7.15pm
National level 8: Sunday 13th March – 8.00am- 11.05am
Sadly, under new stage 2 government restrictions other than competing athletes parents and guardians, the first qualifier is not open to spectators. We look forward to sharing our athletes' results and hope we can be there to support them in future competitions.
Athlete Services
Envision kindly supports Perth Gymnastics Academy athletes by providing Medicare rebated scans with no out of pocket cost when referred by a specialist sports doctor, such as Dr Duncan Sullivan or Dr Carmel Sullivan.
Urgent scans and Sunday appointments are offered with a reduced gap payment of $195.
Please Note: Medicare does not rebate scans when the patient is referred by a physio, so any physio referred scans are a $350 out of pocket fee. Unfortunately, Envision can no longer offer the previous $195 scans for athletes referred by physios.
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Community & Volunteering
Help Needed
As a not-for-profit club, we rely on the generosity and time of our club community to operate. There are a number of ways to volunteer and support us:
Competitions
All clubs are required to provide volunteers to coach and help manage Gymnastics WA events. As such, we are seeking expressions of interest from parents to attend the Beginner Judging Course and GWA Floor Manager course.
Back-Office Support
If you have a strong skill set and capacity to give your time, we would greatly appreciate support in the following areas:
IT
Athlete services connections
Grant Submissions
Donations
It is often the little things that have the most impact. To streamline our check-in process and enable coaches to track skills progression in real-time we would be very grateful for donations of iPads.
If you can help with any of the above, please contact us.
