FIG Academy for Aerobic Gymnastics Level 2 in Hai Phong (VIE)

Doha (QAT), AGU Office, March 10, 2011: The first FIG Academy for Aerobic Gymnastics in 2011, and the 15th overall for this discipline, was hosted by Vietnam in the first week of March. It was a Level 2 Academy and was hosted in the City of Hai Phong, a three hour drive from the capital Hanoi. The technical lectures were held in the Hai Phong Gymnastics Training House and the theory lectures in the Nam Cuong Hotel a few hundred meters away during March 1 – 8, 2011.
The course was attended by 13 coaches from four federations – Australia, Philippines, India and Vietnam.
The course leadership was shared between Hardy Fink (CAN), the Director of FIG Education & Academy Programmes who taught several theory lectures during the first three days and John Atkinson (GRB), the former president of the FIG Technical Committee for Aerobic Gymnastics and a member of the Academy Working Group that developed all of the curriculum and materials for the courses. The main technical expert for the course was Wang Hong of China who is the Chinese head coach and a member of the FIG Technical Committee. The artistic, choreographic and anatomy lectures were presented by Aerobic Gymnastic expert Olga Kyselovičová of Slovakia who had just been newly appointed as Vice-dean at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, University Bratislava.
The highest results of 90% on the very demanding 4-part examination process for this Academy were shared by Kerrin Cormick of Australia and Ranjan Singh Yumnam of India. The Vietnamese candidates were at a bit of a disadvantage for reasons of language, but the course leaders assured that the theory examination was translated into Vietnamese and the practical presentations could be made in their language. Every course participant ended up with examination marks above 70% which is a remarkable achievement.
Vietnamese Gymnastics Vice-President Nguyen Kim Lan visited the course and thanks go to her and her federation for hosting this second Academy for Aerobic Gymnastics in Vietnam. The high esteem in which this course was held was evident by the presence of city officials, government sport officials and officials from the Vietnamese Olympic Committee at the opening ceremony.
Most of the local organising work was done by Vietnam National Coach Marian Kolev who also provided ten excellent demonstrator gymnasts from his training team.