JAMAICA Gymnastics Association (JAGA) President Nicole Grant says the success of a recently concluded camp is just one step in their push to bring to fruition the vision of once again having home-grown male gymnasts on the international scene in the near future.

The three-day camp hosted at the Jamaica School of Gymnastics (JSG) Slipe Road base was conducted by Brazilian Felippe Mendonça, who is also head coach of the United States national men’s team and an internationally accredited judge.

“It was a great pleasure having top-level Coach Felippe conduct a much-needed camp focused on coaching male gymnasts. We have been struggling to maintain our boys and keeping them interested in the sport, not only because of the stigma but also because when they get to the advance levels we have limited coaches to work with them,” Grant told the Jamaica Observer.

She explained that gymnasiums such as Nishida’s Gymnastics have had success producing talented local male gymnasts — Danielle Williams, Shacoy Bennett and Nicholas Tai — in the past, but those efforts aimed at sustainable development and growth where that programme is concerned have since tethered out for various reasons.

“Those locally developed gymnasts were pioneers for our male programme through the assistance of Coach Nishida, who spent a lot of time guiding them throughout the years. They all have competed for Jamaica on the international scene and Nicholas Tai, who is now a coach, has been to at least one World Championships in the past,” Grant shared.

“But now that Coach Nishida no longer resides in Jamaica it’s very difficult to transition the males from recreational to elite, but the gyms are really trying and putting out their best to make it happen.

“One of the problems is the fact that most of the coaches oversee girls, and boys need longer time[s] in the gym than the girls because they do six events while the girls do four. Therefore, this three-day camp was super important to not only reviving the programme but also keeping the boys interested and excited about the sport,” she added.

During the camp Mendonça focused a lot on the coaches — from beginner to the elite level — and also on how to select boys for the sport.

He also touched a little on certain aspects of coaching including anatomy, biomechanics, writing training programmes, strength and flexibility, as well as conditioning and developing skills, to name a few.

Grant believes the camp will serve as a springboard for a number of other positives the association has in the pipeline for this year, as she expressed gratitude to those who had a hand in making it possible.

“I believe this is just one of the many positives that we are looking forward to, and we are indeed thankful for the Pan American Gymnastics Union who have been working very hard with programmes to develop nations like Jamaica in the Pan Am region,” she said.

JAGA Director Sheldon Sharpe was also very instrumental in ensuring the camp went well and that the relevant coaches were in attendance. There were coaches from First Dance Academy that also teaches gymnastics in Montego Bay, Painite Dance and Gymnastics Academy from Mandeville, Nishida’s Gymnastics, and Jamaica School of Gymnastics both from Kingston,” Grant noted.