Morrow prepares for national test

Wimmera gymnastics export Ryan Morrow is in Melbourne as he prepares to compete at Australian Gymnastics Championships.

Morrow will compete in the level nine-open section at the championships after moving up from level-eight open, where he won a silver medal for his vault routine last year.

He earned his passage to the national championships after finishing first overall at the Gymnastics South Australia state championships earlier this month.

Morrow, who began his gymnastics career at Natimuk and District Gymnastic Club, said the step from level eight to level nine was a big one.

“There’s a lot more difficulty in the skills,” he said.

“You’re up against people that are training longer hours, and across the board the difficulty ramps up.

“There are a lot of people who have stayed level nine for years, so you’ve got the experience at that level to contend with as well.

“It means people throw in harder things and push it a little bit because they know they’re safe.”

Despite coming away with a silver medal last year, Morrow said he would concentrate on his own performance rather than his overall ranking.

“I did it last year, so I think that knocked all of the nerves out of the way,” he said.

“This year it’s just me and a couple of team-mates going for a good time and I think we’ll have a bit of fun. I’m focusing more on personal goals this year.

“I fell on floor last year, so it’s more about cleaning up little errors that I’ve had.

“I can’t say I’m expecting to come out and place on anything because the competition is pretty stiff, but I’ll go in with some personal goals and see if I can set some personal bests and have a bit of fun in the process.

“The floor and vault are my strongest typically. I’ll have a fair crack on them and do the best I can, and at the end of the day if I can walk away knowing I’ve done that, I’ll be pretty happy.”

Morrow said camaraderie and team building were what he enjoyed most about competing at national championships.

“After the state championships I have a couple of little things to work on, but I think the whole team found it that way,” he said.

“We had some things that went well and some things that went poorly for all of us.

“Team building is the best part of coming and competing – you’ve got your best mates doing it with you.

“There are a couple of things for us to work on and a couple of things to trust ourselves in and push a little bit harder when we’re here.”

Morrow and the South Australia team will compete in a team event on Friday, with individual apparatus events on Sunday.