Small Christchurch gymnasium punching above its weight
Alisa Wada, 20, sits on the floor of the gym with her head between her knees, as her team-mate and fellow gymnast, 16-year-old Jun McDonald, gets up from the same pose to carry out her routine yet again.
While others their age might be hanging out at the mall with friends, Wada and McDonald are here, at Te Wero Gymnastics, a small community-based gymnastics club in Christchurch, six days a week, training. “Not having time for much else is hard, you have to sacrifice friends, relationships with everyone, because they don’t fully understand what you have to put into a sport,“McDonald said.
Although it could be hard, gymnastics was her life, Wada added.
“It’s been something that has consumed my whole life, you can’t really imagine your life without it.”
Every time the music stops, they lie on the floor exhausted for a few moments before collecting themselves and getting up to do it again.
Their coach, former Russian international gymnast Svetlana Sazonova, said gymnastics was an incredibly demanding sport.
Their hard work is paying off. They and Sazonova will travel to Cali, Colombia, to represent New Zealand at the Pacific Rim Championships for a week from Sunday April 21.
It will be Wada’s first time competing internationally.
McDonald, who has been doing gymnastics since she was 2, competed internationally for the first time last September at the World Challenge Cup in Hungary..
Following the Pacific Rim Championships, Wada and McDonald will also compete in the World Challenge Cup in Bulgaria and Slovenia at the end of May and early June.
When asked how they have been able to come so far, both Wada and McDonald said their success was due to their coach.