Doug Davis & Diana Hughes of my favourite equipment company Tumbl Trak are touring clubs in Australia. Doug mentioned he was impressed with the Northern Beaches club, Sydney. So I looked it up on the WWW.
Well named, the club is 5min from a surf beach.
In April 2007 the club moved into a terrific facility in Pittwater Sports Centre.
Northern Beaches Gymnastics was established in 1990 by husband and wife team, Mark and Gai Forrest.
Since its initial concept, the club has blossomed into one of Australia’s premier sporting facilities, attracting over 1500 members. …
Lu Ming and Xiao Qing Li are two of the coaches there.
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This is my own personal opinion; I am not affiliated with the club so the following information may not be the most accurate, however I am well aware of the club etc.
This is their new facility that’s probably now a few years old. Because they are located on in a sports centre “park”, next door to a Sports High School, it is government sponsored and owned land they use. This means they were able to receive funding to upgrade the gym.
My main gripe after visiting their gym, and also in seeing a lot of other upgraded gyms, is how many MISTAKES are constantly re-made. The gym is small (big for AUSn standards, small by US). It had great potential to become one of the biggest gyms in NSW, both size and numbers.
My initial fear was for the out of bounds markings on floor – around a metre or so away from two cornering edges are the plastic baracade to mark the differentiation between gymnast area and parent area. It’s a smart idea to do that, but I am always scared for those gymnasts who may hurt themselves by running too far out of bounds; the limits of the apparatus pose a risk. I understand it is this way in many gyms, as it is a space issue.
The other is that they are seeking to start a competitive trampolining program, yet did not design a location within their gym that could be used for it. Currently there is an inground Acro pit tramp – with a roof about 3m above it. It is a shame, for the Nth Beaches is an unreached area for trampoline sports, and also NBG attracts a wealth of talented kids, and kids who would also be looking for other sports upon leaving gymnastics.
On the flip side, one really cool thing that wasn’t finished when I was there, was the parent “grand stand” – glassed in, higher seating in a viewing room above the gymnasium. Very cool idea.
As for their gymnasts, it’s nothing but positive. They’ve got fantastic coaches, are doing very well at international levels for girls, and the boys have always traditionally been a top contender for the National Club title.
Narrabean is also a prime location for elite sport development as well, with a NSWIS site further behind the lagoon.
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