Review TRA Academy Visginas 2008 (LTU)

In early October, the Lithuania Gymnastics Federation hosted the second Academy for Trampoline Gymnastics Level 1 in the remote village of Visginas located near the Latvia and Belarus border.

Although 18 European Federations were invited to attend only three – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – registered with a disappointing total of eight coaches. In addition, the FIG invited two Spanish speaking experts to become familiar with the course content so they could teach the Level 1 and Level 2 curriculum at future Spanish language Academies. These were Fabiana Flores of Argentina and Miguel Vicente of Spain. It was decided to go ahead with this Academy even with low numbers because it was necessary to test and finalize all of the course lectures and materials for future use and translation.

A special guest observer was Erik Tybjerg-Pedersen of Denmark, who represented the European Gymnastics Union for Team Gymnastics. That activity is so closely connected to the disciplines of Trampoline Gymnastics that he Academy proved to be an enlightening experience for him.

The course leader was Hardy Fink the Director of FIG Education and Academy Programs and was joined by the members of the Academy Working Group – Nikolai Makarov of Russia who is also vice-president of the Trampoline Technical Committee, his two committee colleagues Christophe Lambert of France and Ulf Andersson of Sweden, German National coach Michael Kuhn, and Canadian sport scientist Keith Russell. Future Academies will be conducted with a maximum of four experts except for the first Level 2 Academy expected in late 2009 when this full working Group will once again be together to deliver and test the curriculum.

The technical and theory lectures for the Academy were held, in the facilities of the IEA Mokymo Centras, an education centre for the nearby nuclear reactor facility. The practical lectures were held in the national acrobatic training centre (Visagino Akribatikos Sporto Mokykla).  The organization of the course was excellent and all technical, audio-visual, and educational equipment as well as demonstrator gymnasts was constantly available. However, the absence of a double mini-tramp marred the complete delivery of the course.

The best result in the combined theory and practical examinations was achieved by Fabiana Flores of Argentina. 

Thanks and congratulations go to the Lithuanian Gymnastics Federation for the organization of this Academy and especially to Sergey Albridizio, the director of the Acrobatic Centre, for his continuous assistance to assure that all administrative and other needs were completely and quickly met. His hard work helped assure the success of this Academy.

The next Academy for trampoline gymnastics will be held in Thailand in mid-November. The next two months will also see Academies for other FIG disciplines in Brazil, Korea, South Africa, Vietnam and Malaysia.