All tumbles and twirls

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
TALENTED acrobats across the Yarra Valley put on a gala event for the Healesville Gymnastic Centre late last year.
Gymnastics teacher Dru Troon and acrobatics teacher Samantha Whitehead do a first class job with 35 acrobats and 33 gymnasts in junior and senior categories.
At 65, Mrs Troon said she loved gymnastics and competed every year in the veterans’ competitions.
“It’s lots of fun, hard work, a challenge and healthy exercise,” she said.
The club was moved into a refurbished new gym in September due to Healesville High School’s building program, and the gala was used to raise funds for a second sprung floor strip to improve safety by having a level floor for tumbling and to assist development of more advanced tumbling.
“We’ve also just purchased a new foam vaulting box, which we were able to use on Gala night,” she said.
“It is much firmer and has more uses than the old one.”
Mrs Troon said the acrobats worked on uneven bars (“We’ve just installed new modern ones”), high bar, parallel bars, high and low beams, wall bars, trampoline, rings, pommel horse, ropes, tumbling mats, trampette and vaulting box.
“Everyone is enthusiastic for the future and enjoying the springy-ness and greater adjustability of the new bars,” she said.
Mrs Troon has been part of the club since 1978, and she and husband Richard took it over as a private company in 1991.
Her acrobats compete in state and national competitions and are already preparing for this year’s competitions.
The gymnasts also have interclub competitions with Yarra Junction and Emerald, and displays by the rhythmic venue at Ferntree Gully.
Mrs Troon said the new gym had been partially flooded twice and was still a bit damp in sports, but it was overall a big improvement on the old gym.