By MARC MCGOWAN
SEVEN Healesville acrobats with golden dreams are set to take on Australia’s best at the Sydney Gymnastics Centre next month.
Three teams in total – two pairs and a trio – will represent Healesville Acrobatics Club in the National Club Championships.
Healesville returned with gold and silver medals from last year’s Australia-wide competition in Perth.
The championships brings together the six gymnastics disciplines, which also includes aerobics, trampolining, artistic, rhythmic and cheerleading.
First-year club president Kym Estcourt-Barclay pointed to the famed Cirque du Soleil as an example of what the acrobatics club’s 30-odd members aspire to.
Acrobatic gymnastics is referred to as “a beautiful, dynamic and spectacular partner sport which develops courage, strength, stamina, co-ordination, flexibility and teamwork”.
“It’s fun and you get flipped around a lot,” Mrs Estcourt-Barclay said.
“That’s why my daughter (Holly) did it. She wanted to be flipped around. You’ve also got the benefits of gymnastics, as in the movement and the skill, so it’s good for them.
“A lot of our juniors started gymnastics then have seen our acrobats and move over to us.”
The pairings of Holly Estcourt and Rhyannon Dixon, as well as Dylan Findley and Jacob Sheldrick, will be brimming with confidence for the national competition.
They won respective level four and five Victorian titles at the State Netball and Hockey Centre at the weekend. Juniors start at level one and work their way up.
Estcourt and Dixon scored a combined 48.5 from their balance and dynamic routines to blitz their next-closest rivals by eight points.
Tasha Ruskin, Marian Marr and Miki Klegg, who will contest the national championships as a trio, complete the club’s seven Sydney-bound competitors.
The acrobats train on Tuesdays and Fridays for three hours at a time at the Healesville High School gymnasium and do an extra session at Nunawading leading into major events.
Healesville-raised, Pakenham-based Samantha Whitehead is the head coach.
“We’ve raised money to get half a spring floor – it’s a proper gymnastics floor – but we only have the room for a half one,” Mrs Estcourt-Barclay said.
“That’s OK for training, but ahead of top competitions we go down to Nunawading, which has a full one.”
The National Club Championships is on between 25 and 28 September.
The club’s juniors also enjoyed success in State Pennant, winning one gold medal and four bronze medals in an impressing showing.
The trip will cost each competitor about $800 and any local businesses interested in offering financial support can contact Kym Estcourt-Barclay via email at kymestcourt@bigpond.com
