By Derek Schlennstedt
Launching Place Primary School has had a long and illustrious history of aerobics, and has on several occasions made it to the Nationals.
This year is no exception, and the school is sending three aerobic groups to compete in the Schoolaerobics Australian National Championships 2017 on the Gold Coast.
Teacher and coach Candice Nyman introduced aerobics nine years ago when she started at the school, as a lunchtime club, but it wasn’t long before teams were competing.
The Launching Place Primary School is the only school in the Upper Yarra area to offer the sport, and Ms Nyman said that since the program’s inception routines had become more difficult and intricate.
“The routine is two minutes, but it’s two minutes of non-stop aerobic exercise with power moves- there’s lots of dynamic moves,” she said.
“They get judged on synchronicity, showmanship technique and then the artistic side of it which covers the choreography.”
In the lead-up to the Nationals, students will be training at least three times every day with the importance on making the performance as neat as possible.
“Recess, lunchtime and before school each day – we do a lot of training,” she said.
“We have to train the body to get through this routine as it is continuous high intensity work for two minutes with no stopping at all.”
This year a team of Grade 3 girls and a team of Grade 4 girls will be going to the Nationals as well as a team of Grade 5 and 6 boys.
Of the boys that are going, Lachlan in Grade 5 is following in the footseteps of his brothers and sister and is the fourth sibling to go to the Nationals.
Ms Nyman was extremely proud of the dedication the students had shown in their training and mentioned that there was a culture surrounding the sport at the school.
“There’s a bit of a culture at our school … all the Preps walk outside doing star jumps and waiting for their turn,” she said.
“I’m very proud of the kids, they’ve done a great job to get this far, and we are hoping to make our community proud when we are in Queensland.”
The competition is held at the Gold Coast convention centre on 5 August.
