TeamGym News! The TeamGym Newsletter N° 10 - 2019

Welcome to the 10^th edition of the TeamGym Newsletter!

The first quarter of 2019 has passed and for many of us, the busy national competition season is approaching. In many countries, the work on setting up the team structure for the 2020 Open European Championships is also on-going.

In early February, I had the opportunity to visit the Ballerup Super Arena, just outside Copenhagen (DEN). It is a multisport-arena including a velodrome for track cycling. The venue showed great potential for our TeamGym event. The three latest European Championships have all been sold out and those of you who have already contacted the arena to buy tickets should know that there will be more than 6.000 seats made available. We believe the capacity is sufficient reflecting the constantly growing interest for our events.

Mid-March, the TC TeamGym met in Ljubljana (SLO) to set the agenda for this year’s TeamGym courses and events and to finalise the work on some of the necessary Code of Points updates for 2020. The weekend in Ljubljana also included an introduction course with participating coaches and gymnasts from the major clubs in Slovenia. We warmly thank Ričard Crnjac and the Slovenian Gymnastics Federation for hosting this great event.

A 24% increase in the number of teams at the European Championships since 2014 clearly shows that our sport is growing at the highest level, but even more important is the increase and long-term development at both recreational and lower competitive levels. In many federations, TeamGym is currently organised under the umbrella of Gymnastics for All (GfA) due to its ability to grow participation in clubs.

When taking part in the recent FIG Gymnastics for All Colloquium in Lisbon (POR), I had the opportunity to present TeamGym and meet with many GfA representatives from all over the world.

It was a great interest in TeamGym and in particular two TeamGym benefits became very clear when discussing common challenges in the world of gymnastics:

• the individual skill development combined with the power of teamwork and camaraderie provides an attractive way to keep gymnasts active in the sport
• routines performed on minimal equipment (a floor area with/without mats, a trampet, a vault and a tumble track/air track) is making the sport accessible and easy to start

 

TeamGym is not only a sport on the European continent, but is also developed in the USA, Australia and New Zealand. Are you curious about what is going on in the southern hemisphere? Have a look at  the web pages of Gymnastics Australia and New Zealand!

The TeamGym Technical Committee is very interested in working with federations who would like to explore the discipline and are interested in hosting introductory courses/workshops. Please contact the UEG office for further information.

We are pleased to announce that the 2019 UEG TeamGym Symposium will be held from August 9^th - 11^th in Tallinn (EST). The TeamGym Symposium will gather federation representatives, judges and coaches who take part to share knowledge and discuss the development of TeamGym towards a world discipline.

At the symposium, we will offer parallel sessions on several TeamGym specific topics such as the future evolution of the Code of Points, national competition rules and practical workshops.  For new TeamGym federations, there will also be sessions on how to introduce TeamGym. Further information and a preliminary program will follow in the invitation sent to all national federations in mid-April.

2019 is an odd year, meaning that for TeamGym we have no European Championships. Hence all our efforts are directed towards development and education. Please find below the UEG TeamGym camp and coaching courses scheduled for 2019:

• Coaching course on Floor level 1, June 14^th - 16^th, 2019, Prague (CZE)

 

• Coaching course level 1, All three apparatus in one week, August 25^th - 30^th, 2019, Wolfurt (AUT)

 

• Advanced TeamGym Training camp, August 29^th - September 1^st, 2019, Helsinge (DEN)

 

• Coaching course on Tumble/Trampet level 3, September 27^th - 29^th, 2019, Roskilde (DEN)

 

Keep up to date with the TeamGym courses and events by following the UEG on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

As a result of the analysis performed after the European Championships, a few areas in the Code of Points need to be clarified for the 2020 European Championships. The updated version B of the current Code of Points will be published in early July. In addition, the UEG Technical Regulations are being updated for all disciplines and will be available after the approval of the Executive Committee.

The work on the Code of Points for the next cycle, coming into force for the 2022 European Championships, has also started. The outcome from discussions at the TeamGym Symposium will provide valuable input to this work.

An additional TeamGym Brevet Course is planned for January 3^rd - 6^th, 2020, in the city of Bracknell, located west from London (GBR). This course is open to both new TeamGym federations and those who would like to increase the number of international brevet judges. All brevets will be valid until the end of 2021.

Finally, an updated version of the ABC for floor will be available next month. This educational presentation including videos will help coaches to interpret the TeamGym Code of Points and clarify different concepts in written and visual forms. Please register to receive your electronic copy!

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With my warmest wishes,

Per Sjöstrand

TeamGym-TC President