The St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Gymnastics Association (SVGGA) and the Pan American Gymnastics Union have teamed up to host introductory judges course for women’s and men’s artistic gymnastics seminar.
The course was held in Villa from April 6 – 10, with participants from Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and SVG.
The coordinators, Helen Laliberte, president of the Association of Canada and Jaime Corredor of Colombia, were selected by Pan American Gymnastics Association.
This was an inaugural event for the SVG Gymnastics Association, which was formed three years ago.
The objectives were to certify judges with official judging certification, to provide and educate the judges by informing them about the current FIG rules, interpretations and international trends, to provide access to material for judges in order to develop skills appropriate to the judge’s level, corresponding to the needs of the program, to contribute to the development of gymnastics in the region, to assist coaches and athletes to achieve higher levels of gymnastics, by understanding the rules that govern the competitions and to better prepare athletes for success at higher levels of competition with knowledge of the rules of judging.
Federation of International Gymnastics (FIG) is the world’s governing body for the sport. The course is pivotal for judging athletes during competition or conducting daily training.
“As president of the Pan American Gymnastics Union, I am pleased to see the development of the region in gymnastics,” Laliberte said.
She added: “Having the opportunity to bring together countries from the Caribbean to share and learn is a definite step leading into International gymnastics. St Vincent should be proud of their commitment and resources. I would further like to thank St Vincent and the Grenadines for their commitment to excellence in sport and I definitely praise them for their excellent hosting. I hope this is one step leading into hosting many more gymnastics events.”
Technical Director of the SVGGA, Laprise Harris-Williams also commented on this historic event.
She said the SVGGA is dedicated to the development of the sport in SVG and the region.
“It is important that we take advantage of all measures to educate and prepare our coaches and judges for advanced gymnastics. It is the intention of the association to submit bids for the local judges trained at the course this weekend to participate as a judge-delegate in Pan American hosted events. This was indeed a great effort on behalf of the Association and our newly developed gymnastics community,” she said.