Latest / Let Them Fly - Heather Harries Ed Hub / The benefits of Gymnastics

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The benefits of Gymnastics · Let Them Fly - Heather Harries Ed Hub

• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Today on Let Them Fly, we're talking all about gymnastics and why exercise is so important for children.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so lucky today.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I got invited to Simply Gymnastics and I'm talking to Lisa, who owns it.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: My elder boy, who's 120-odd kilos, he took up gymnastics and he could manage a forward roll, a forward, mid mid-flight, forward roll, which I always thought was quite a feat of gravity, but he did it very well, and it was like his party trip for such a long time.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Incredible.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now at 25, I really hope he doesn't try it again.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome, Lisa.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for inviting me here.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: I have to say, it is stunning.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's full of just such exciting equipment and it's a sort of child's playground of sort of exercise adventure.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, being massive a massive warehouse, lots and lots of air conditioning.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: What a great place for children in the hot weather to come and exercise.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: I do agree.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's been a labour of love.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've been in gymnastics all my life, to be honest.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: You do look like a gymnast.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I have to say.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Gymnastics has always been a passion of mine.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So to be able to start simply gymnastics here was a dream come true.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me, how long ago did you start?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I started back in September 2014.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been running for 10 years in September.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, that's a long time.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And always in this location?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I was in our Kurs, had a few things happen there.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we moved out after a fire happened opposite the unit.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: A bit horrific.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of challenges went along with that, and now we're obviously in DIP.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it's quite hard to get people here, but when they come here, they realise it's a little haven and it's a needle in a haystack.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's lovely when you walk through the door.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, DIP is one of those places that when you actually drive to it, it's not as far away as you think it is.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's like 15 minutes from Arabian Ranches, it's 10, 15 minutes from Marina, it's really not far, but everyone has it in their mind that it's Jebel Ali and it's really not Jebel Ali.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I have lots of people say to me, Oh, why are you not back in our cause?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, honestly, the traffic coming here and back is easier, it's quicker to drive here than it is to our course and get stuck in the traffic with all the buses.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so what age can children start in that space?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we start them from three years old.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we choose that age because obviously they started, usually started nursery or an FS Foundation.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they're used to taking direction from a teacher, a little bit more used to not having mum there.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the age we tend to start them.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And what sort of activities do they do when they're involved?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're learning all their motor skills.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's very much fun at that age.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's teaching them shapes, it's teaching them just different positions that they'll need to get used to doing.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's quite funny seeing a child when they're that little rolling for the first time or going upside down for the first time.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: To some children it comes so naturally, but to others it's really quite fearful.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it we're really helping with their confidence and teaching them to be fearless from a very young age.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And do they do balance balance, I'm guessing, and coordinating?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we're doing flexibility with them, but making it fun.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, you know, who can be a frog on the floor?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we use animals as descriptive things to help them do it.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then for them to not really realize they're actually doing all the stretches we need them to do.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, they're balancing, they're using, you know, they're doing strength and stamina work, um, yeah, flexibility, coordination.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's really important, particularly in a country like this where it's hot outside and they're perhaps not running around so much outside.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that we know, particularly from education, is that you know there's a direct correlation between being coordinated and being able to learn in a really good way.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think the other thing with gymnastics is we teach them it's okay to fall and fail because that's a really important thing for me to teach them that is that you're not going to get this first time.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you need to continue, continue, try, try, try, and the more you try, you'll achieve your goals.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And they're learning that from a very young age.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's we talk quite often about on podcasts, we talk about resilience.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think gymnastics is probably a real core pinning of resilience.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've seen children take up to a year to learn a skill, but their determination and their just want for the skill overrides that disappointment that they're getting eat week in, week out with not learning it.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: But literally every centimeter they go to try and do a pull-up, I'm encouraging them going, you're doing better.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like every single centimetre, every millimeter, that's you getting stronger and that's you getting closer to achieving your goal.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I do think that, yeah, gymnasts are a certain type when they grow up.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're really resilient and really they don't give up.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think self-determination, it's not like a team sport where you've got the rest of your team to egg you on.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's teams here and I know that you work together, but it's very much about your self-ability to really push yourself and achieve it.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: The thing that I love about my club is that I really do teach them to be friends with each other, but to compete with each other, but to keep it friendly, to understand that you need your teammates around you.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: You need other children of your age competing and doing the same skills, um, you know, to help you to learn them as well.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: But if you see a friend doing it, then you want to do it.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I I I just love the fact that it's sports in the right sportsmanship ethos.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: It is, it really is.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, like any sport in the UAE or around the world, to be honest, if there can be other competitions and problems with other clubs, but you know, as long as we keep our club running as I'd like to, which is as it is now, it's just a friendly, family-focused club, and it's a place that new families can come along, make friends, children have like-minded interests, and it's just a wonderful atmosphere here at the weekends.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: How many classes do you run during the day and the weekends?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we obviously it's an after-school activity.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we start our classes at 4 p.m.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: with beginners, and then we go into a development and an academy class.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we run six times a week.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: We close on a Friday, we find that's our dead day with school being half day and children wanting to do sleepovers with their friends.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so we're open weekends and through the week.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if they come at three, they can come at any age, presumably.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So talk me through a typical sort of year group and how you'd stream them once they get beyond three.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: So they start off in these beginner classes.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking for all the basics on all four apparatus.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we've got floor, bars, beam, and vaults.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're looking for them before they go into development to be able to do a handstand, do a forward roll, do a backward roll, preps for cartwheel, be able to run and jump on a springboard, hang on the bar confidently, roll over the bar confidently, and literally be able to walk on a beam, you know, one meter off the floor on their tiny little things confidently.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And once they're doing that, we're constantly looking to move them up and take them into the next level.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then really it's like anything, like any sport.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: The more hours you train, then the better the child would become quicker.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and I guess that transcends across all their other sports because gymnastics is at the core of being physically fit.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's about being um having your core well developed and your coordination.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that means that makes them better for netball, for football, for horse riding, for all those other sports.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: It really does.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I find all the girls that come through my club, A, they all get picked for their gymnastics squad at school.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Normally they're in a swim team or they're in the netball team, or they're just constantly being picked for every single sport.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's hard because then the children have to decide: well, is it gymnastics I really like, or is it this sport, this sport, athletic?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we do find that once we've had them in through the door, once they've lasted term with us, they're usually life as yeah.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure they stay with us.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: The thing I notice about children that do gymnastics is they just walk so much better because their core is so strong.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I think uh that all automatically it makes them look confident.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what they are confident, it makes them look confident.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So everyone thinks that they're confident, and you see it just plays out into their school and their academics in such a massive way.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, as as they um go through the levels of gymnastics, they do start to compete with us, and when they start to compete with us, obviously that's all about confidence.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: They have to go out in front of hundreds of people and perform their routines, you know, balance on a beam.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: I've had it myself where I stood on a beam and the whole beam was shaking.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So everyone would have seen that I was shaking, it was shaking, vibrating through the beam.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it really does work on their confidence.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: I pet taught them before a competition, and I literally just say to them, look, you've come this far, you know your routines.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: All I want you to do is smile and enjoy the routine.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you forget it, I really don't care.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: You thought I really don't care.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Are you happy?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Have you enjoyed it?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's all and that's sports is about for me.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are they such a good ethos?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: How did you get into gymnastics?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh goodness, well, I'd left it quite late.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was 11 when I first think you're old.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: For a gymnast, you know, at a gymnast, it was almost veteran age back in the 80s.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: But no, I got into it, I was doing trampoline and I was seeing all these little children walk through in their little leotards going somewhere.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, that looks so much fun, I want to go.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember seeing a sign and it said, if you you're under 11, and I thought, well, I'm 11.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I finally asked, and you know, I didn't care that I was the oldest kid there.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't care that I was one of the ones that couldn't do much.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: I just got passionate about the sport, enjoyed the sport.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And the one thing I love about gymnastics is you never stop learning.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: On each of the apparatus, there's always a new skill that you can learn.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, very few sports are like that out there.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, with swimming, once you've learnt your strokes, it's about time.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: With tennis, once you've learnt your strokes, it's about beating your component and being the better player on the day.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, with gymnastics, it's about nailing those moves and learning a harder move every time you go back in the gym to the point that moves are named after you.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's and you're talking about uh moves being named about, tell me, you've got some very famous gymnasts coming.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: I do, yeah.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: So uh on the 24th of May, we are running a masterclass with two British gymnasts.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: We've got Claudia Fragapani and her teammate Kelly Sim.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they're coming, they're gonna be working out with the children, going around the apparatus with the children.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a wonderful, like memorable opportunity for any gymnast to spend that time with someone that's competed at such a high level.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: They've been to world European Commonwealth Olympic Games, you know.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's so inspirational for them.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: So inspirational for them.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And to see them in their own gym doing skills on their apparatus, I think they're just gonna be in awe.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: So can anybody join this or is this only feel nervous?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody can join it.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody can join.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, priority on the numbers goes to our gymnasts.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but if someone contacted me and said, Goodness, I want my little girl to attend, I'd be delighted to have them here because like I said, our club is not about, you know, we've got an open door policy, you can come from anywhere here, you need to go again for convenience.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a problem, you know, that's just how we operate here.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I can you can feel that it's very colourful, it's very vibrant.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: That lovely feel of just wondering.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, um, and I I'm just coming back to this because that masterclass sounds like something that if you do gymnastics or you've got a child that's interested in gymnastics, they should not miss that.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: They really shouldn't, because you know, these girls are committed to, you know, spending their time, their hours, training so hard to represent their country, you know, they'll be able to share with them the fears and challenges they're face.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the children are facing challenges every day they come into this gym.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's always another hurdle they need to cross.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, it's not a sport where you stop learning once you've learned something.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's too many moves in gymnastics, and that's why I just think it's such a life skill.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because as they grow up, every single thing they do, it's gonna get harder and harder.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be more people competing for let's say a job that they're going for.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and gymnastics teaches them that you just don't give up.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: You keep going, you keep going, you'll achieve those goals.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And if you really want it bad enough, you'll get it.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think coming in here, I think the one thing I really felt is it's such a safe space, and it's such a safe space to explore your emotions, your physicality, all everything you want to do.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: It really feels like that space where children are given that opportunity.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: They are, and we're open to everybody.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we've got a few kids that are on the spectrum that come, um, we integrate them with our regular kids, and our children are just so phenomenal, they open their arms to them.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a very inclusive club.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't care what age you are when you walk through that door.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I was 11 when I started.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you come in and you show me you want to learn, we want to teach you, you know.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's for us, it's not about getting those really great kids and make them making them amazing and letting them be the best in the UAE.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: For us, it's come and join in this thought that is just so precious to us.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we teach it with passion.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we you know, all my coaches enjoyed coaching.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: They wouldn't do it if they didn't.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're not forced to do it.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of, I have to say, when I walked in here and I've never been a gymnastic, I've been thinking, should you do what I wouldn't mind doing it.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you did a mumm's class, I wouldn't mind coming in a morning and having a little goats.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: I've had mums come and do that.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they let you do PT PT sessions with me and they want to get fit, but they also want to try some gymnastics smoothies.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to be on the bouncy mat early and feel like I'm more flexible.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: That bouncing mat, I want to walk up and down there all day.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's great, isn't it?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: It really is a child children's paradise and an adult paradise.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: A dream come true for me.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So, in terms of in terms of maximum age, what's the oldest age that you would can expect children to come through normally?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can't, I mean, normally by the age of 12 to 13, children have made their selection.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: They already know what sport they want to do and they're they're a part of a club.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but like I said, I won't close the door.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: If someone came to me at 14 and said, I just want to learn how to do a specific move, I'd say you have two choices.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Come and join in with the Academy Girls, they're going to be much better than you, or just book some one-on-one classes with our coaches, because all of our coaches will take a one-on-one class.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've got children that aren't particularly flexible, does gymnastics allow them to be flexible or are they born that way?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Look, some children are born more stiff than others, but the beauty of stretching, just like you'd learn from Pilates or yoga, is that anyone that's inflexible can become flexible.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's about developing your stretches.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the way you develop a stretch is by holding it for longer.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we're teaching them to just relax and breathe.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Even when I do splits with all of my girls, I talk them through the pain.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I say, I understand why you're pulling out, because naturally the brack the nerves send a message to the brain to say you're in pain, stop doing what you're doing.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I literally talk them through it and say, look, this is what's going on.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Send the message back that you're in control of this stretch.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: You just want to relax and breathe.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if you hold your stretches really from three minutes to five minutes, that's when you'll develop.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And anyone that's stiff can get more flexible.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, that's really anybody.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me about children that come through.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Have you had some notable successes where you've had little ones that have come through and you you've kind of fallen in love with them by the time they've left?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the children that walk through this door that door, they're like my family.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they treat me like a mum or an aunt.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've had ones that have come through from the age of three and they've never left.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still teaching them.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we get all sorts, you know.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: You I had one little girl that I taught her recreationally in one of the schools, and I'd said to her mum, keep I'm keeping an eye on her.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: You should keep an eye on her.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: She's very good, she's talented.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Two years ago, she contacted me, she represented Scotland, but moved back to the UK and she represented Scotland.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, and she sent me a message uh with a picture and just said, Look, I just you're the one that made me keep my eyes open.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: And when we relocated back, you know, she carried on with the gymnastics, and this is how far she's come.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh so lovely.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: So when you get success stories like that, it's so lovely.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so nice.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: So when they so sorry, I'm coming back, it's like jumping all over the place like so much.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um so when they so obviously, what's the optimate?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: What's what's the mo the the class sizes that's biggest for you?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't like to have more than 30 children in my gym.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: So there are plenty of gyms here that have waiting lists, they have hundreds of people rotating.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like that.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, I want an eight to one ratio of children to the coaches.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: I want them to have time on every single piece of equipment every time they're in the class.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's the only way you're gonna develop an all-round four-piece gymnast.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, the kids do have one piece of apparatus they prefer over another, lots of fearful on bars, lots of fearful on beam, but I still encourage them to make sure they do all of it because again, it's about getting them over those fears and making them face their challenges that they need to face, you know.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And what do children, if I add your clients, what would the children say they love most about their classes here, do you think?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think they'd say the coaches.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think they come back for the coaches.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think they enjoy the other children, you know, they make so many friends here.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're always doing social activities for them as well.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we've had sleepovers now.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: We have we've had them all like sleeping underneath the beans, or you know, uh assisted the parents here and uh coaches assisting them.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but no, we do like Easter parties and Christmas parties, Halloween parties.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: We wherever we can, we want to get the children and the parents together.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I it's just so lovely.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think I I love exercise, any type of sport I love for kids.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: I but I just think I think there's something about gymnastics.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: I like trampoline as well, but I think gymnastics is so special.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And do you do boys and girls?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um so mainly it's girls that come to the city.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I know the pretty leotards always we have, doesn't it?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't have the boys' equipment, so we are set up as a women artistic club.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: And what's artistic gymnastics?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: So the artistic, the difference is it's the apparatus.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: So with rhythmic gymnastics, that's the other four.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's a few, there's acrobatics, there's actually the trampoline side of things, but artistic gymnastics is the floor hall, bars and beans.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so they're on the equipment, whereas rhythmic, they're holding a ribbon or a ball or a club.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh rope.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: So when they when they so so so the third the year, the young three-year-olds, they go into the next level, they they that's right.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: They keep creating up, graduate up, graduate up.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so what's the biggest um number of age groups you've got?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: What's what would be sort of 10 or 11?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Our oldest ones here are 13, 14.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the other older one is already Lesbia University.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, so yeah, about the age of 14, you know, they're doing twisting, uh, they're learning giants, um, backflipping on the bean, that kind of thing.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: All things years ago.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: You backflipping on the beam like it's just like Leonid doing.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's 125 metres off the floor, and they're jumping backwards, landing on their hands and landing on their feet.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, amazing.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're learning all sorts of fun skills.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, it's all so padded that I guess like you say, that fear of falling doesn't matter because it build them up.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: You start on a floor on a line, you then move to like a you know, a foam beam, then you're onto a floor beam, medium beam, etc.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: etc.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me, what is your favourite piece of apparatus?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: When I was a gymnast, my favourite apparatus was floor and bolt.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but as I got better, it was bars.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And if you to ask the children here, which is their favourite, hands down, it's bars.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: They all want to go and hang on the bars.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when that must take incredible strength, though.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: And they always come off afterwards and their hands are sore, and but they still they always want to be on the monkey bars in the parks.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: So they come in the gym, they want to hang.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: No way.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: And is it true that as they get heavier it gets harder, or do they is for sure it does.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you're light and lean, you're gonna do well on bars.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, if you're a little bit of a heavier build, then bars are always gonna be your nemesis.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I won't let any child in this gym give up.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, come on, you can do this.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's give this a go.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess the nice thing is that when you go to the park, you can show off a bit, then.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the kids love to do that, don't you?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I always think I always used to think if I could do a cartwheel, I was almost halfway to being a gymnast.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: I sure can.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, I just need you to reassure me of that.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: So so tell me, so you I mean, obviously, I think I'm I'm a great believer that gymnastics is great for children.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: You obviously do.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: I know parents all the time who get their children started in gymnastics who think it's amazing.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: How do we get them to you to try out gymnastics for the first time?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Just give me a call, send me an email, info at simply gymnastics.com.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can come to a free trial anytime, but probably the best day would be a Saturday morning.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: So for children age three to five, 9 30 to 10 30, six and over, we tend to put them into a development class, which will be 10 30, 12 30.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, what better than that?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Try for a free trial.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: You can't ask more.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for that.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to parents, you have this opportunity.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Buy free.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, let's let's make the most of this.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do a free trial.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is in DIP.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is in a warehouse, but once you're inside, it doesn't feel like that.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and come and then don't forget, we have that masterclass with those famous gyms.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Claudia and Kelly will be here from the GB squad.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: So Friday the 24th from 1 to 4 p.m.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, amazing.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Lisa.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: We've had a lovely morning here.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: I feel quite inspired to take up gymnastics, let alone anyone else.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: You should.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'll teach you how to handstand cartwell, whatever you like.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's a challenge.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: That might be a challenge that's a little bit too hard even for you, but we'll give it a go.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: So we so Simply Gymnastics, your website.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: You've not told me your website.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, so it's www.simplygymnastics.com.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: You can follow us on Instagram, Simply Gymnastics DXB, and the same for Instagram, Simply Gymnastics DXB.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we've had a lovely morning here on Let Them Fly.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And once again, something fantastic that you can give to your children.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's a gift that you can give them that will last a lifetime.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: So please take Lisa up.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter which gymnastics club you go to, actually.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Do think about giving your children that opportunity for resilience, um, stretching, bending, self development, discovery, everything that you can get out of gymnastics that will enhance their education and just make them stronger, more resilient people.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lisa.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.