What a fantastic time we had at our Winter Gym Kids Carnival.  We loved seeing the smiling faces and great skill progression from all of the gymnasts. Thank you to all parents who have provided us with Carnival feedback. Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated and will help us to continue to improve. For those of you who attended the Kedron Gym Kids Carnival, you will be pleased to know that a new sound system has already been installed which is much clearer than the last system. One of the items that came from the survey is our Delta parents would like to know more about how gymnastics works and how children progress through the Steps and the skills in our program.

So, what is the goal of our Gym Kids program?

How do our gymnasts progress through our pathways and develop their skills? Our passion is helping and providing an opportunity for every single child to maximise their movement potential and to build confidence as they learn to control their body. We want to help children develop healthy habits, so they have the confidence to pick up a tennis racquet or a basketball or to go out to try athletics. Whatever the next sport is, we feel what we do here in the gym will develop the fundamental movement patterns, body control and strength to give every child the head start they need. Throughout the first half of this year our coaches have been working with your child to learn the skills of our Delta Gymnastics Curriculum.  The curriculum is basically our bible of gymnastics. It breaks down all gymnastic learning into small, bite sized pieces, making it easier for children to learn. At every class level at Delta we have a specific focus on the middle body strength or what is commonly referred to as the child’s core stability. In gymnastics we have known for thirty years that people generally become co-ordinated from the belly button – out.  This means if we want to do cartwheels, handstands or even in the future swing a tennis racquet – we need to make sure the middle of our body is stable.  That’s why we allocate a small amount of time in every gymnastics class to focus on building the strength and control of our middle body.   Developing great gymnastics is about getting the foundations right. Our gymnasts are assessed at our Gym Kids Carnival on how many key points they can demonstrate for each skill performed. In this assessment, children are ranked on a continuum from needs developing through to well developed.  For example, if a child demonstrates one key point out of the four points required to successfully complete the skill, then the skill needs developing.  If the gymnast demonstrates all 4 key points of a skill, then the skill in this instance is well developed. Once at this point, children are ready to progress their skill acquisition and learn more difficult gymnastics elements.  Eventually the goal for Gym Kids is to combine these skills together into gymnastics routines. Please click here to read more information on how gymnastics skills are developed. We love watching our gymnasts skills, strength and confidence grow througout the year and can't wait to see our Gym Kids shine at the end of year Carnival!