The Acrobatic Gymnastics Technical Committee seeks to expand the field’s boundaries
The Acrobatic Gymnastics Technical Committee seeks to expand the field’s boundaries. With the World Championships in March in Baku, Azerbaijan, and preparations ramping up for The World Games in July, the 2022–2024 cycle for acrobatic gymnastics got off to a flying start. Rosy Taeymans, president of the Technical Committee, states that despite challenging global conditions, the discipline would intensify its efforts to broaden its base.
The World Championships in Baku and The World Games in Birmingham, United States, are two significant events that will take place this year for acrobatics. What has been the progress so far?
Rosy Taeymans says, ‘The cycle is one year shorter, which makes it highly uncommon. Under the new rules, we typically begin with the World Cup contests, but this time we immediately entered the World Championships. The epidemic remained a concerning issue. Travel was still prohibited for other nations, including China, North Korea, and India.’
Further added, ‘As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine shortly prior to the World Age Group Competitions, Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred from competing at the World Championships, and judges and some of our officials were no longer able to travel. A challenge, indeed. However, 17 nations were represented, and the caliber of the competitors was very high. The performers’ passion during their performances contributed to the success of the event.’
The World Championships were a success, but circumstances are what they are and there are some things you cannot change. We were happy with the judging as well. In order to organize an event under the proper conditions and have everyone present to demonstrate how acrobatics has advanced, we now hope that by the time of the next World Championships in Holon, Israel, in 2024, things will return back to normal and there won’t be any pandemics or conflicts.
It’s always a great occasion when it comes to The World Games. The Technical Committee nonetheless managed to have the first round of rule-related brainstorming during its meeting in June despite its hectic year.
RT: ‘We discovered a few issues following the World Championships, two World Cups, and other events. Even though the Technical Committee made some changes to the regulations or the Table of Difficulties, we still believe that there are too many of the same features present, particularly in the Mixed Pairs mounts and the Men’s Group pyramids. We’ve already begun to consider ways to make that better; we’ll talk about this with judges and coaches and address these concerns at our next meeting in September as the first draft of the Code of Points and the Table of Difficulties must be completed by 2023. Our current rules are effective in determining the make-up of the exercises, and we only anticipate a few small changes.’
The World Cup regulations need to be altered, especially to allow for more live streams. There is a lot of curiosity when Acrobatic is live-streamed. More promotion is required for our field to advance.
What do you hope to achieve when it comes to acquiring the discipline?
RT: It’s challenging, but we want to expand Acrobatic into additional nations. We’ll collaborate with the continental unions and prioritize education. We will be holding a conference to discuss development at the Pan American Gymnastics Union (PAGU) during the World Games; interest in the discipline may also be growing in Turkey and the northern part of Africa. There is potential in Asia, but some nations still do not understand what acrobatics are. The World Age Group Competition will feature 35 nations, and the World Championships in Holon will feature 27 nations. We can only hope!