'Welcome to our world'

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 16: No other gymnastics meet features Gombeys or a talk on the history of Goslings.

But as Bermuda Gymnastics Association’s head coach Duke Nelligan explains: “We’re saying to the world ‘welcome to our world’.”

And it’s impossible not to be won over by Nelligan’s enthusiasm after the unqualified success of the second annual International Gymnastics Challenge at the weekend.

Bermuda competed against — and beat — clubs from the US and Canada at the BGA’s Southside training centre.

“It was a great event,” said Nelligan. “Everything about it, even the weather co-operated!

“The teams from the USA and Canada, the first thing they noticed was that this is a great facility – they didn’t really know what they were coming into. 

“For example, it’s the best floor here they have ever been on.

“It got everyone very excited, which is what you want as a director or a head coach.

“When the athletes are so pumped to do their job it’s a wonderful experience and it means they compete at their very best.”

Nelligan is keen for the event to retain the island’s personality: “In the UK it’s very prim and proper, everyone’s clapping.

“We’re very different in Bermuda, there’s dancing and music – we’re like Usain Bolt!”

While emphasising the meet must remain a cultural occasion as well as a sporting one, the head coach has genuinely high expectations for his current crop of talent.

“The cream is starting to rise to the top,” he said. “When I first started we had Kaisey Griffiths who was like the Queen of Bermuda and I was really pleased to share, with her coach, her world championship experience. Now we have girls that are starting to equal and eclipse Kaisey.

“For the first time we are seeing real depth.”

The likes of  Morgan Beckles, who missed the weekend because of a wrist injury, Tabytha Hofheins, Gabby Vincent and Sydney Mason are backed up by  Island Games performers Sadia Wilson, Danielle Wall, Clara James and Kinae Dowling, as well as Zantae Dill and Sam Soares.

Meets in Manhattan and Chicago are on the horizon, as is the Island Games here in Bermuda, while the long-term aim is to get an athlete to the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China in 2014, and be in a position to challenge the podium at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in the same year.

Nelligan explained: “What we are trying to do here is teach our athletes the need to train hard, the need to focus, and the need to develop discipline over the years – that’s when the fun begins.”

As for the weekend’s meet, Nelligan insists things are only going to get bigger.

“We’re trying to keep it small right now to ensure it’s a quality event.

“The next teams to come should be from the UK, Germany and South Africa. Once they come they’ll say ‘want to come to us?’ And the answer is ‘most definitely’.

“It’s part of the athlete’s education to travel and train right and eat right without their parents standing over them.”