Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Hi everyone, it’s been another busy, fun week. March 1st was an important day for everybody of Welsh descent; St. David’s Day- the national saint of Wales.
I dj’ed at the Gulf Hotel with all the Daffodils, Leeks and Jones’. It was a great crowd and they danced into the wee small hours. A special mention for Alec who air-guitared all the way through a request of Status Quo (a very old band, kids – your parents will know who I mean!)
The next day was like chalk and cheese. I was Sheriff Krazy Kevin at Sabrina’s Wild West 6th birthday party at the Outpost (in the Country Club). We had lots of games. My favourite of course was musical bumps. Well done to Bill and Sally for organizing a great event.
As soon as we finished, I hotfooted down to the British Club to see the tail-end of a brilliant musical concert organised by music teacher Natalia, where her students from four-years-old upwards sung and played their little hearts out.
And also this week I met a budding young gymnast called Rozelle Meire. You may not be aware of this, but my little Hannah is a gymnast too, and once a week she and her mummy head off down to CHAOSS (Children’s Health Academy of Specialized Sports) for a dose of ‘Baby’ Gymnastics. (Ok, so the truth is that she mostly loves bouncing on the trampolines and is not at all interested in forward rolls or anything like that).
Anyway, she loves going and she also loves her teacher, Cara Mattias. And sometimes, if I’m not to too tired, busy or lazy after I’ve done my morning radio show, I join them. (Ok, to be truthful it’s only been twice so far; but I promise there will be at least a third and fourth time). Hannah loves it and so does Wendy; having been a bit of a gymnast herself many years and many kilograms ago.
The first time I went to CHAOSS I was blown away, I just couldn’t believe a facility with such great equipment and staff existed in our little Bahrain. I was expecting something far more Mickey Mousey. The place is a credit to Cara who is also the director, for whom gymnastics must be a labour of love.
From what Wendy has told me, Cara has done gymnastics since she was a toddler and even trained to Olympic level in York, in England. But when she came to Bahrain she noticed something was missing and set about filling the gap.
Anyway I digress, I wanted to tell you about Rozelle, who I met when I was last there and who is one of Cara’s ‘elite squad’ of girls. She has enjoyed gymnastics for about four years (having started back in South Africa where she’s from) and has been in Bahrain for one year. Rozelle loves gym and started “when my mum told me all about Nadia Comaneci who was the first gymnast to score ‘10’ at an Olympics – though that was a very ling time ago now”.
Rozelle is a Level 3 gymnast and is in a team which will compete in Doha in May against Qatar and Dubai. She said: “My team trains three times a week for two hours. But on Saturdays because my sister trains after me, I train an extra two hours. In the team are kids from all different schools in Bahrain. When a competition is coming up we’ll mostly train on the apparatus that we’ll compete in. We train on bars, the beam, and floor and the vault as well. My favourites are the uneven bars and as well the beam.”
Cara added: “There’s also a lot of hard work involved. Two out of three training sessions is very intense strength work; some of the kids are crying tears down their faces.”
Wow!
Rozelle says that doing gymnastics makes her feel strong, but she still enjoys other sports including netball which is great cardio and dance which helps with pointing toes and legs.
In the future Rozelle says she would like to go to the Olympic Games. Wouldn’t that be just great if a gymnast from Bahrain could make it all the way to the Olympics. Even if she competed under a South African flag we would all be so proud.
So to win a free class trial a T-shirt and a CHAOSS ‘goody bag’ this week’s quiz question is: Who was the first female gymnast to score a perfect 10 at an Olympics?
Well done to last week’s winners Isabella, Ute and Tarun.
If you’re under 18 please
send your answer to krazykevin@hotmail.com
Keep happy,
Krazy Kevin x
