For the young gymnasts at Pelican Park Primary School, the biggest obstacle is not sticking a landing. It is keeping their gymnastics dream alive when money is tight and the programme itself is fighting for survival.
Every Monday and Thursday, after a full day in the classroom, the children return to school, lace up their gymnastics shoes and train.
They know what is at stake.
When funding problems and the departure of two teacher-coaches threatened to send the programme into a tailspin, the Pelican Park gymnastics community had a choice: fold or find a way forward.
They chose to soldier on.
“We had a bit of a hiccup in terms of funding,” gymnastics teacher Farida Hassan said. “We didn’t know whether to continue. So the future of gymnastics at Pelican Park was in the balance.”
The programme had already made a flying start.
Pelican Park was among the first schools to embrace Gymnastics South Africa’s Gym for All programme after the governing body was mandated to bring gymnastics back into schools.
“We were one of the first schools who participated in Gym for All, and we are still one of the only schools,” Hassan said. “There’s no other school who came on board. So we are very proud of our girls.”
Their first district competition produced gold and silver medals from two teams, qualifying them for the Western Province Championships in Saldanha Bay, where they again returned as gold and silver medallists.
Then reality landed with a thud.
With no school funding available for travel or other gymnastics costs, parents stepped into the breach.
“Our committed parents are carrying all the costs of gymnastics,” Hassan said.
“They have to fork out for the uniforms, and we had to start with a registration fee, a small fee, to build up a little bit of equity for ourselves. We were charging a very small monthly contribution as well.”
Parents also committed to covering transport costs.
“Thank you for your commitment and ensuring that your child is participating,” Hassan said.
Fundraising at last year’s school function helped secure three mats, while six more are loaned by Classic Gymnastics.
Hassan singled out the club, owned by her sister Nazeema, for its support.
“They have been our mentor and our guide and our support,” she said.
The equipment still has to be moved, however, with support staff fetching the mats, carrying them upstairs, setting them up and returning them.
“We have the support of our very dedicated principal, our dedicated team of coaches, our teachers, our support staff, anybody who assists to help us make this programme happen,” Hassan said.
The biggest inspiration, though, remains the children.
“They come faithfully every Monday, every Thursday after school, after a hard day of school, they are here,” she said. “They have so much passion.”
That passion nearly made the decision to continue impossible to ignore.
“It was sad when we thought, should we continue or not?” Hassan said. “It’s those little hearts that are sitting there that make us soldier on as well.”
The next test arrives on October 10, when the learners undergo individual badging assessments judged by qualified coaches.
Some will attempt their second badge, while others will experience the process for the first time.
“So we are very proud of their work, and we need to tell them that we see their progress,” Hassan said. “We are very, very proud of them.”
The medals are sparkling proof of progress. The real victory is that the children still have a floor on which to perform.
At Pelican Park, the mats may be borrowed, the budget stretched and the obstacles formidable.
The dream, however, is still doing a perfect landing.
