Zone 6 in Zimbabwe (9-14 december)
At the South African Gymnastics Games in Pretoria Onke Mangele was selected for the
National Team to represent the country at the Zone 6 Championships in Zimbabwe. He
was our second athlete to travel abroad to compete in international competition. He
came home with the first ever international medals for Nemato Change a Life: silver
on the double mini trampoline and silver and gold for the SA team on double mini
and Euro trampoline.
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Anderson's Competition (23 November)
For our last gymnastics competition of the year we went to Andersons's Interclub
Competition in Port Elizabeth. It was a small competition, just an afternoon of
tumbling and trampolining, quick, nice and a lot of medals. To make the trip extra
special, we visited Boardwalk with all the kids games, a beautiful fountain show
and fried chicken.
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World Age Group (10 - 19 November)
This was the big trip for Siphamandla Baku to Gymnastics World Age
Groups (Junior World Championships) in Bulgaria. He is our first ever athlete
selected for world championships, an extra amazing achievement keeping in mind that
only in the weekends when he trained in Port Elizabeth he had good equipment
and coaching. His first jump was fantastic: a sixth place. That would have taken
him as only South African in the entire event to the finals, but unfortunately the
landing of his second jump was not good. He was still the best performing South
African in his age group. Well done Siphamandla, we are very proud of you!!!
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Cacadu Donation (18 October)
The Cacadu District Municipality has contributed R20,000
towards the trip of Siphamandla Baku to Bulgaria for Junior
World Championships. There was an official hand-over event
in the Civic Centre in Port Alfred. We thank the district for
their great support!
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SA Games (25-28 September)
South African Gymnastics Games took place in Pretoria. We
selected the 12 most committed members for the trip. The
competition took five long days.
We are very proud of Siphamandla Baku. He is the first
Nemato Change a Life member ever to become South African
champion. He won gold on the double mini trampoline in the
age group 15 to 16. He also got silver for tumbling at level six.
Onke Mangele got bronze on the double mini trampoline in
the age group 11 to 12. Well done! To experience Gauteng, we added
some 'specials' to the
programme. We took the Gautrain to Sandton, it was the first
time in a train for many, to enjoy ourselves on Mandela Square
and watch how the rich spend their money! We also went to
see some animals in the Lion Park as well as meeting our
ancestors from millions of years back in the World Heritage
Site, The Cradle of Humankind, where we visited the great
Maropeng Museum and the Sterkfontein Caves where Mrs
Pless and Little Foot were found.
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Eastern Cape Champs (9-10 August)
The Eastern Cape Championships was a nice two days event in Port Elizabeth. The
first day was for the high levels at Mandy's gym and the second day for the lower
levels at Anderson's. We are proud that most of our gymnasts were competing on the
first day and did really well. We are proud that many of our members have been
selected for the Eastern Cape team for South African Gymnastics Games in Pretoria
at the end of September. A total of 14 members have been selected for 32 events,
mostly at higher levels, That makes us the second club in the province. Thanks to
Stenden University for transporting us.
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Mandy's Classic (22 June)
It was unfortunate that two gymnastics competitions took place
on the same day, so we were forced to make a choice. Based
on Mandy's ongoing support and the high quality of the
competition, we participated in Mandy's Classic. We are happy
to see a great improvement in the quality of our gymnastics.
Mandy's coaching of Siphamandla doesn't only make him a
much better gymnast, but also a much better coach. He is
lifting the entire club to a higher level. Mandy's own gymnasts
started fearing us, and we are on our way to become one of the
best clubs in the Eastern Cape, if not the country.
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WAG Trials 2 (14 June)
The three Nemato gymnasts Siphamandla Baku, Onke Mangele and Siphokuhle Nyoka
flew to Gauteng to participate in trials for the national team, with Siphamandla
Baku achieving the impossible by winning his trials. The difficulty of his jumps
was the highest in his age group, and so were the points he got for his execution.
Based on these excellent results, he is selected for the National Team to participate
in the Gymnastics World Age Groups (Junior World Champs) in Bulgarian in November.
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Anderson's Competition (1 June)
The first competition of the year for our gymnasts was
Anderson's Club Competition in Port Elizabeth. We spend our
weekends we with a small group of our top gymnasts at
Mandy's Tumbling & Trampoline School to get trained by the
best coaches in the country. This is having an amazing impact
on the level of gymnastics of all our gymnasts. The quality of
our training and coaching has gone up dramatically in a very
short time, and it showed at the competition. Siphamandla
Baku impressed the crowd not only with very strong tumbling
and trampolining, including a beautiful double front
somersault with a half twist (fliffis) followed by a double back
somersault on the double mini, but also with his coaching of
our entire team. All our gymnasts are showing great skills.
With Nemato and Sunshine Coast Gymnastics Club both
going from strength to strength, we can safely claim that Port
Alfred has become one of the strong gymnastics centres in the
Eastern Cape. Our next challenge is to get proper training
facilities in Port Alfred. We thank Stenden South Africa for
transporting us to Anderson's Competition Port Elizabeth!
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WAG Trials (4 May)
Flying to Joburg and Gautrain to Pretoria, Exciting! Even more exciting:
WAG Trials! World Age Groups, that are the Junior World Championships for
gymnastics. First trials after just one month of preparations. Obviously
not yet ready for WAG, but we have come a long long way in a very short time.
Watch out, next time we'll be on top!
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New trampoline jumping mat (12 March)
After struggling for half a year to get a replacement, at last we found an
affordable, almost new jumping mat directly from Eurotramp in Germany.
Our double mini trampoline is back in working condition. Great news, especially
for the more experienced gymnasts who were stuck with only beginners equipment
in working order.
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General Leadership Course (1 March)
Our two elite gymnasts, Siphamandla Baku and Philasande
Mara, did the two day General Leader Course in Port
Elizabeth. A nice course with a lot of practical ideas on how to
make sessions fun and effective. But writing the test is a lot of hard work.
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Mandy's trampoline (19 January)
After winning silver at World Championhips twice, the Esatern Cape Department of
Sport donated a double mini trampoline to Bianca Zoonekynd and her mother and coach
Mandy. We were invited to participate in the handing over ceremony in Port Elizabeth.
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