SOUTH Coast trio Lauren Farquhar (Gerringong), Taylah Doosey (Gerringong) and Maja Moore (Kiama) have completed a lifelong goal by competing at the recent 2018 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Age Group Competitions, held in Antwerp, Belgium.
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Ahead of representing their country for the first time, the Oak Flats Gymnastics Club athletes, had numerous training sessions to prepare themselves for the April 13-15 event, at the Lotto Arena.
“Once we arrived in Belgium, we had that day as a rest day to assist us in getting over jet lag before commencing training the next day,” Farquhar, 24, said.
“We had quite an extended lead up period in order for us to adjust to different time zones and ensure we were prepared for competition.
“We had three separate training sessions at two different training facilities around Belgium before having two more days training at the venue – known as ‘podium training’.
“This was the final practice before the competition.”
This training, along with months of preparation at home helped the girls finished 13th in the world, in the senior women’s trio category.
“Our competition ran over two days, where we competed three separate routines,” Farquhar said.
“Our first routine was dynamic followed by balance before getting to rest and do it all again the next day with our combined routine.
“The competition venue was incredible and it was amazing to be able to compete in front of a crowd and against the top competitors from around the world.
“I will never forget the feeling before stepping on to the floor to compete where you have a combination of nerves and excitement and it doesn’t quite feel real that your about to step out onto the biggest stage in your sport.
“Representing Australia exceeded all our our expectations – getting the opportunity to compete internationally and represent our country was an amazing experience and something we are all very appreciative of.”
Reflecting on their result, Farquhar said the trio stoked with the way they performed on the world stage.
“Going into the competition, we didn’t have any expectations of where we would place or how we would rank against the other groups,” she said.
“I think all three of us have had a dream to go to the world championships and represent Australia for a long time, so to be able to do this and in the highest category, we were more than proud to be there.
“We set our sights on dedicating ourselves to be committed to training and focusing on our preparation to ensure we had the best chances of doing our best.
“Once we got there, it was only a matter of us aiming to put the best routines we could on the floor.
“To be able to pull together and make three clean routines was something we all were so happy to achieve.
“Even if we could have improved on minor elements on the day, I don’t think we would have moved up the rankings too much – you never know other people could have made better routines and we could have made more mistakes.
“We were all very happy to have achieved what we have and to come away with 13th in the world was a bonus.”
As such, Farquhar ranks this whole experience as one she and her team mates will never forget.
“I’m sure the girls will agree that the whole experience was up there with the best personal achievements in our life so far,” she said.
“I think it will probably always remain a very special journey that we all shared together.
“We all learned a lot along the way which I’m sure we will transfer into making our next goals and dreams come true.”
Farquhar and Doosey, 22, will now look to move into the coaching ranks, while Moore, 14, has her eyes on more international competitions in the future.
“I’m sure we would all love to continue competing internationally,” Farquar said.
“But we decided that the worlds champs would be our last competition as a trio prior to competing.
“Unfortunately in gymnastics and acrobatics due to the amount of hours and commitment needed to compete at international level, it becomes challenging to train and work full-time the older you get as it is a self-funded sport.
“Both Taylah [Doosey] and myself are now retiring from acrobatics and will shift our focus to coaching the next lot of international groups in the attempt for them to also qualify for the next World Championships in 2020 in Switzerland.
“Maja [Moore], the senior top ,is now becoming a base and will hopefully look to again make it to worlds in the junior category for World Age Championships.”