Gymnastics Invitational Rebecca Maw-Dzatkowski Head Gymnastics Coach, Bangkok Patana School
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t the start of the academic year, Bangkok Patana School, like so many other schools across Asia, had to, unfortunately, keep it’s doors closed to students. When considering the number of events that students have already missed out on due to the pandemic, I knew that I didn’t want FOBISIA Gymnastics Invitational 2021 to be another ‘what could have been’ moment for gymnasts who look forward to this event as a seasonal highlight. Therefore, I decided to commit to hosting the event and began brainstorming a new competition concept to tackle the restrictions in place. It was important to my team and I to create an event that was: 1) inclusive of all gymnasts, being particularly mindful of those students who were still learning from home, and 2) include an element within the competition that would bring the gymnastics community together on the scheduled weekend. To ensure the event was accessible, it had to be a floor-only competition which meant creating new, simplified competition routines which could be safely executed from home. When announcing this new competition format, I was uncertain whether it would be popular; however, the response to this virtual event was overwhelmingly positive, with 25 International Schools from 7 difference countries, of which 23 were FOBISIA Member Schools. We registered a total of 292 gymnasts from Year 3 to Year 13.
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The Alice Smith School Kuala Lumpur Bangkok Patana School Bangkok Prep British School Manila Discovery Bay International School Hong Kong Dulwich College Singapore Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi Dulwich College Suzhou elc International School Malaysia GEMS - Pearl City, Penang Harrow International School Bangkok HELP International School Jerudong International School Brunei Kellett International School Hong Kong King's College International School Bangkok King George V Hong Kong Kolej Tuanku Ja'afar Marlborough College Malaysia Prince of Wales Island International School Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong St Andrews International School Bangkok Tanglin Trust School The British International School Shanghai, Puxi The International School @ ParkCity United World College Dover Singapore
The competition required students to submit a link to their pre-recorded floor routines in advance of the event. For the competition weekend itself, we welcomed on-site six Thai National Judges from The Thailand Gymnastics Association to officiate the competition. The judges were set up in front of a big screen and played the routines while we live-streamed footage of the screen, the officials and the gymnasts’ scores in real-time. This setup enabled all viewers tuning in to the live-stream channels 14
