GYMNASTICS
THIRTEEN ISN’T AN unlucky number for the Kachan School of Tumbling.
The South Windsor school saw five of its students crowned state champions at the Elite State Championships at the Sydney Gymnastics and Aquatic Centre in Rooty Hill – with 13 now off to Nationals.
KSTP had 16 of its athletes represented, aged between nine and 17, competing across three disciplines – trampoline, double mini tramp and tumbling.
Breanah Cauchi (under 11 tumbling), Blake Grainger (junior tumbling), Damon Louwen (under 11 trampoline and tumbling), Ethan McGuiness (youth tumbling) and Ellie Smith (youth tumbling) all took out state titles at the championships.
The five athletes along with eight others from the school will now represent NSW at the Australian Championships in Melbourne next month.
KSTP head coach and coach of the High Performance Tumbling Squad Dimztry Kachan, who was also the national coach in 2013, said he was pleased with the results.
“I am very pleased we have so many athletes that are at the level where they can enter the Elite Championships as they have to have a minimum requirement to compete at this level in tumbling, trampoline and double mini trampoline,” he said.
“This year we had many athletes who competed at the elite level for the first time. This was a wonderful opportunity for them, many of these athletes took out minor places.”
“Our tumblers’ performances really stood out, with many of them showing they’re on the right track to performing great routines at Nationals.”
Kachan, who performed with the Moscow Circus for six years, said he was pleased the hard work of his protégés had paid off.
“We have 13 representatives from KSTP who are part of the State Team going to Nationals. My athletes work very hard to achieve these great results,” he said.
“All the athletes train at least three days a week. Our high performance tumblers train five days a week, morning and afternoon sessions equating to 30 hours a week.
“For the international tumblers Nationals is a huge event, with it being the first qualifier for World Age Championships which will be held in Denmark in December this year. This is what our tumblers are working toward. The results from State Elite show they are on the right track.”
Kachan, 28, will also be involved at Nationals after being selected as state coach for tumbling.
It was a big day for KSTP, with the school finishing fifth in the overall club championship.