Meet the young athlete making his mark on the Aussie gymnastics scene

YMCA Bankstown gymnast Mitchell Sewell, 8, is quickly climbing the ranks in junior gymnastics as fast as he climbs his various apparatuses.

Mitchell Sewell at the Sydney Gymnastic and Aquatic Centre, Rooty Hill. Picture: Carmela Roche

YMCA Bankstown gymnast Mitchell Sewell, 8, is quickly climbing the ranks in junior gymnastics as fast as he climbs his various apparatuses.

But his early successes are no accident. The young gymnast trains for 15 hours a week under coach Mandy McLean.

Because of his dedication, Mitchell is this week’s Local Sports Star nominee for Junior Sports Star Individual.

Picture: Carmela Roche

Mitchell started gymnastics two years ago.

After six months of training, he was selected to join the Beyond 2020 Squad at the High Performance Centre in Rooty Hill.

The Moorebank star has been training at the High Performance Centre for about 18 months. This year he will compete at Level 4.

In his first year of competition, he placed fifth in Level 3 at the 2016 NSW State Championships. He said he was looking forward to the upcoming competitions that will begin in July.

Mitchell said his dream was to represent Australia at the Olympics or Commonwealth Games.

“I like earning new skills on the different apparatuses. My favourite are the parallel bars,” he said.

“It’s fun because we do challenges that test our skill improvement. I won the survivor rope challenge where I had to hang on the rope for 10 minutes similar to what you see on the show Survivor.”

Mitchell said he enjoys training with his coach and mates. LSS has five categories: Junior Sports Star Individual, Junior Sports Stars Team, Young Sporting Spirit Individual, Young Sporting Spirit Team and Service to Sport.

Nominate someone at localsportsstars.com.au.