SA gymnasts forced to move interstate or give up the sport as facilities leave parents feeling like ‘we’ve let our kids down’
Olympian gymnast Jesse Moore together with Gymnastics SA have called out the sport’s massive shortfalls in SA as athletes consider leaving for interstate.
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South Australian Olympian Jesse Moore has joined the voices of Gymnastics SA and “hundreds” of parents and families, pleading for better gymnastics facilities before someone gets hurt.
The 22-year-old Paris Olympic Games finalist left South Australia in 2021 at just 18 to train in better facilities in Canberra.
Spending his younger years training at the Marion Leisure and Fitness Centre, Moore said it was a “tough” decision, but relocating to Canberra to train at the Australian Institute of Sport was the right choice.
“I was unable to truly reach my potential in Adelaide as the equipment was essentially holding me back,” Moore told The Advertiser.
“As a little kid the facilities were OK, but as I got older obviously the equipment and building got older.
“If the equipment is old, outdated and not up to standard it not only stunts progression into the elite stream, but causes training to become more dangerous.
“Gymnastics is the sport I love so I did enjoy it while I was in Adelaide.
“But unfortunately, due to lack of funding and opportunity at the Gymnastics SA (centre), I was unable to progress.”
Operating out of the 43-year-old Marion Leisure and Fitness Centre, Gymnastics SA chief executive Nastashia Buck said she felt “embarrassed” that the sport had slipped so far down the priority list, especially since she’d had “hundreds of South Australians” share their frustration.
“We really need to elevate this to a significant priority, and the need is critical,” she said.
“Kids are getting turned away from participating, kids are leaving the state to pursue their dreams because as a state, our facilities have completely let them down.
“We’ve had to spend more than $1.3m over the last five years in hiring external venues just to run our events, just to get these kids to participate.”
Ms Buck said the cost of hiring venues for training and events has meant it would be unviable for Gymnastics SA to financially contribute to a new facility without having to ask families to pay more in fees, something the organisation doesn’t want to do.
A new facility would cost somewhere in the realm of $60m-$70m, and “worst case scenario” about $80m, Ms Buck said.
Harper Thomas, 13, is an aerobic gymnast and she, along with all other SA aerobic gymnasts, have been forced to train on mats on basketball courts because there aren’t any facilities in the state that cater to the specific gymnastic discipline.
Meanwhile Myles Reed, 16, moved from Broken Hill to Adelaide to pursue gymnastics. Now he and his family must consider another possible relocation as he outgrows SA’s facilities.
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Originally published as SA gymnasts forced to move interstate or give up the sport as facilities leave parents feeling like ‘we’ve let our kids down’
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