“The children weren’t as worried as I was about them!” Anna Ustsova - about the mAlinka tournament at the Academy

The 1996 European champion, Academy coach and mAlinka competition judge Anna Ustsova spoke about preparations for the tournament.

“I had the fifth group perform. These are the ones born in 2018-2019. We performed without an object and with objects. This was very thrilling for me. I worried so much about them because these were their first performances. I think that the children were not nearly as worried as I was. We practiced a lot, worked on their exercises, and they performed very well. Many children have shown themselves from a different perspective,” Anna said.

The coach evaluated the performances of the youngest gymnasts.

“I think that any coach sees mistakes and understands what should be worked on more. I also noticed some moments, dance steps, probably to add something, to make the program more difficult. That is, certainly there are things to work on,” she said.

Anna spoke about the good conditions for gymnasts at the Academy.

“Generally speaking, gymnastics in Russia is actually very young. And it is running very swiftly, that is, it is difficult to catch up with it but we have everything to do in the Academy. We are endeavoring. That is, we have very long workouts and choreography is present even for such a young age. Fundamentally, the entire effort was built up to provide the result,” the coach said.

The coach shared the details of judging the mAlinka competition.

“I chanced to judge children that are fundamentally performing so far. Their elements are already clear and everything is understandable for the object, the artistry and the performance. So we judged like at the competition of seniors,” she said.