"Girls are becoming more interested." Coach Ekaterina Svirina talks about performing at competitions according to different rules

Coach Ekaterina Svirina, who came to Kazan for the BRICS Games with Alice and Emily Daoud from Syria, shared what it’s like for coaches to constantly rebuild athletes’ programs from one set of rules to another.

"We have come to the BRICS Games for the first time. We have a judge helping us with that, and it becomes interesting for the girls as a matter of fact: we are not doing one and the same program but, for example, we change an element to be rated higher, make it more difficult, or instead, make it to be more convenient; so, it seems to me that this is very good for their development, in any case. We nevertheless have certain basic elements, features, and we are trying to bring a focus to them," Ekaterina said.

She also told us how her other gymnast Viktoria Harutyunyan from Armenia, who performed according to the rules of the International Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Clubs Association at the Games of Countries competition, was helped by the example of Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva.

"We worked right with Viktoria and she fully matched them because she is a flexible girl. We tried very hard. She watched plenty of videos to demonstrate exactly as Alina Maratovna did," she said.

The BRICS Games competition, where Ekaterina Svirina’s students will perform, is taking place in Kazan,  June 20- 22.