Academy coach and 1996 Olympic bronze medalist Irina Dzyuba was a judge at the mAlinka tournament. She spoke at length about the competition.
“This is the first internal competition of the Academy named the mAlinka. Absolutely all girls we took on board have made their debut. Juniors passed achievement and qualification test exercises, so to say, attempted to pass them, while more senior girls already performed with exercises, as it should be,” Irina said.
The coach also spoke about the benefits of competitions for preschoolers.
“Girls definitely need to gain experience in resistance to stress. There must be understanding: although they are small, nevertheless it should be.That is, the girls must focus on such serious labor, on serious struggle at competitions. This is because our Academy needs champions,” she said.
The coach also shared which of the young gymnasts made an impression upon her.
“ I liked the girl by the last name of Chaponidi. She is small; I remember her very well during the selection. She did not practice anywhere, absolutely inexperienced, but she had very substantial growth. There were some girls with little background training. I liked Sasha Lagvilava today, such an interesting girl that also has such good physical abilities. I liked the girl we had taken during the last additional selection. She is from the city of Ryazan, as it seems to me. Born in 2016. She unlocked so much. You know, she expressed herself in general in such an absolutely different way. There are two more gymnasts — Alisa and Ulyana in my view: they also impressed me so much with their emotional performance. That is, I was so surprised that such little, seemingly inexperienced girls can so emotionally express the music outright. And just make the gift out of the performance,” she said.
The coach also announced the upcoming competitions.
“The main contest will be held in May. It will also be the achievement and qualification one for the next year. The task of the Academy is exactly to find and develop children with unique data, foster high-level athletes, that is, everything is about the sport of the highest achievements here,” Irina said.