Before the start of the Games of Countries tournament, the Academy held a lecture for coaches on the rules of the Sky Grace International Clubs Association.
The lecture began with a video message from Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva.
"Dear friends!
Rhythmic gymnastics has always been one of the most graceful and spectacular sports, where the main criterion for skill was the exceptional complexity of elements, natural flexibility and the uniqueness of each athlete.
Recently, world rhythmic gymnastics began to simplify the craft and the athlete’s unique physical abilities and individuality have ceased to be of value.
In 2018, we were at a meeting at the Federation of International Gymnastics and presented how rhythmic gymnastics has developed and what the sport consists of today.
Unfortunately, our arguments were not heard by the Federation of International Gymnastics and that’s when we came up with the idea of creating our own tournament according to the Sky Grace rules. And in 2021, the eponymous International Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament was created, which does not limit the athlete, but rather adds points for element complexity and uniqueness. Representatives of 14 countries came to the tournament and performed according to the Sky Grace tournament rules. This new platform gave us the opportunity to try, to experiment, and to be creative.
I want to thank everyone who participated and is participating in the development of the rules. We are very glad that we have more and more like-minded people.
All this speaks to what is at the heart of the matter — our numbers are growing, together we are developing our favorite sport, and changing the world for the better. Best of luck to everyone!"
The lecture was given by the chief judges of the international Games of Countries tournament Vera Sesina and the international judge and Academy coach Marina Specht.