FRUSTRATED by a lack of gymnastics facilities in the outer northern suburbs, Kim Amor decided to do something about it. She made her own.
Based in Epping, Gymsports Academy of Movement and Excellence has been open for a little over two months and Amor says the response has been massive.
“I grew up in this area and there have always been huge waiting lists, sometimes 300 or 400 gymnasts waiting to get into the sport,” she says.
“Out this way there has only been about two or three clubs, whereas in the eastern suburbs you’ll find one every three or four kilometres.
“I was inspired [to start my own] by talking to other clubs. There was no hesitation. I had the vision, I just had to get out there and get it happening.”
Having retired from gymnastics at the “grand old age of 13”, Amor says she is hoping to encourage children not to give it away. “Back when I was younger, when you got to 13 you didn’t want to do a lot of sport with high school and boys and all that,” she says. “So I really want to inspire young women to keep competing because I missed out on a lot of opportunities.
“I’ve been totally inspired by the gymnastics movement and, with child obesity such a risk area, it feels great to be supporting health and fitness.”
Despite her early retirement from performing gymnastics, Amor has remained passionately involved with just about every other aspect of the sport. Currently coaching at the gym she built, she says teaching has provided her with rich rewards, including being a program director at the Methodist Ladies’ College Gymnastics Club. “That’s where a lot of my knowledge and motivation came from,” she says.
She has taught both amateur and elite gymnasts, some of whom have gone on to Commonwealth and Olympic teams, but says one of her greatest highlights was going to the United States to work with prospective Olympic athletes.
“It was unbelievable,” Amor says. “The quality of the American trials was just inspiring and to rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in American gymnastics and see what they achieved was like a dream come true for me.”
Back in Epping, Amor happily admits she loves her job, which has her working with male and female athletes as young as 18 months and up to 47 years.
“We’ve got something for everyone,” she says. “Gymnastics can really help the young kids. It develops fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination.
“It’s also really important for kids to figure out where their arms and legs are and how they can use them, so that one-on-one interaction with kids really works.”
9 Gipps Court, Epping. Details: visit gymacademy.com.au
