Form 1 Student Nicole tell hers gymnast career story

We are delighted to share the story of one of our students, Nicole (Form 1) - a competitive gymnast - has written for our Newsletter.

"I was really young when I decided that I wanted to do artistic gymnastics. I was inspired by movies and a famous contortionist. Each day I would do handstands, flips on the trampoline and I'd even walk on my hands! When my friend would come to my house, I would pretend that I was a famous gymnast and she was a judge, so she would time me on how long I can hold on a handstand. Eventually the day came when I asked my dad if I could do artistic gymnastics. He said yes at first. I went to see the gym where I would be training and did preparation! Two days before I went to tryouts my dad talked to me, he told me that I could not do artistic gymnastics because he had been talking with my swimming coach. Both of them agreed that artistic gymnastics would be too rough and dangerous for me. They told me I could do rhythmic gymnastics and I hated the idea. But after my first day trying it, that was all I could think about!

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My gymnastics career started in Bulgaria, Varna. Bulgaria is the best place for gymnastics because we are number one! I couldn't continue though because I had to go to Sofia and there weren't many places to train. I moved to Spain and I did no training whatsoever. After that I went to Barcelona and that's when things began to get serious. I would go to training three times a week sometimes including a Saturday and all of that training led to my very first competition. It wasn't that long ago (19th March). As my first competition it was ok, but I know that I could've done better! I can say that even though I didn't get a chance to follow my first dream, I'm happy that I started rhythmic gymnastics!

If I were in Bulgaria, I would be at a very high level! Workouts everyday including Saturday for four hours and sometimes from 9am to 6pm!

For now I'm really happy with what I've accomplished. Of course I still do artistic gymnastics in my free time like walking on my hands trying to beat my record every day (43 steps). So far I have:

  • Went to my first competition
  • Met an Olympic Champion for gymnastics (Simona Dyankova)
  • Improved
  • Learnt how to walk on my hands since 7 years old
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Congratulations from us all at Kensington! We are so proud of Nicole and all her accomplishments and looking forward to supporting her throughout her career as a gymnast.