Gymnasts from CHAOSS have been in training this week before heading to Dubai to compete in the 9th Inter-Gulf Championships on Friday and Saturday.
It will be the sixth year that CHAOSS, the acronym for the Children’s Health Academy of Specialised Sports, has travelled to the UAE for the annual competition against clubs from Dubai, Qatar and Abu Dhabi – all members of the Middle East Gymnastics Association (MEGA).
The Bahrain party is made up of 22 gymnasts – 19 girls and three boys aged six to 13. Five coaches are travelling with the gymnasts, three of whom will also be judging at the competition.
The gymnasts will be accompanied by head coach, Cara Mattias, who is confident of a good performance from the team. Mattias will be judging floor at the competition as well as being a coach and will be accompanied by Debbie Payne who will be judging beam at the competition. After seven years at CHAOSS the event is going to be Payne’s last competition before leaving Bahrain to return with her family to England.
She said. “I am obviously sad it is going to be my last as one of the CHAOSS coaches but our gymnasts have worked hard and I am looking forward to being part of another successful team.”
Mattias believes the event will be the most challenging to date. “It is an exciting year, the standards are much tougher this year as we discovered when we competed in Qatar in March,” she explained.
“There is also a new club that has recently joined MEGA and we know they have some really good gymnasts but this will be the first time CHAOSS have competed against them.
“The CHAOSS gymnasts have all worked hard to master new and tougher skills in order to compete against the other MEGA teams. For the new gymnasts this is going to be a great opportunity to gain experience and to see what competitions are all about.
“For the more experienced gymnasts we hope they will benefit from their years of competition and enjoy setting an example to the less experienced gymnasts.”
