GYMNASTICS - Coach feels touch of performance anxiety on D-Day

VICKI McDonald is trying very hard to be nonchalant but with the future of Whangarei Academy of Gymnastics (WAGS) hanging in the balance, today is shaping up as a very important day for the club's head coach.
WAGS is one of the four sporting organisations that have approached council to encourage them to push ahead with the development of stage two of the all weather track project - the construction of a regional multi sports facility including a 1600 square metre gymnasium - at Kensington Park.
The head coach is sweating on a positive outcome for the club and tonight a group of Whangarei District councillors attend a demonstration put on by the club - making McDonald more than a little nervous.
The councillors will weigh up the needs of the club before making a decision whether or not to increase funding for the facility that will also house WAGS' partners on the Northland All Weather Track Trust: Whangarei Athletics, Sport Northland and the Whangarei Indoor Bowls Association.
WAGS currently resides in an industrial warehouse in Kamo and pays market rates, which in the current rental climate means rising costs.
"The rent just keeps increasing and it's going to kill us in the end, which is why the building project means so much to us - we will not survive unless we get this," McDonald said.
She is concerned that simply passing off the costs to the families of the children who are members of the club could force many of them to quit the sport.
"We're a non-profit organisations and we want to make gymnastics affordable for everybody in the community, if we make it only for the wealthy that's no good for anybody, we want the parents of all kids to be able to afford it," she said.
"We have tried to keep the fees relatively low but it's getting harder every year to survive unless we get a facility that allows us to escape from paying market rent," she said.
At the moment the club pays $26,000 per annum but that will increase by about 6.5 per cent next year.
McDonald believes that the popularity of the club is the only thing keeping it afloat.
The club currently has between 400 and 450 children on their books but on top of that the makeshift Kamo gym has benefited almost 3000 children this year, through extra programmes the club has run for schools in the area. There are over 100 children currently on their waiting list.
Participation in gymnastics tailed off in the late 1980s and early 1990s throughout the country but in the last few years the sport has enjoyed a surge in popularity.
"I don't really know why it has taken off again over the last 10 years but I suspect that parents have been keen to get their kids involved in a good sport that can develop their aestheticism as well as their intellectual capabilities, through co-ordination and their knowledge of spatial awareness," McDonald said.
"It's such an important building block for children to participate in other sports and helps them to lead a healthier life as an adult."
Adding to McDonald's nerves today is a touch of performance anxiety.
"I'm supposed to be doing some tumbling tonight so I don't want to make a complete fool of myself in front of the councillors, but on top of that we want to be pretty organised to impress our guests and make sure that everything goes to plan." she said.
There is a lot riding on it. The current building is barely suitable, it is a lined tin shed that is extremely hot in summer and very cold in winter and you can understand why the WAGS head coach is excited at the possibility of relocating to a purpose built gymnasium at the city's principal sporting venue.