Trail-blazing North teen quickly masters new discipline

Whangarei's Maia Prochazka has unintentionally become part of Northland gymnastics history.

Not only was she the first Northlander to compete at a National GymSports Championships in the discipline of aerobic gymnastics, but she also won a gold medal.

The 14-year-old laughs at how she became involved with the aerobic discipline, after previously competing as an artistic gymnast.

In August the Whangarei Girls' High School student gave the sport a try at a secondary schools championships and did well - winning gold medals in individual and pairs.

From there, Prochazka and her family faced a whirlwind two weeks where she had to qualify for last week's nationals twice - including a trip to Queenstown to compete.

With the sport being relatively new in New Zealand, the teenager said she had not set out to become the first Northlander to compete at a national competition.

"It's exciting to be Northland's first," she said, fresh from helping Northland to their best finish at a National Championships as the team returned with four medals.

"I just decided to give it a try, I went to Auckland to compete and then the South Island [to qualify for nationals]."

However, once she had qualified she was determined not to just make up the numbers.

"Oh no I went down [to Auckland] to win, definitely. You only go in there to win, you don't go to come second."

Prochazka's mum, Carolyn Bond, agreed it had been a hectic month leading into the competition.

"I was thinking 'am I crazy' when I was booking flights to Queenstown," she said with a laugh.

"It's quite a different atmosphere when competing in aerobics, they cheer quite a bit which is very different to artistic gymnastics where it can get quite tense. It's a really nice atmosphere."

Mum and daughter were not certain what the future held, saying the sport could open many doors in years to come.

Aerobic gymnastics originates from aerobics and combines aspects from sports acrobatics, rhythmic gymnastics, dance and choreography and performances are timed with music.