World-class athletes like Darja Varfolomeev came to TSV Schott Mainz on the day of children’s gymnastics to get young people excited about their sport – and were successful.
With almost 75,000 children, the nationwide “Children’s Gymnastics Day” was a complete success. The German Gymnastics Federation (DTB), in cooperation with the movement initiative “Kinder Joy of Moving“, invited young people all over Germany to get a taste of the world of children’s gymnastics. Events relating to children’s gymnastics took place in over 700 participating clubs, the largest of which was in Mainz. The German gymnastics team also traveled there to get the children in the hall excited about gymnastics according to the motto “Learn from and with the grown-ups”.
The motto of the day: circus
Jumping, balancing or juggling: artistic gymnastics is acrobatics. And what could be better than choosing the motto “Circus” for the day of children’s gymnastics? The top German stars such as Olympic champion Darja Varfolomeev, record champion Elisabeth Seitz and world champion Lukas Dauser came to TSV Schott in Mainz as quasi circus directors. “It’s very, very important to offer the children a platform where they can come, where they can have fun and move around. And if they have even more fun because we are here and they can take photos with us, then “It’s a huge deal for us too,” said parallel bars world champion Lukas Dauser, explaining why he enjoys taking part in such events. The new father of a son had lots of tips and tricks in store, which the youngsters in Mainz gratefully accepted. “These are role models, and I think it’s pretty cool that they’re here,” said gymnast Matteo, happy about the gymnastics celebrities’ visit.
Darja Varfolomeev wants to inspire children
Darja Varfolomeev thrilled fans in Paris with ball, club and band. In the Mainz sports hall, the gymnast showed the little circus artists the first steps to great tricks. “I think rhythmic gymnastics is a great sport. You can do crazy things there,” said Varfolomeev with shining eyes. “You can fall in love with this sport and always stay fit,” says the Olympic champion, who passed on exactly this enthusiasm to the local gymnastics children.
Moving with fun is the motto
Since 2017, the German Gymnastics Youth (DTJ) and the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) have been celebrating Children’s Gymnastics Day on the second weekend in November. Every year, hundreds of clubs across Germany take part in the campaign and open their doors to give children a moving day. As part of this year’s Circus Child campaign, the children completed selected exercises to get to know the various equipment and the requirements of gymnastics in a playful way. On the gymnastics course, for example, they could try out obstacle jumps, cartwheels and somersaults or take on the balance challenge. The course is intended to inspire children to have fun with exercise and gymnastics.
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Great enthusiasm in the hall
And the fun of practicing was clearly visible to the little ones: it was an eventful day that left its mark on them. “I liked the boxes with the bench and the mat at the bottom because I could do a lot of different exercises on them,” said Leonie. Matteo thought it was great, “because there are so many different elements, like somersaults or turns. That’s what I enjoy the most.” And Esya is already thinking much further into the future: “At some point I would like to be able to do gymnastics really well, so that everyone says: Wow!”
The goal of “Children’s Gymnastics Day” is to get young people excited about gymnastics. This was probably achieved thanks to the help of the top German gymnasts in Mainz.
