Victoria: The Place To Be

Best of luck to all the gymnasts, coaches, judges, physios, drivers, score-flashers, ushers, runners, gym parents, cashiers, cheer squads, security personnel, vendors, coffee cart guys and announcer (no plural necessary there) at the Victorian Gymnastics Championships and Rhythmic Aussie All-Stars Invitational tomorrow.

I offer a big squishy Melbourne hug to our interstate and NZ visitors, and welcome them with an ancient Australian Gymnastics Blog tradition of doing the happyhappyjoyjoy pyjama-clad daggy dance of awesome. It's really quite an art form, I must show you some time.


If our paths cross, do introduce yourself/ves. There are some sessions where I will be not doing my rostered media work/miscellaneous helping out and instead just watching the event (most likely with green notebook in tow). I will admit I'm biased towards artistic gym but will certainly have a squizz at the rhythmic gym if I get the chance. It means a lot when I get to say hello to new people and put names to faces. If you happen to hear someone behind you asking a gymnast for a photograph and you turn and they're wearing a white volunteer's shirt and blushing a lot... that'll probably be me.

I'm really excited about the event, particularly about seeing some of our elites up close. I hope my volunteer capacity gets me down on the floor at some point, even for a very short while. For me it's like walking on the MCG grass, I just love being part of something we so often see only on television or in internet footage, something that sometimes feels like a whole different world.

Well, different world - here I come!