International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) president Morinari Watanabe has urged the Gymnastics Association of Uganda (GAU) to promote gymnastics in schools so that athletes are brought up with the fundamentals of the sport from a very young age.

"You should have the sport introduced to the athletes from a very young age through schools and clubs to enable them to learn the various disciplines from scratch," he said.

“It is good that the lads are taking on the sport from a very tender age, enabling them to decide on which discipline to partake seriously and compete favourably both at local and international stages.” 

Watanabe who also doubles as an International Olympic Committee member made this observation during the gymnastics festival held at MTN Arena in Lugogo last week as he observed the skillset of the young talented gymnasts.

Watanabe was with FIG officials who were in the country for five days to oversee the growth and development of the sport in developing countries.

He also extended a vote of thanks to schools and clubs that take the initiative of training the gymnasts amidst the challenges of insufficient equipment.

“It takes a bold step to start a sport, which is very demanding in the equipment aspect, but also the capacity of the coaches to coach the young ones takes a lot of patience and resilience, which I commend you all for doing,” Watanabe continued.

Mustafah Yiga, a gymnastics coach working with Mustafa Gymnastics Academy believes through hard work and proper management of talent from a young age, the future of the sport is brighter than ever before.

“Coaching young ones a complex sports discipline such as gymnastics is not something easy but with passion and motivation from the fact that the kits grasp all that is taught I am forced to continue training and possibly one day qualify an athlete to the Olympics,” Yiga emphasized.

During the festival, schools like Greenhill Academy, International School of Uganda, and others displayed their talent in various gymnastics disciplines such as artistic rhythmic, aerobics gymnastics, and Parkour, the latest entrant on the list of gymnastics disciplines.

Moses Kyeyune, the only Ugandan gymnast to take part in the first-ever Parkour championships held in Japan in 2022 believes he has gradually improved and he will contend for gold this year having gotten an invitation to take part in this year’s edition of the tournament.