Amani loves to be able to fly through the sky

She loves being able to fly through the air, to do a front flip, and step-out Arab spring flick, with
a back summersault. Even if she never makes it further than competing at
national level, just to be able to do all these amazing moves, is success enough
for her.
Amani Omar received the award for best achievement from the
Nelspruit Gymnast Academy this year and for best achievement at SAs. She was
ranked third in the country in her age group, and also shares the trophy for
best vault with her teammate, Anya Swart.
Amani is only 10 years old and will
be going to grade five at Uplands Preparatory School in White River next year.
She started gymnastics at the age of three, with Kiddie gymnastics, and steadily
moved up to level seven this year. “I am very fortunate to be naturally talented
in this sport. However, this does not mean that I do not train intensely.
Competition level starts at level 1, and training is twice a week for about four
hours. At level 4, training is a minimum of three days a week for two and a half
hours at a time and now at level 7, I will have to train five to six days a week
which requires a great deal of dedication and sacrifice.
“I have never been
able to train the required amount of days, as I attend religious school every
afternoon until 17:00. In addition, I am on my school’s athletics team, and also
have to make time to practise for this. In fact, I missed three months of
gymnastics training this year supporting my school, which I was very happy to
do. My mum always says I must do my best, not be the best, and most importantly,
enjoy myself, otherwise it is worthless. So this is what I do and will continue
to do.”
Her main goal is plain and simple – to never give up and to keep on
trying until she gets it right. “This will allow me to make the most of all
aspects of my life, be it at school, on the sports field or even in my personal
life.”
Amani’s idol is one of the most inspirational figures, Nadia Comaneci.
She is the first female gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10. “I am also
inspired by my own cousin, who has represented South Africa at the Africa Champs
already, and two European competitions. He trains six days a week for five to
six hours at a time – now that is dedication.”
She will try her best to
compete in level 7 next year, as the lack of time is her greatest obstacle. She
loves the tumbling and amazing routines that she knew she could be doing one
day, and that made that she didn’t want to stop. Her favourite part of being a
gymnast, is the tumbling, flicks and flacks.