Tahiyya Ismail’s gymnastics passion takes her to Germany and Austria
LINDEN – Greenside Primary School's Deputy Head Girl's passion for dancing started at the tender age of for and it is this passion that has led her to Gymanastica Burstadt in Germany.
Deputy head girl from Greenside Primary School, Tahiyya Ismail (12) recently represented South Africa in the 16th World Gymnaestrada 2019 in Austria as well as the Gymanastica Burstadt held in Germany from the 5 to 23 July.
The young gymnast said, “I started when I was four-years-old in 2010 doing rhythmic gymnastics and I’m now in level five and six. My coach and the girls I train within senior levels have been such an inspiration to me. Traveling overseas has been a big highlight for me.”
Tahiyya said the experience of going to the festival was amazing for her and her team members, “It was a gymnastics festival and all countries in the world were there and everyone there showed different displays, and we got to trade flag badges with other countries.”
From Austria, Tahiyya and her team, consisting of 28 participants representing South Africa, flew to Germany for the Gymanastica Burstadt competition. They were there for five days, performed against 34 countries and placed second. Tahiyya said the difference between normal and rhythmic gymnastics, “Normal gymnasts do a lot of tumbling, flips, bars, and beams. In rhythmic gymnastics, we do it with ribbons, hoops, ropes, ball, clubs and we do a free dance.”
“I wanted to do rhythmic gymnastics because I enjoy dancing more. I train three times a week for about four hours but while practicing for our overseas trip, we trained for seven hours a day. My goal is to compete on my own in years to come and be a gymnastic coach but, of course, that will take years of hard work and determination.”
Tahiyya lives in Linden and is doing Grade 7 this year. Her favourite subjects are mathematics and life sciences and her other dream career since the age of four has been to be a judge in the Constitutional Court. This young star thanks to her mother, coach, school, and family for their constant support and inspiration.
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