He started doing gymnastics at the age of nine to impress the girls with a backflip. Now, the versatile sportsman, Lionel Moss, will do more than backflips when he competes at the SA National Gymnastics Championship in Cape Town on 24 September. “My immediate goal would be to get three medals at the SA Champs. Now, I can certainly do a backflip but it took longer than I thought it would,” laughs Lionel. He is a Level 6 gymnast and one of Potchefstroom’s top sporting talents.Moss is one of Potch’s top gymnasts.

There are six different apparatus that Lionel competes on, namely rings, p-bar, high-bar, vault, pommel horse and floor. He enjoys the rings the most because it gets his adrenalin flowing.
It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to be a gymnast, and precise practice routines to ensure correct technique and avoid injuries.

“When you struggle with a routine, you would usually have to practise the basics again. When doing ringwork, you need to be able to do a muscle-up first,” he explained.
Lionel, who is a grad 10 learner at Ferdinand Postma High School has achieved a bunch of first places in 2019. He has won the BUG club completion, KSG competition, the Brits Bosveld competition and the NW championships in gymnastics, with the SA champs next in his sights.

“To qualify for SA champs, you need an average of 8,3 out of 10, at least, which can be a bit challenging. But, I would normally be able to reach this as a Level 6 gymnast,” says Lionel.

He has also achieved two silver and two bronze medals at the SA Championships thus far.

Besides gymnastics, Lionel also competes in athletics, cricket, hockey and swimming.
“On a competitive level, I like swimming the most but every sport has its unique aspect. I also like to contribute to the team in my team sport,” he added. Lionel has also attained NW colours in gymnastics, swimming and hockey this year
“I wanted to become a professional cricketer when I was young, so I think I would still like to go as far as I can in cricket after school.”