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Having a ball

Seventeen-year-old Paris Chin is set to be one of the youngest athletes representing New Zealand at the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

Zoë George reports.

It’s been a juggling act for rhythmic gymnast Paris Chin, who not only juggles an actual ball, but academics, life, friends and family time all at the same time.

But it has been all worth it for the 17-year-old who is set to be one of the youngest – and the first New-Zealand Chinese rhythmic gymnast – to represent Aotearoa at the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

She has been named in the squad of seven and only one of two female gymnasts.

The other is fellow rhythmic gymnast Havana Hopman.

‘‘Being the youngest is very exciting, because everyone else is older, and you get to talk to people who have experience, and you get tips and tricks, from everyone else. They look after you, which is cool.’’

The Christchurch-based athlete trains up to nine hours a day, six days a week, all the while trying to complete her final year at Burnside High School.

It’s ‘‘hard work’’. Sunday is her day off. She usually catches up on school work, then tries to hang with friends. Having time for herself is rare.

Her average school day involves getting up early, and going to school for a few hours – biology and English are her favourite subjects, chemistry not so much – then it’s off to training at 10.30 for a few hours, then back to school and once the academic day is over it’s back to training.

The school has been incredibly supportive of her gymnastics journey, she said, but academics is also important as she hopes to go to university next year.

Her friendswere also ‘‘very excited’’ when they found out about her selection and have been incredibly supportive of her chasing her dream.

‘‘Since I’m not at school, they’ll sendmework or notes. It’s really helpful and supportive.’’

She used to rely on her parents to get her to and from the Templetonbased gym and school, but thankfully now she has her driving licence, allowing her to have freedom.

‘‘It’s hard sometimes, but you keep working because ultimately there’s a goal.

‘‘The goal is hopefully amedal on the podium. If I do some nice routines, then there’s a good chance of at least top five.’’

Chin’s strongest element is the ball. ‘‘It’s more fun.’’ She throws the

‘‘There are times when you feel like you won’t be able to do it, but there’s people around you that are encouraging, supportive, and you want to make them proud, so you keep going.’’

Paris Chin

ball at least six metres in the air while tumbling underneath. It takes a lot of practice.

The hardest trick is throwing the ball, while doing awalk over and two rotations, finishing by catching the ball behind the back without any hands. Yes, she said, it is possible.

There’s much more to rhythmic gymnastics than just throwing a ball or a ribbon.

It combined technical aspects including rolls, throws and tumbles in a co-ordinated fashion.

‘‘If you start the ball in one hand, you have to roll it across your arms and body, and if you don’t have the right technique the ball will fall off, or you’ll drop it. You get a penalty.’’

In the last two years gymnastics has been in the spotlight as a global movement happened with athletes sharing their stories of abusive practices within the sport. New Zealand was part of that movement, after an ‘‘insidious culture’’ was uncovered. A review was done, and changes are slowly happening. It was a hard time for everyone, Chin said.

‘‘It was emotional. Everything’s way better now,’’ she said. ‘‘Gymnastics NZ has been really supportive, and everything seems to have come together.’’

Rhythmic gymnastics wasn’t her first choice. She first started in artistic gymnastics ‘‘just for fun’’, but at age 7was asked to try rhythmic. Ten years on, she never thought it would be possible to go to the Commonwealth Games.

Her road to qualifying was a tough one. Covid and then the war in Ukraine stymied parts of her progress.

She spent lockdowns in her family’s living room, working on tricks and skills, while trying ‘‘not to break anything’’. Then, shewas due to go to Russia earlier this year to train. But that did not happen after the invasion of Ukraine.

She did manage to make it to Greece, Spain and Bulgaria for international competitions, including two World Cups. Those events helped her qualify for the Games.

She’ll be competing against athletes from around the world. Her eyes will be on athletes from Malaysia and Canada, who she said are very strong. But her biggest competition is herself.

‘‘Competing with myself and trying to pushwhat I can do, and do routines I can be proud of,’’ she said.

Chin will be the second athlete to go to the Gameswhile under the tutelage of coach Elena Mesheryakova. The first was Amelia Coleman who competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Chin has been with her coach for 10 years. ‘‘There are timeswhen you feel like you won’t be able to do it, but there’s people around you that are encouraging, supportive, and you want to make them proud, so you keep going.’’

She can’t wait to step out on the mat in Birmingham. She said that experience will be ‘‘scary’’ but fun.

‘‘If you don’t have fun then why would you go this far? You have to enjoy it to be able to push yourself.’’

Sport

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2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282050510689258

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