Promising young gymnast balances school, training

Top notch: India Henry (13) with the Kapuka Transport Trophy she won as the top Southland Women's Artistic Gymnastics Level 5 gymnast at the Southland Gymnastics Championships in Invercargill last month. Picture: Supplied

India, who is in her fourth year of gymnastics, recently won the overall title for level 5 gymnasts at the Southland Gymnastics Championships in Invercargill.

Last year she was placed 14th overall in level 4 gymnastics nationally and won both the Otago and the Southland Championships at that level.

India's mother Julie Henry said she was doing ‘‘extremely well'' in the sport considering the limited amount of time she was able to train.

‘‘At the Southland Championships India won on every apparatus - floor, vault, beam, and uneven bars - considering she is competing against girls who train twice as much as her, she's doing fantastic.''

Mrs Henry said India trained about 12 hours a week, compared with the 25 hours a week that most competitive gymnasts trained.

‘‘We actually started training in Invercargill at the beginning of this year, because she was unable to get the practice time in Gore.

‘‘We could only ever get about three or four hours of training in a week, which is just nowhere near enough to be competitive, so we head to Invercargill about four days a week.''

Mrs Henry said if India could train for 25 hours a week, which was ‘‘pretty standard'' for competitive gymnasts, she would be at the top of the sport nationally.

‘‘I just don't know where they get the time to train like that though - especially if they are still in school.''

India will compete next at the South Island Gymnastics Championships in Timaru on September 5, before heading to the National Championships in Hamilton on September 26.