More than 250 dancers and athletes from across the country descended on Invercargill for a shot at national titles and further opportunities in the National Schools Aerobics Championships (NZCAF) at the weekend.
The 28th iteration of the annual event was held at ILT’s Stadium Southland with competitors representing their schools in a range of individual and team categories.
NZCAF president Sean Cresswell said the event had had seen a exceptional number of high quality performances, and he was also glad to see a growing number of competitors and an almost sell-out audience.
"Things have gone really smoothly, with tech and everyone’s been here when they needed to be here — the coaches are really well organised."
Invercargill-based Dani Kramers (14) competed before her home crowd and will also be representing New Zealand for the second time at the World Championships in the Czech Republic next month.
"[I am] very excited, it’s very exciting to actually be able to head over there in real life this time."
After being selected for the World Championships in France last year, Dani joined the competition online due to difficulties surrounding managed isolation and quarantine.
She said she felt her Invercargill performance was one of her best yet.
Her coaches Annalise Lowther and Kirsty Snoep said the hard work and intense training required to compete at Dani’s level was paying off.
"She’s been going for it since 2019 — then it was a goal, and in 2020 it was cancelled, last year it went online ... " said Ms Lowther.
The NZCAF was judged by a panel of ex-international competitors and national and international judges.
Ben Tomsett
