Blacktown Gymnastics flying high in 2025
with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
Gymnastics is a highly competitive sport performed by extremely dedicated and talented athletes and the Blacktown area is blessed to have some of the best in the Sydney area . They also represent the area in State and National championships and bring home many awards , as well as even representing Australia on the world stage .
The area has great representation with Sydney Gymnastics Centre ( SGAC ) at Rooty Hill providing brilliant opportunities for some of the best young gymnasts in Australia to learn and ply their trade and demonstrate their skills , but also All Starz Gymnastics and Dance in Fairfield have many people from in and around the local area showcasing the sport in the community and at state and national level .
Some of the awards picked up by Sydney Gymnastics Centre included the following awards at the State Awards Ceremony – Sylvia P Overall Club of the Year . This is the biggest award of the entire ceremony and the cherry on top of the cake for all the clubs .
SGAC also picked up the Acrobatic Gymnastics International Coaching Team of the Year award , Acrobatic Gymnastics Senior International Group of the Year which was awarded to the fantastic pairing of Brooke Prampero and Layla Dimacali . These represented Australia on the international stage last year in Portugal in September , Acrobatic Gymnastics Junior International Group of the Year with Allan Jiang and Stella Borg proudly representing the club and country .
They also picked up KinderGym Club
Belle Swift , Troy Sitkowski , Stella Borg and Allan Jiang . Credit Gymnastics NSW .
of the Year , KinderGym Coach of the Year going to Daniel Lawther , Trampoline Gymnastics Club of the Year , Trampoline Gymnastics Junior International Trampoline Athlete of the Year awarded to Nicolas Diaz-Ballas , Trampoline Gymnastics Junior International Double Mini Athlete of the Year awarded to Belle Swift and Trampoline Gymnastics Senior International Double Mini Athlete of the Year went to Troy Sitkowski .
Rooty Hill SGAC cleaned up and it shows the strength and professionalism of their gymnastics program at the club in a high growth area of western Sydney that will hopefully see the continued growth of the club .
All Starz Gymnastics and Dance and their gymnasts won the following awards : Aerobic Gymnastics Club of the Year , Aerobic Gymnastics International Coaching Team of the Year , Aerobic Gymnastics Junior International Athlete of the Year going to Angelina Chalabov and Aerobic Gymnastics AeroDance Group of the Year - several members from the club were part of the winning team .
All Starz are an aerobic gymnastics club . Aerobics gymnastics has seven categories which include Men ’ s Individual , Women ’ s Individual , Mixed Pairs , Trios , Groups , Aerobic Step and Aerobic Dance . Carissa went to All Starz and then
competed at the World Championships last year , the 18 th Aerobics Gymnastics World Championships held in Pesaro , Italy . The Aerobics Gymnastics is making me consider cranking out the old VHS videos of aerobics Oz style and leg warmers , and maybe limbering up to see if I have the X Factor that you need to be good at these sports !
This year , Gymnastics NSW will hold its State Championships across two weekends . The Aerobics and Rhythmic Gymnastics event in Shoalhaven is on May 23-25 . Then the Acrobatic , Trampoline , Men ’ s and Women ’ s Artistic State Championships will take place in Rooty Hill on May 30-June 1 .
Mark this weekend in your calendar as this is a must-see event with some of Australia ’ s best gymnasts on display . Many will represent NSW in the Australian Gymnastics Championships which will be held on the Gold Coast from 3-17 July 2025 , so this is the nationals event where NSW gymnasts will go up against the best in the country . Brooke and Layla will be heading to The World Games in China , in August . This is the Olympic equivalent event for non-Olympic sports / disciplines .
It is a very exciting year in store for all of the gymnasts in the Blacktown area , and there are sure to be plenty more awards heading their way .
Sydney Blue Sox turning heads in the ABL
with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
The Australian Baseball League , or ABL , as it is known in the baseball world is the elite level baseball competition in Australia . The Sydney Blue Sox are a professional team and one of six in the reformed competition and play at Blacktown International Sports Park which . This was one of two venues used for baseball at the Sydney 2000 Olympics . The Blue Sox hosted the league ’ s opening day for their inaugural season back on 6 November 2010 with a 1-0 win against Canberra Cavalry .
The Blue Sox proudly represent NSW in the competition at a professional level and continue a proud history of trying to win the prestigious and historic Claxton Shield . Back in baseball ’ s heyday in the 80s , 90s and early 2000s , NSW had been represented by clubs such as NSW Patriots ,
Alex Wells pitching for the Blue Sox . Credit : MickG _ Photography .
Sydney Blues , Sydney Wave , Sydney Metros , Sydney Patriots and the Hunter Eagles in the national competition .
The Blue Sox have the great delight of having a home ballpark which hosted international baseball games during the Sydney 2000 Olympics . The venue has one main diamond and grandstand capacity of 1200 people with first class facilities , the envy of many other sporting clubs , as well as having two secondary diamonds .
Over the years the club have had many notable players including Chia-Jen Lo , Tim Atherton , Chris Oxspring , Todd Grattan , Alex Wells , Todd Van Steensel , David Welch , Wayne Lundgren , Trent D ’ Antonio , Dean Aldridge , Trent Schmutter , Alex Maestri , Brendan Kingman ( an Australian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee in 2014 ), Josh Guyer who just pitched over 300 career strikeouts last season in the ABL , Kyle Glogoski , Manny Ramirez , Lim Gyoung-wan and Donald Lutz .
The season started off with a bang away from home in Adelaide against the Giants with a 5-4 win on the opening day of the season followed by a crushing 5-0 win in the second match of the year . They wound up the first round with a 6-3 loss to Adelaide and a 6-4 win to head back to Blacktown with a 3-1 record on the road . A tough second round at home vs Perth Heat saw them pick up 2-2 before they travelled to Melbourne in round 3 with a crushing 3-0 clean sweep with 1 postponed game which included a comprehensive 8-2 win in game 1 , 5-0 win in the second and a thumping 7-1 win in the third . Round 4 saw the Blue Sox pick
Sydney Blue Sox celebrating a win . Credit : MickG _ Photography .
up a 3-1 home result against Canberra Cavalry in the 4 matches including 2 tight wins 7-5 and 3-2 , and a tough 5-1 loss in game 2 .
Round 5 saw the Blue Sox travel to BrisVegas to take on the very fancied Brisbane Bandits who were up 2-0 in the first 2 matches with a good 3-0 and 6-3 win against the Blue Sox . The Blue Sox were able to turn it around with a 6-2 win in game 3 which resulting in the 6th and 7th innings and 6-0 win in game 4 with Jaylin Rae getting 2 runs to help ice the match .
The Blue Sox finished the 10 round home and away series with a 24-16 record and a . 600 win percentage to take out the minor premiership ahead of Adelaide Giants in 2nd with a 23-17 and . 575 winning percentage , Perth in 3rd with a 20-20 win record and . 500 win percentage , and the Canberra Cavalry finished in 4th with 18-22 record and . 450 win percentage .
The Blue Sox were heading into the final series in the box seat after a strong series taking on the 4th placed Canberra Cavalry at Blacktown for 2 matches but were stunned 3-2 in the first playoffs match before being beaten 5-2 by the Cavalry on 25 January who went on to win the Claxton Shield vs Perth .
There are plenty of good signs for the Blue Sox and they will rebuild and take a lot out of the 2024 / 25 season and be up and ready to go again for next year .
BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 47 // MARCH 2025 21