USA Gymnastics Program Accepts Bermuda
The Bermuda Gymnastics Association has been accepted into the USA Gymnastics Global Ambassador Program, an initiative to assist up and coming gymnastics programs around the world reach a higher level of international success.
Program director Duke Nelligan and assistant head coach Amanda Baughman applied for the program in early 2013. A spokesperson said, “The application had to include a detailed plan of how USA Gymnastics could assist our program, as well as demonstrate that we have the necessary infrastructure, athlete base, and passion already in place to do the work on our end as well.
Highlights of the BGA’s International Gymnastics Meet earlier this year:
Program director Duke Nelligan was notified of Bermuda’s acceptance while he was in Puerto Rico for the Pan American Gymnastics Union meetings in August.
“We are also able to announce that our first Global Ambassador initiative will be a training camp over the October midterm break with USA National Team Coach Marvin Sharp. Mr. Sharp owns Sharp’s Gymnastics in Indianapolis, Indiana and has coached many elite athletes including world champion and Olympic medalist Bridget Sloan”, the spokesperson concluded.
USA Gymnastics said that Bermuda, Denmark, Panama and South Africa will receive support through the Global Ambassador Program, which was announced in 2012 and is designed to assist countries with the development of gymnastics worldwide.
“USA Gymnastics received a number of quality requests, and we are going to work to build this program over time,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics.
“These four countries had well-defined programs and needs that we felt could have an immediate impact on their athlete development pipelines. And, each will help provide examples of how we can aid other countries. We are confident this is a great start for this program, and look forward to working with other countries on how we can assist them as well.”
