Craig Jones
The 2022 gymnastics season kicks off this Saturday with the South East Queensland Senior Championships which will be held at the Gold Coast Gymnastics Club.
The Cooroy Gymnastic Club will be celebrating sending its highest level team ever and a milestone for its mens coach.
This year, the team of five athletes will include three gymnasts competing at level 10, one at level nine and one at level seven. The competition is just two weeks out from the Qld State Championships which is the selection event for the Australian championships.
The team is hoping for a good performance on the day which will also be a big day for their coach who turns 70 at the competition.
Men’s coach Greg Smyth will celebrate his birthday being part of what he loves, gymnastics.
Greg has been involved in gymnastics for well over 50 years. He started training back in 1965 whilst at boarding school in Brisbane. Whilst a gymnast, he represented Queensland six times from 1970 until 1979.
After finishing his competition career, he continued to pursue coaching which he started in 1973 and becoming an advanced silver coach and completing a human movement degree in 1989. Not only is Greg a coach, but he has been an accredited FIG judge for 11 Olympic cycles and involved in over 35 national championships and even judged at international competitions.
In 2017 Greg was recognised for his lifetime of achievement and effort as a life member of Gymnastics
Queensland.
Greg brings a steady hand with years of experience and his technical eye to his team. In 2021 he was coach of the level nine Queensland team and is hoping this year he can repeat the effort and fill the level 10 team with boys from Cooroy to coach for Queensland once again.
