About Wheel Gymnastics
Overview
What is Wheel Gymnastics/German Wheel?
Wheel Gymnastics is a novel gymnastic discipline, which was invented in Germany in 1925. Athletes use the apparatus, the German Wheel, to perform tricks in, and on the rolling wheel. Many tricks resemble elements known from the artistic gymnastics disciplines floor, parallel bars or uneven bars.
Wheel Gymnastics engages the whole body but is low impact at the same time. At the highest level, male and female gymnasts usually compete until their mid-thirties, with their prime time in the early twenties. At a recreational level, there is no upper age limit to practice Wheel Gymnastics.
The sport is organized and integrated into the national gymnastics associations in about 20 countries with an estimated 50,000 athletes worldwide. The sport has experienced exponential growth in the USA in the past decade and the next World Cup will take place in Brooklyn, NYC in 2020.
Gymnastics Newfoundland and Labrador is the first association in Canada offering this unique sport at recreational and competitive level. Advanced students have the opportunity to participate in training camps in the USA and Europe, create acts and perform at various shows and participate in competitions.
Disciplines
Straight line
The wheel rolls on both rims in a straight line. This is the first discipline you learn.
Spiral
The wheel rolls on one rim, the motion of the wheel is comparable to a spinning coin. Don’t worry, it won’t make you dizzy.
Vault
The gymnast performs a dismount from the top of the rolling wheel onto a mat. This discipline is for more advanced gymnasts.
Shows
All three disciplines are combined. In a group, with a partner, in one wheel or alone, gymnasts use music and costumes to create spectacular show performances.
Cyr Wheel
In this very fast and elegant discipline, the gymnast spins quickly in a steel hoop.