USA national team coach Marvin Sharp has been sharing his knowledge with the Island’s coaches at a training camp as part of an initiative to help raise the bar of Bermudian gymnastics.

Sharp, who has coached many elite USA gymnasts, including Beijing Olympic medallist Bridget Sloan, has spent the last week working closely with Bermuda’s coaches and athletes as part of the USA Gymnastics Global Ambassador Programme.

As the world’s most dominant gymnastics force, USA Gymnastics, Sharp believes, have a responsibility to support and develop associations with less developed infrastructures.

And Bermuda, one of only four nations to be accepted into the Global Ambassador Programme — along with South Africa, Denmark and Panama — will now be able to stimulate the growth of their sport by tapping into USA’s expertise and know-how.

“As part of the programme, the US is sending some of our top coaches to countries who are trying to make that next step to the higher level,” said Sharp, who revealed that US coaches could be making annual visits to Bermuda as part of the programme.

“It’s for countries that haven’t really been on the world scene competing consistently at the highest level. What we’re trying to do is offer some of our resources and share some of our experiences with these countries.”

Helping smaller gymnastics nations such as Bermuda keep abreast of the ever-changing trends at the international level was one of the main goals of the programme, said Sharp.

As an Island whose nearest neighbour is 650 miles way in North Carolina, Bermuda was therefore an ideal candidate for the development programme.

“It always helps having a second pair of eyes watch what you’re doing and giving a few cues,” added Sharp, who heads to Panama next week to access their gymnastics programme.

“Bermuda is in a unique situation as it’s isolated and can’t just call a friend from the club down the street to come over and give some feedback.

“(The US) is fortunate enough that all our international athletes train together once a month and coaches see each other constantly, and therefore get constant feedback.

“This is an opportunity for us to share some of that feedback and offer some suggestions on the trends that we as a country believe will be important over the next four or five years.”

Over the last few years Bermuda Gymnastics Association’s (BGA) St David’s training centre has undergone substantial changes, overseen and often undertaken by their energetic head coach Duke Nelligan.

Sharp, who owns his own gymnastics academy in Indianapolis, said there was little difference between the BGA’s Southside facility and those he regularly visits in the US.

“The facility is very nice. I’ve been to a few other countries where the facility was very small, didn’t have equipment, didn’t have full runways, didn’t have a full floor.

“Bermuda is very fortunate to have a full training facility and if I hadn’t seen the palm trees outside, I’d think this was a gym club in the United States.

“The kids have also been co-operative and respectful. I’ve seen a lot of interest and they have shown a willingness to learn, and that’s the most important thing.”

Nelligan, who along with assistant coach Amanda Baughman applied to join the programme earlier this year, said his team of coaches had relentlessly been picking Sharp’s brain during the weeklong camp.

“There’s so much information out there to bring in. It’s that passage of knowledge and the understanding that people like Marvin have been there, they’ve done that, and can impart that knowledge to us so we can get our kids to advance at a faster rate.” said the former University of Maryland head coach.

“We know we have talent here, we know we have youngsters that can develop the skills we see on TV, but it’s setting up a proper programme that leads them from one step to the next that makes the difference.

“World gymnastics is advancing at an incredible rate and it’s great to have someone like Marvin, who has sat in with those people who determine what skills we should be looking at, giving us the information so we can plug it in with our little ones.”