Cham, 29.04.2020

Young gymnast does not let herself be beaten by the Corona Crisis

Artistic gymnastics is Sara Kissling's great passion. This is shown by the fact that she and her parents normally travel around 360 kilometres a week from Cham to Rüti and back for four training sessions in the Zurich Oberland.

For several weeks now, however, the 11-year-old has been unable to train there due to Corona situation. The primary school student, who names Ticino gymnast Ilaria Kaeslin as a role model, has shown her will to persevere. "In order not to lose my strength and mobility during the corona crisis, I’m now training at home for about 90 minutes a day," she explains. She received a program for this from the trainer. The following video shows her training at home: https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1750922/uiconf_id/41002611/entry_id/1_7rtoj2nb/embed/dynamic

In the first few weeks, she did this alone on a mat, which was rather boring. When it became clear that the lockdown would take longer, Sara Kissling created a training oasis for herself with the support of parents and acquaintances: she can now exercise on the various devices in the garden, in the room, in the living room and in the tent. "I am very grateful to everyone who has made this possible for me." Her favorite disciplines are floating beams and floor gymnastics.

Sara Kissling (centre) in the specially-built training tent with her Zug artistic gymnastic friends Klarisa Krasniqi (from Zug, in green outfit) and Hilaria Lozano (from Baar).

Kissling and her Zug training colleagues (see box) receive lots of training support from their trainer Sandy Luginbühl. This includes online live training. "That's great and motivates me. Because that's how I see all my friends from gymnastics on the screen. I think the virtual training together is cool," says Sara Kissling.

Gymnastics in the top environment
The fourth-grader from Cham competes in the category P2 (up to 11 years). At the age of 6, she started artistic gymnastics at the DTV Küssnacht am Rigi, as this is not offered in the canton of Zug. From the summer of 2019, Kissling has been training at Turnsport Rüti in the Zurich Oberland. "We receive specific support there and benefit from a super infrastructure," she says. And that’s not surprising: the gymnasts at the club in Rüti can enjoy the purpose-built gymnastics hall, which also serves as a regional performance centre. The girls in this squad have almost twice as many training sessions per week, and are in the hall during the day. Girls from the club, like Sara Kissling, can also use the hall from the early evening.

Her greatest successes so far have been the qualifications for the Swiss championship in the age categories P1 (up to 9 years) and P2, where Sara made it into the Swiss Top 50. After the summer holidays she will move to the P3 (up to 13 years), and wants to achieve the qualification for the Swiss championship again at this level. But her biggest wish is different: "To be able to train again at the club as quickly as possible. I miss that very much, because I love to go training and I'm always looking forward to it."

A Zug athlete in the junior squad
In addition to Sara Kissling (born 2009, Cham), two other gymnasts - Hilaria Lozano (2012, Baar) and Klarisa Krasniqi (2011, Zug) - from Canton Zug train at the TV Rüti). The girls know each other from their time together at the DTV Küssnacht am Rigi, and are friends. As the girls are of different ages, they don’t train together, however. Klarisa Krasniqi has also been a member of the extended junior squad B from November 2019, and is training with the girls of the performance centre.