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Aspiring gymnasts with Filipina Olympians Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo during a training camp in Intramuros, Manila, August 18, 2024. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News

Aspiring gymnasts with Filipina Olympians Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo during a training camp in Intramuros, Manila, August 18, 2024

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GAP CAMP

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1723969450830081824_GAP camp.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Aspiring gymnasts with Filipina Olympians Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo during a training camp in Intramuros, Manila, August 18, 2024. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Aspiring gymnasts with Filipina Olympians Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo during a training camp in Intramuros, Manila, August 18, 2024. <em>Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA -- Aspiring gymnasts were grateful for the opportunity to train with their idols, Filipina gymnasts Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo, during a two-day gymnastics clinic this weekend.</p><p>Finnegan and Malabuyo are back in the Philippines, and top of their agenda was to lead the &quot;Yes, Girl!&quot; Women&#x27;s Artistic Gymnastics Training Camp in Intramuros, Manila.</p><p>Over 80 young gymnasts took part in the event, including a group of friends and schoolmates whose bonding activity includes gymnastics.</p><p>Maya Epino, 12; Sophia Flores, 11, and Sascha Santos, 14, could not contain their happiness and excitement to be face to face with their idols.</p><p>&quot;I was really surprised … they&#x27;re my idols,&quot; said Maya, who started training at the age of five.</p><p>&quot;It was very shocking, I was very starstruck. I was like shaking almost. It was very inspiring because seeing a Filipino gymnast made me want to do more and work harder,&quot; Sascha shared of her first time seeing the Olympians.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/8/17/aleah-finnegan-emma-malabuyo-lead-women-s-gymnastics-training-clinic-in-manila-1629">READ: Aleah Finnegan, Emma Malabuyo lead women’s gymnastics training clinic in Manila</a></div><p>The three young gymnasts said they learned a lot from Finnegan and Malabuyo, as the clinic not only boosted their skills, but also their drive in pursuing gymnastics.</p><p>&quot;I really learned how to be confident and how to balance well in beam. I learned how to like tighten my body. When I get older I just wanna be like them po. To be in the Olympics, to get better po,&quot; Sophia said.</p><p>&quot;It was really fun to train with them. I learned more skills and how to tighten my body. I think my dream is to be like them and go to the Olympics,&quot; Maya said.</p><p>Her biggest takeaway, according to Sascha, is to &quot;work harder.&quot;</p><p>For the girls, doing gymnastics with friends makes it more enjoyable.</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:560px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1824965568728011011&amp;lang=en&amp;maxWidth=560px&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fnews-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Anews-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2024-08-18T09%3A21%3A17.875561%3A83ff5a06-07f3-40cb-88d4-290b3f33ae50%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=1b5354ddaf4808b13ff358b5cf74961c460b6378&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:560px;height:316px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="1824965568728011011"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><p>&quot;By my friend po, I was told to join gymnastics for summer. I enjoyed it a lot,&quot; Maya shared on how she started.</p><p>For Tchelzy Mei Maayo, it was great to learn more from Finnegan after being in the same training camp in the United States.</p><p>&quot;Ate Emma and Ate Aleah really helped me a lot,&quot; she said. &quot;It&#x27;s really exciting, I&#x27;m so happy I get to practice with them. And I&#x27;m really proud of them for representing our country.&quot;</p><p>The 12-year-old is preparing for the Asian Championships and will return to the US soon for further training. She is hopeful she would also get to represent the Philippines in higher level competitions.</p><p>&quot;That would really mean a lot to me. Because I really want to represent here because I&#x27;m born here and I am a Filipino. And I really want to represent this country,&quot; Tchelzy said. </p><p>Some aspirants came as far as Cebu City and Davao City to join the clinic, including Zoey Sangutan who won bronze in floor exercise at the 2024 Palarong Pambansa.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s very fun and it&#x27;s a good experience to train with Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo. I learned a lot of new techniques from them. It&#x27;s very inspiring. I get inspired by them,&quot; she told ABS-CBN News.</p><p>Although she has only been doing gymnastics for one and half years, she is more motivated following the training camp.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;ve been doing gymnastics for one and a half years lang face to face. It was a hard journey it definitely was not easy but I did it. I&#x27;m inspired and I feel like I can do more. I’m improving this year and I feel like I can do better next year,&quot; she shared.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/8/17/will-aleah-finnegan-represent-ph-in-2028-olympics-1842">READ: Will Aleah Finnegan represent the Philippines in the 2028 Olympics?</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/8/17/emma-malabuyo-on-representing-ph-in-paris-it-was-the-best-experience-of-my-life-2014">READ: Emma Malabuyo on representing PH in Paris: ‘It was the best experience of my life’</a></div><p>Zoey says her goal is to get gold in the individual all-around at the next Palaro and hopefully move up from there.</p><p>Finnegan and Malabuyo are optimistic there&#x27;s nowhere to go but up for the Philippines in artistic gymnastics. Following the two-day clinic, they believe there&#x27;s so much talent in the country in the sport.</p><p>They are hopeful aspiring gymnasts would continue working on their foundations, compete internationally and remain focused in pursuit of their dreams.</p><p>&quot;I think the main takeaway is to have a solid foundation of basics in order to get the big skill here. So you can&#x27;t get to this point without doing the basics and doing it over and over again,&quot; Malabuyo said.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m really hoping that they continue to do gymnastics and continue to enjoy the sport. I think it&#x27;s such a beautiful sport that obviously I really enjoy doing. I&#x27;m really trying to spread the love that I have with this sport with these young girls,&quot; Finnegan shared.</p><p>The two will be flying back to the US soon as they enter their senior year at the University of California, Los Angeles for Malabuyo and Louisiana State University for Finnegan.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8JA1RUR6FH4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pp3gg-mjcLI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>Aspiring gymnasts were grateful for the opportunity to train with their idols, Filipina gymnasts Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo, during a two-day gymnastics clinic this weekend.</p>

Aspiring gymnasts were grateful for the opportunity to train with their idols, Filipina gymnasts Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo, during a two-day gymnastics clinic this weekend.

Young gymnasts relish opportunity to train with Olympians Aleah Finnegan, Emma Malabuyo

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Young gymnasts relish opportunity to train with Olympians Aleah Finnegan, Emma Malabuyo

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published Aug 18, 2024 04:26 PM PHT

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Emma Malabuyo

Gymnastics Association of the Philippines

Palarong Pambansa

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