Competitive......aerobics?

I was introduced to a new competitive sport this past Sunday. I went to Budapest with a family from the Trinity Church to watch one of their daughters compete in an international Aerobics competition.



Now, I know about competitive dance and gymnastics, but I had never heard of competitive aerobics {or sometimes termed as 'sport aerobics'}. Maybe some of you know about it and I'm just out of the loop...has anyone heard of this before?


I really had no idea what to expect. This was a big international competition with over a dozen different countries participating. Teams competed by age groups...anywhere from little girls to adults. Oh, and men competed, too! There were individual competitors up to groups of six people competing.


The competition began, and well....aerobics is definitely the best term for it! It's not dance because most of the movements are what you would imagine aerobic movements to look like. And it's not gymnastics because there is no tumbling. But, this sport does include incredible strength movements and incredible flexibility. I was wowed! It's a very serious sport and you can find lots of You Tube videos of competitions.


Watch this You Tube video (it's not mine) to see a competitive aerobics routine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a59oXr_4ht0&feature=grec_index


"Our" team, the team from Debrecen, was the best. They took first place in almost all categories and in all age groups. They are really phenomenal!


I can see definitely that you must be incredibly fit, strong, and flexible to be competitive in this sport. Even for the little girls! I enjoyed the competition so much and was so happy the Szasz family invited me to go with them.

Fanni and I are waiting for the competition to start.

Sisters Fanni and Nori, who both compete in this sport. Although
on this day, only Nori was competing.

Nori, the one we were there to watch, is second from the right (and so cute!).
Her team is about to receive their gold medals.