FISAF Quarterly - Issue 3, 2021

Welcome to this latest edition of the FISAF Quarterly!

In what was an amazing start to our competition season, we are sad for our families in Victoria and New South Wales as they continue to struggle with extended lockdowns and restrictions. We know many of our athletes are trying their best with remote training, and their coaches are doing some wonderful things to help everyone stay involved and as positive as possible. We are thinking of you all, and remain hopeful that things will look better very soon.

There have been quite a few changes to our events over the past few months, and we are very grateful for everyone's patience and support as we navigate our way through.

You may have also seen that our ever-popular FISAF Hoodies are now available online. As usual, they are selling fast, so we encourage you to visit our website to see the full range and place your order before they sell out!

Throughout this issue, we've provided an update on the latest changes for the remaining events this season, as well as exciting information about the 2022 season! We also spotlight another amazing member of our Australia FISAF Community, and lots more, so please enjoy!

Our very best wishes,

The FISAF Team

Due to the continuing situation with COVID, including lockdowns and restrictions, we recently made the hard decision to run our remaining events for the 2021 season in an online format.

This decision affects the following events:

Queensland Future Champions Cup (10th - 11th September)
Victoria State Championships (dates TBA)
National Championships (dates TBA)

We appreciate that this format is not the preferred, however providing an online competition gives us a better chance of running the events, and doing so in a safe manner. It also provides more athletes with an opportunity to participate without the need to travel.

The ongoing lockdowns in Victoria and New South Wales has a significant impact on training and filming routines. For this reason, it isn't yet possible to publish a date for when online submissions will be due, nor when our live-stream judging will occur for the Victorian State Championships, and National Championships. However, we are grateful to remain in regular contact with our club and school coaches to support them in organising filming and entries. We have strongly recommended to all coaches (regardless of which state) that they film full routines whenever possible. We do not recommend waiting until the submission dates are announced as the lockdowns are so unpredictable.

Parents and athletes, we encourage you to stay in touch with your coaches so that you can access the latest information we provide to them.

We are excited to announce that development of next year's pre-choreographed routines is well underway! This relates to our School and Elementary Stream categories.

We proudly release brand new choreography and music mixes each year with the help of many of our amazing coaches across the country.

Many hours go into planning, choreographing, filming and preparing our Pre-choreographed Packages, and we are so pleased to be able to offer a whopping 16 routines for use in the 2022 competition season. There will be 8 School Stream and 8 Elementary routines.

Having this number of routines to choose from enables coaches to carefully form teams to learn and perform routines that are best suited to athlete age, ability and experience.

More information is still to come, but we are looking forward to releasing the 2022 packages during October, so stay tuned!

Vivienne Lattimore ("Vivi") is quite possibly the longest standing member of the Australian sport aerobics community – and it all began with her background in ballet from age 4. After becoming a professional ballerina in 1978, an injury sadly prevented her continuing her dream career. Always looking on the bright side, Vivi found a new career path in the fitness industry as an instructor and convention presenter.

Vivi has been involved in sport aerobics since it’s inception here in Australia. She was 29 when she first choreographed and competed in her first competition and has since won a myriad of medals right up to the top at the World Championships level. She has won medals in Step and Fitness categories. Potentially the most impressive performance of her career was when she competed at the 2019 World Championships – at age 59 – despite having broken her thumb 3 weeks before the event, and her index finger 30 minutes before the final! It didn’t stop Vivi and her Performance team still placing 4th in the world.

There are so many amazing highlights throughout Vivi's career. From being sponsored Reebok as a fitness presenter & athlete, to having coached some of the best athletes in the world. This includes 8-time world champion, Allira Bull , and 6-time world champ, Lauren Farry, among many more.

Vivi has also been involved in organising competitions over the years, and has performed as judge on both Australian and International panels.

So what’s kept her so involved all these years? According to Vivi she considers so many in the sport as part of her extended family. She has made countless beautiful friendships over the years. She loves sharing her knowledge, and collaborating with coaches and athletes to help everyone be the best they can be.

While Vivi has no plans to ever leave our wonderful sport, she also shares her time with her other business, NEO Weighted Training.

Vivienne Lattimore

A product idea that started nearly 16 years ago has turned into a successful, and unique business venture that markets superior performance adjustable weighted wraps. The wraps not only help enhance training results, it is designed in a way that importantly doesn’t restrict movement or put stress on the spine or joints.

We are so excited for Vivi and believe she deserves every success she achieves. Thank you Vivi for giving so much to sport aerobics, and continuing to into the future. Our sport is richer for it.

Help us to get your school involved!

Schools love being part of FISAF because it's inclusive, fun, and comes with a host of support from the FISAF Australia team.

The FISAF Australia School Stream offers a simplified approach to learning and performing aerobics that makes it possible for any student to be involved, regardless of experience, gender, age or ability.

We are proud that everyone in a school's community can enjoy the sport including students, teachers, parents as well as the school leadership team.

Our competitions are focused on having fun, and providing students with an opportunity to showcase their hard work amongst their peers.

If you would like your school to offer FISAF sport aerobics, we would love to hear from you!

To get in touch, please email us at natalie@fisafaustralia.com.au.

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO

BE A FISAF JUDGE?

FISAF Australia is calling for Expressions of Interest for new members interested in joining our amazing Judging Team for the 2022 Competition Season!

We are looking for motivated individuals in all states who are passionate about the sport and have an interest in extending their involvement. Full training and support is provided.

"I love being a FISAF Judge - it gives me a front row seat to a sport I love, and I'm grateful that judging has taken me all over Australia and Europe".

Gemma Macmillan, Australian & International Judge.

To register your interest, please email us at admin@fisafaustralia.com.au for details.