VIDEO: Brooke holds pole position in sport genre

WITH the aim of hoping to change the stigma that is attached to the pole dance sport, a little girl from Winston Park is living her dream by competing in the sport for the second time at the World Championships.

Brooke Unsworth, a Grade 7 learner at Roseway Waldorf School, described pole dance sport as a type of gymnastics on a pole which fuses the element of dance and gymnastics in one.

Her mom, Roelene, said its a new sport that she is hoping will be part of the Olympics in 2020, a motivation has already been submitted to the Olympic board.

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“There was some poles at the gym so my brother and I played on them while our mom exercised.”

“The gym instructor, Jessica Dawson saw me one day and asked me to try a few moves on the pole which I completed successfully. We started doing a lesson a week during the holidays and she became my coach,” said Brooke.

See Brooke in action at the National Pole Sports Competition SA 2017.

She now has her own studio at home where she trains but also goes to Body Designs Studio owned by Simone Fjellvik and coached by Dawson.

Brooke also competes nationally as a gymnast. She practices 11 hours a week at Pinetown Gymnastics Club situated at Lahee Park in Pinetown. She also took dance classes but had to give up her dancing so she could pursue her passion in poles.

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Brook (12) has been officially ‘poling’ for the last 18 months with one lesson a week.

“The sport brings immense joy and happiness to me. It’s fun and I love to flex my body. I also love the competitions, meeting new people, learning from them and supporting each other in a beautiful art,” said Brooke.

She participated in a local competition called East Coast Pole for fun last year. She then competed in the National Poles Sports competition in Johannesburg last year, which had an extremely strict code of points.

“We put in a video submission for Brooke to compete as an amateur intermediate for fun, but received feedback from the committee that there is no way that Brooke was an amateur, they said she’s an elite participant.”

“That’s when we realised that this was not just fun and games anymore and took Brooke’s passion seriously,” said Roelene.

Brooke got a score of 36.6 at nationals and was placed first in her category and qualified for the World champs in London. She placed 15th overall in her division at the Worlds Champs and was the first novice South African to represent her country for this sports.

This year, Brooke is more serious about the sport and knows what she’s up against. She qualified for the Worlds Champs again this year on 8 April with a score of 46.4 and placed second overall.

WATCH: Brooke Unsworth at the Arnold Classics 2017 Showcase

Her parents hadn’t planned for Brooke to attend the World Champs this year, however with her impressive score, they thought this was a lifetime opportunity she could not miss.

They have opened a Got Get Funding campaign to try and raise R30 000 which includes flights, accommodation, entry fee and her costume costs to enable Brooke to fulfill her dreams to participate at the World Champs in Netherlands on 30 June.

Those wanting to assist Brooke in this endeavor, visit the Go Get Funding page: https://gogetfunding.com/invest-in-world-pole-sports-future-athletes/#.WRy2mLLDLG8.gmail.

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