General News
30 May, 2022
Frank Tulloch – the face of Mareeba Gymnastics
FRANK Tulloch is one of Mareeba’s most influential sportspeople, taking on men in their 20’s at national gymnastics competitions and taking home gold almost every time – a testimony to his passion and dedication to gymnastics.
Recently coming home from a national title on the Gold Coast, he blitzed the scoreboards and bought back the title of Level 8 Open Floor Men’s Champion for Australia.
Being the youngest member in the Queensland representative team, the 16 year old worked as hard as he could in training and came into the Australian Gymnastics Championships not expecting to achieve such heights.
“I did way better than I thought I was going to do because I was just trying to better my scores from the state championship,” he said. “The atmosphere with all the senior boys was really good and everyone there was super friendly and helped push me further.”
Now back in the gymnasium, Frank is beginning Level 9 gymnastics – the second teenager on the Tablelands to achieve this milestone. Making his gym and community proud, Frank believes hitting all of his recent milestones was made possible because of his coaches, his teammates and his family.
Training since he was two years old, Frank has always been in the gym learning and growing his skills to become one of the most influential athletes on the Tablelands. His mum and Mareeba Gymnastics Club head coach, Kelly Tulloch, has been by his side since day one, watching him achieve some incredible highs and overcome some of his lowest lows.
“He used to get teased a bit when he was younger by the kids for going a ‘girls sport’ but now he is an adolescent, people are in awe of his strength,” Kelly said. “He was always an active toddler so putting him in gym was not only convenient for me as the coach but is something that he has fallen in love with. “I got to watch him on the side lines as a mum for the national championships and it was a little hard at times (not being there as a coach), but I was very proud of him and what he has achieved.”
Although the gym is Frank’s life, he still has lots of work to do at school which has knocked back his training hours significantly. Whilst other competitors at States and Nationals trained over 24 hours a week, Frank is constricted to 11 hours a week in order to keep his grades up at school. Lack of training has not let Frank down, with his determination pushing him through the levels and putting him on the podium at number one. He believes his studies have in fact helped him in his training and competitions, with his knowledge of body and energy systems helping him change his lifestyle choices to become stronger.
“It can be difficult to balance Grade 11 and gymnastics but I do subjects like recreational studies that have helped me keep fit,” he said. “I have been learning about the systems and how they work and understanding how daily tasks have been executed. “It’s helped with my gymnastics because now I have an understanding of what I should be eating to reach peak performance and keep healthy and energised.”
Now training up for his next championship competitions in Level 9, Frank is eligible to make it to Internationals and is excited to see where that will take him. As he completes his senior schooling, he hopes to find himself a career in coaching and the sporting industry, following in his mum and coach's footsteps.
