Search Is On For Kids To Train, Compete In Pole Dancing
[gtxvideo vid=”NJCBeXgC” playlist=”” pid=”Bbt3TRDe” thumb=”http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/NJCBeXgC.jpg” vtitle=”pole sports”]
CHARLOTTE, NC – In 2013, WCCB Charlotte reported on efforts to tone down the sexy moves on the pole and show off the athletic side of pole fitness.
Now, people behind that push have started the process to become a recognized sport.
The ultimate goal of the International Pole Sports Federation is getting to the Olympics, but the federation needs kids to make that happen.
The federation is searching for kids ages 5 to 17 in the US to start training to compete across the world.
“You definitely have to take the sexuality and the sensuality out of it,” said Ryan Ashley.
Ashley is a professional competitor and the 2014 Miss Pole Champ South runner-up.
Ashley is an advocate of expanding the reach of pole fitness, but understands the stigma.
“It would be difficult to accept what we consider to be an innocent child getting into something like this, but there is a place for it. I think there’s the fitness side of it and the technical side,” said Ashley.
Takeila Fox is the master instructor at Pole Fit Carolinas. Fox considers herself an athlete and she trains a local 4-year-old on the pole. She says kids have potential to go far in the sport.
“They lose that fear factor, so they’re not afraid to try an inversion or they’re not afraid to use momentum around a pole” said Fox.
KT Coates, president of the International Pole Sports Federation, wants to break the stripping stereotype and have kids competing nationally at 6 years old and internationally by 10.
“None of our moves are any way exotic, erotic or sexual in any sort of way, and we need to safeguard our children from something like that,” said Coates.
So, could we see kids training in the Charlotte area?
The owner of Pole Fit Carolinas might consider it–with limits.
“It surely wouldn’t be mixed classes. It would have to be children and then adults. So, I would be open to something like that, and I would have different trainers for those kids because it would have to be a different curriculum,” said Judy Storey.
The International Pole Sports Federation is recruiting coaches in the U.S., Mexico and Europe with two to three years of pole experience to train kids.
