YOUNG sports aerobics athletes have impressed again at the 2020 Queensland state championships, held at Ormiston College on the weekend.
It was the second event in the Federation of International Sport Aerobics and Fitness' condensed competition season, which was delayed due to COVID-19.
It comes just three weeks after the Queensland Super Series, held in late August.
Sports aerobics coach Madelyn Calvert said students had made great improvements since the Super Series.
"I think they've realised the season is actually happening so they need to train harder," she said.
"There's been a lot of improvement in between the two competitions, they're hungry for medals now.
"For kids new to the sport, it's nice for them to be able to see what the expectations are."
This year's state championships was split into sections to reduce crowds.
School students, aged between five and 17, performed on Saturday, while club athletes took the stage on Sunday.
Ms Calvert said the competition atmosphere had been wonderful.
"It's a really big community," she said.
"We all cheer for the people on stage, no matter what school they're from.
"The parents love to socialise with each other as much as the kids do. They all seem to enjoy it."
After a long break and, in some cases, training via video call technologies, students were grateful to be competing again.
"Everyone's just needed to have that extracurricular inspiration back in their life," Ms Calvert said.
The Redlands is one of Australia's sports aerobics hubs, and Ms Calvert said the sport was only growing.
"Sports aerobics has been going for so long in the Redlands but school aerobics is really picking up," she said.
"We're getting a lot more schools involved.
"There's so many categories and every one has at least three or four teams. The biggest section on Saturday morning had 17 teams.
"A lot more boys are getting into it as well, which is great."
FISAF's next Queensland event will be the nationals series, held on the Gold Coast in early November.