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By Luke Sheehan

9th March 2010 11:05:28 AM

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INVITATIONS to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra are few and far between, so when Tarneit gymnast Matthew Seduikis got the call up he jumped at the chance.

“It was a really, really good experience,” he said.

“You get to see the gym that they use, where all the professionals go, and we saw the head coach, and he told us a lot of stuff about what the other gymnasts have, and got one of the senior gymnasts to talk to us.”

The 14-year-old went to Canberra last month as part of an invitation-only three-day camp, where junior Australian gymnastics squad members were introduced to the country’s elite, and had the chance to display their skills to the coaches.

“We did tests, and we got to train on the first day, and showed off our skills on the last day, and we did tests in between, like strength tests, skill tests,” Matthew said.

He said a scholarship to the AIS would certainly be in his sights, but for now, he would continue training with the Australian gymnastics squad in Prahran.

Matthew said the long travel from his Tarneit home to the training gym did not worry him.

“My mum works in the city, so it’s not really much of a hassle, the days when she doesn’t work she makes me catch the train, so it’s not that bad.”

The youngster fell in love with gymnastics at such an early age he cannot remember when he first began.

“(Starting out) my aunty or my mum showed me this place … it got me started. I didn’t know (what it was about), I just started doing it.

“It’s just really fun, swinging, doing tricks, really interesting.”

Matthew said his vigorous training program also allowed time to complete his Year 9 studies.

“The school that we go to, they make it fit in with our training. It’s the Victoria College for the Arts, it’s got dance, music, divers go there, NICA (National Institute of Circus Arts) go there, and we also go there.”

Matthew said the floor routine was his favourite.

“Floor would be my favourite, and second would be the high bar,” he said.

“On the floor you do connection stuff, you do a twist, you twist out and bound out of it. It’s pretty cool.

“High bar, I do stuff over the bar, releases, go off the bar and catch it. Twists over the top of the bar.”

Matthew said he admired Australian Philip Russo on the high bar.

“I look up to Philip Russo, because he has a really cool high bar routine,” he said.

Like most gymnasts, it is Matthew’s dream to reach the pinnacle of gymnastics: the Olympics.

However, there’s still a long way to go to the London or Rio de Janeiro (the next two summer Olympics host cities), starting with his next competition.

“We haven’t competed this year yet, but we have competition in about three weeks at Cheltenham Youth Club,” he said.

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