AGE has proven no barrier to success at state level for young Bendigo gymnast Mason Woelfle.
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The youngest by two years competing in his level in Victoria, Mason has been crowned the Victorian champion for Level 6 Under following the Victorian State Championships held in Geelong.
Just nine-years-old, Mason placed first all-round for Level 6 Under after finishing first on rings and parallel bars and third on floor, vault, horizontal bar and pommel horse at the state championships.
Having displayed traits of strength and agility from as young as 10 months old, Mason was introduced to gymnastics through a kinder-gym program in Bendigo as a four-year-old before joining the competitive men's artistic gymnastics program at Eureka Gymnastics in Ballarat.
Despite still yet to turn 10, Mason has already competed three times at the Victorian State Championships where he placed third all-around in Level 4 Under in 2022 and third all-round in Level 5 Under in 2023 before breaking through for his first state title at Level 6 Under earlier this month against a field of gymnasts aged 11 and 12.
"I didn't think I was going to win because I had a bit of a bad start on the high bar, so it was exciting when I found out that I came first," Mason said this week.
I didn't think I was going to win because I had a bit of a bad start on the high bar, so it was exciting when I found out that I came first
- Mason Woelfle
For Mason - who is in Grade Four at Quarry Hill Primary School - his favourite apparatus is the parallel bars, while he considers the pommel horse the most challenging.
Mason's state title success comes after he was last year invited to train with the Men's High Performance Program at the State Gymnastics Centre in Prahran.
It's a big commitment for Mason and his family being part of the Men's High Performance Program given the four-hour round trip from Bendigo to Prahran three times a week on top of the 10 hours of training.
As well as the travel commitment for Mason, he is also excelling in the sport of gymnastics despite a diagnosis last year of Benign Childhood Epilepsy following a seizure, which put a halt on his training while awaiting the results of an EEG (electroencephalogram) and advice from a paediatric neurologist.
"That was a fairly recent diagnosis late last year and he had to put his gymnastics on hold for a period of time because it took so long to be able to see a specialist," Mason's mum Steph Woelfle said.
"We weren't sure whether he should be doing the level of training he was with this type of epilepsy, but we were able to get into a great specialist in Melbourne who said to continue as is.
"Fortunately, it doesn't impact Mason negatively after a few hours following a seizure, but it was still a lot of time away from training last year while we waited, but he is very resilient."
Mason - whose favourite gymnast is American Fred Richards - has both short and long-term goals for his gymnastics.
His short-term goal is to be selected for the Victorian team to compete at the national titles in May next year.
Long-term Mason's gymnastics ambition is to represent his country at the Olympic Games.
"Gymnastics has been a really good sport for Mason in terms of discipline, self control, flexibility and strength and is a great foundation for other sports that he enjoys," Steph said.
"It has really helped him with his athletics; he loves cross country running as well as long jump, triple jump and basketball and gymnastics has been great in helping his other sports.
"He has got some really good role models who he trains with at Prahran. He trains with Tyson Bull who is an Olympian and it's just an amazing community the way they all support each other."
