Hungarian girl with Down syndrome on stage

Tímea Bőczy can do a standing split while twirling a baton in her hand. She also has Down syndrome, but you cannot tell when she is on stage, reports abcug.hu.

She has been training for 14 years, since the time her trainer recognized her extraordinary talent. Her family is poor, she cannot pay tuition and her doctors and special needs teachers did not encourage her, yet here she is, winning competitions against healthy acrobats. 

Tímea has a moderate form of Down syndrome, but since she stepped foot in the gym at 5-years-old, it was clear that she was very talented. Her trainer is Beatrix Kovács, and when she asks Tímea to raise her leg higher or to stand up straight, she does it immediately. She has tremendous willpower.

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It is hard for her to speak, but she is always so happy. She is practically glowing when she gets a compliment. They are working with music, Tímea’s favorite is Coldplay. Her coach teaches a mixture of dance moves, drama, and acrobatic elements.

Photo: facebook.com

From the very first time, she was at least as good as the rest of the class, if not better, so she was never excluded from the group. She competes just like every other acrobat, she never got special treatment just because she has Down syndrome. The only thing that mattered was her knowledge. She won the Berczik Sára competition both in 2014 and this year, she got the Göllesz Viktor and MATEHETSZ scholarships, got special awards at talent shows and performed at the Circus Night in Zamárdi. 

She is experienced enough that sometimes she is asked to lead the training and be the coach. She is incredibly flexible and she moves beautifully and with strength. When you are seeing her perform, it is easy to forget that she has Down Syndrome. Her coach said: “My goal was for the audience to not realize that she has disabilities.”

Because of her success, Tímea does not frequent competitions that are organized for people with disabilities. She is always competing against healthy people. 

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Despite her talent, it was not always easy to get Tímea the training she wanted. Her father died, she has two other siblings, and her mother would not have the money to enroll her in intensive training classes if she did not get help form Beatrix and others.

Another problem was that Tímea’s doctors did not support her doing acrobatics. One of the common physical signs of Down Syndrome include poor muscle tone and loose ligaments, and her doctors thought it would not be good for her to exercise heavily. Today it seems like those classes that she did several times every week helped her develop some serious muscles.

She is also capable of remembering complex choreography, or she could improvise if the situation called for it. She also learned to use public transportation, and now she commutes 20 kilometers for her training all by herself. This is also a huge feat for someone with Down syndrome. 

Featured image: facebook.com/Bőczy Tímea Down-szindrómás tehetség Pécs

Source: Abcug.hu