Emeka Ekezie would love it if more people did gymnastics in his home country of Nigeria, but in the meantime he is hoping to train the next star in Australia.
Ideally the gymnastics coach would like to take a Nigerian athlete to the Olympics, and while he remains hopeful the sport will continue to develop in his home country, Mr Ekezie is building his coaching career in Australia.
He arrived in Albury, in southern New South Wales, in November after accepting a job with Flyaway Gymnastics, thanks to a Facebook post on a coaching forum.
"I accepted the offer as it was a space to grow my career and my experiences," he said.
Gymnastics a fledgling sport in Nigeria
Mr Ekezie, who started coaching in 2015, would have loved to continue coaching in Nigeria but there was not the opportunity to expand his career.
He said gymnastics was not popular in Nigeria.
"Very few people do it ... some few individuals are doing very well to develop the sport but it's not quite there yet."
Mr Ekezie was inspired to be a gymnast after watching the 2002 Olympics.
"I saw some gymnasts on the rings and I was, 'Wow, this is something I would like to do'," he said.
"Ever since then I have been chasing the dream to do gymnastics."
Mr Ekezie started gymnastics when he was about seven and stopped at 15.
"In Nigeria training is on then off, because of how the system is back home, there are gaps."
With limited opportunities, he turned to coaching.
"I started coaching in 2015 just after I finished my junior secondary school," he said.
Mr Ekezie remains motivated to go back to Nigeria and help improve the sport, and even take an athlete to the Olympics.
"I would love to go back to Nigeria with my experience and share it, but if the system does not let me get to a certain limit I will have to remain and keep my dream of getting a gymnast to the Olympics here in Australia," he said.
Flyaway Gymnastics Club manager Goele Schmitz said young gymnasts were benefiting from Mr Ekezie's skills.
"It is really hard to find coaches in the regional area and to find coaches that are qualified," she said.
"He wants to get the best out of the gymnasts and do it in the right way and growing the kids as a whole, which is what we are looking for."
Ms Schmitz, who came to Albury from Belgium more than 10 years ago, said students were also benefiting from having a culturally diverse coaching team.
"If you talk to them, they are very curious, they ask a lot of questions and I think that is probably one of the main benefits," she said.
"I think it opens up their view of the world."
Mr Ekezie, who focuses on artistic gymnastics, said all young people should have an opportunity to try gymnastics.
"Let them come in and have a free trial class and have a feel for what gymnastics is and they can enrol, and who knows where the champion can come from," he said.
