May 2016 news

As ever the last couple of months have been full of competitions, displays, and lots of hard work in the gym.  One of the highlights of the period was our Club trip to the British Championships in March.  Over 70 members travelled to Liverpool to watch Ashley and Nile compete in the All Around Competition on the Saturday.  It was an amazing day and we were thrilled to watch both Ash and Nile win medals as well as Dave be awarded with the British Gymnastics title of Master Coach.

Our Club continues to go strength to strength and we are delighted to announce some exciting staff news.  Dave Murray has been promoted to Director of Performance Gymnastics and we also welcome him to the Board.  Tom Rawlinson and Steph Blunden have been appointed Assistant Heads of Performance and will support Dave in his new role. They will continue to coach their current groups, both will be permanent members of staff with Tom full-time and Steph will increase her hours.  Dave, Tom and Steph will work across Men’s and Women’s, supporting the development of our performance gymnastics.  We would like to offer our congratulations to both Dave and Tom and we look forward to continuing to work with them in their new roles.

RESULTS ROUND UP

We were very proud of all our gymnasts who competed in both the English and British Championships in March, some for whom it was the first time competing at this level.

English Championships

Ashley Watson – English P-Bar Champion
Loukas Jones – U18 6th AA
Louis Sidebottom – U16 8th AA
Isaac Pollard – U16 competed on 4 pieces after returning from injury
Jake Johnson – U14 Silver Pommel and P-Bars
Harry Hepworth – U14 8th AA
Jack Stanley – U12 Silver – AA, Gold – P-Bars, Silver – Floor
Shanna Kae – 11th – AA, 8th Floor and Vault
Ren Billingham – 40th AA

British Championships

Over 70 Club members travelled to Liverpool to support Ash and Nile in the British Championships in March.  It was a fantastic day out and all sitting together we made some noise!  Here are some quotes from some of our gymnasts who went….

‘I had an amazing time at the British Championships.  It’s the first time I’ve seen gymnastics live and it was great to be there with my squad.  Nile and Ash were awesome.  I hope one day I am good enough to compete there’
Lennox Lynch, Prep B

‘It was a fantastic, it was so exciting seeing Nile and Ash get medals!”
Robert Kidd, Prep A.

Not sure we’ll be able to put a trip on to Rio – but we’ll be making some noise from the UK!

Some brilliant routines from our U16 and U18 boys with Loukas Jones gaining a Sliver Medal on Pommel. Well done to Thomas Settle, Isaac Pollard and Louis Sidebottom.

The Senior boys competed over Saturday and Sunday and gave the sell out crowd at Liverpool Echo Arena much to cheer about.  On Saturday the gymnasts competed in the All Around Competition and also competed for places in the Masters Finals on the Sunday.  Competitors in the Masters Finals can come from any age category, the top 8 scores qualify.

All Around Competition
Nile Wilson – Bronze All Around, Silver Rings and 4th P-Bars
Ashley Watson – Silver P-Bars and 4th High Bar

Masters Finals
Nile Wilson – Gold High Bar, Silver Rings
Ashley Watson – Gold P-Bars

Master Coach
Dave Murray was awarded the title of Master Coach at the British Gymnastics Championships in recognition for coaching Nile to World Class level. This is an enormous achievement and we are very proud to have Dave leading our Performance Programme.

If you follow us on Facebook you will also see that both Nile and Ashley have been competing at various competitions around the world, which is all part of the preparation for Rio.  Nile had the opportunity to go the Rio Test event where he performed brilliantly.  The team won’t be announced until early July, but we rooting for Nile and Ash all the way!

WA Results
Most of our WA Gymnasts competed in competitions during April.  Again some fantastic performances and the strength and depth of our WA squads shone through.

WA Compulsory 5 in age – Nicole Willie – Yorkshire Champion, Phoebe Turner – 4th

WA Compulsory 3 out of age – Charlie Turner – Yorkshire Champion

WA Compulsory 2 out of age – Ren Billingham – 2nd

WA Compulsory 1 in age – Shanna-Kae Grant – Yorkshire Champion

National Grade 4 – Abbie Grafton – 4th Distinction, Lily Ibbetson – 10th Commended

National Grade 3 – Georgie King – 4th Distinction, Tallie Hamilton – 7th Distinction

National Grade 2 – Alisha Bird – 2nd Distinction, Erin Vallance – 3rd Distinction, Holly Jakeman 6th Commended, Kaia Stead Price – 7th Commended

Congratulations to Alisha, Erin and Georgie who will all represent Yorkshire at National Finals in May – Good Luck!

Regional Grade 4 and 3 in age – well done to all gymnasts who passed with Distinction – Megan Tuner, Grace Firth, Gabrielle Rich, Eve Tinsley, Milli Halliday

Out of Age Regional Competitions
Regional 1 – Amy McCusker 2nd, Amelie Biock 3rd, Charlotte Rode 4th, Samantha Wong 6th
Regional 2 – Amy Galea Yorkshire Champion with Distinction, Laila Baig 2nd, Brook Marchant 3rd, Brianna Stephan 6th, Caitlin Sheen 7th
Regional 3 – Emily Tinsley 5th, Alessia Teoli 6th, Jasmine Keith 9th
Regional 4 – Aimee Bedford5th with Distinction

Well done to our WA proficiency gymnasts who took part in the Morley Girls Apparatus competition. Full results can be found upstairs on the noticeboard.

ACRO Results

Many of our Acro gymnasts took part in the Normanton Invitational, again with great success:-

Grade 3 – Holly and Ella 2nd, Anya Campbell and Erin Evers 3rd
Grade 2 – Amelie and Saskia – 1st
Grade 1 – Poppy and Scarlet 1st
Grade 3 Mixed  Pairs – Jack and Freya 1st
Grade 2 Group – Tiley, Libby, Sian 1st, Maddison, Emily and Sofia 3rd
Grade 3 Group – Francesca, Naomie and Jessie 2nd
Grade 4 Pair – Becky and Katelyn 2nd
Grade 1 Pair Development – Maddie and Emily 3rd
Grade 2 pair Development – Abbie and Jasmine 1st
Grade 2 Womens Gp Dev – Francesca, Zoe and Ella 2nd
Grade 3 Womens Pair Dev – Molly and Jess 3rd
Grade 3 Womens Gp Dev – Shona, Jess and Amari 1st

A huge thank you to all the coaches across all the sections who have worked so hard to prepare the gymnasts for competition.  Most of the MA squads are in action over the coming weeks – Good luck to them!

Display

A few weeks ago our display team travelled to Scottish GymFest. The girls had been invited to perform at the Gala evening on Friday, which is a fantastic achievement for the club. Despite the nerves, the girls performed amazingly. The lights, the smoke and the audience really made for a fantastic display of gymnastics, an experience that some of our gymnasts had never been through before. Saturday gave us a little more time to relax with some fun in the swimming pool and a truly Scottish Ceilidh disco with lots of Scottish dancing. By the time Sunday and the final performance came the nerves had gone and the girls performed beautifully and received some great feedback from other clubs and teams who have invited us to their own events. The warm up hall provided great opportunity to meet other teams and gymnasts of all ages and abilities, an experience that will never be forgotten!

Thank you to all the gymnasts, coaches and parents that helped to make this trip successful. Here’s to another successful trip to EuroGym in July!

Take a look at the video of the girls performance here

Recreational News
Just a reminder of the key information for the recreational competition!

Date:          Sunday 29th May
Location:    David Young Community Academy Bishops Way, Seacroft, Leeds, LS14 6NU
Timings:      Parents will be informed by email asap
Gymnasts have started to learn their routines, we hope they are enjoying them – they are looking great!

Recreational moves

Any children currently in Year 2 will move into one of our KS2 classes from August 2016. Any gymnasts currently in Year 6 will move into one of our KS3 classes from August 2016. You should have already received an email about this and we will keep you informed about this process.  Any questions, please let us know

Matthew Firth has trained as a gymnast with us since the age of 4 and competed at British and International level until the age of 20 and he has been a full time coach with us since 2014. We are very pleased to be able to support Matthew in taking 6 weeks away from the Club to go travelling and explore the world!  Matthew leaves at the end of May and will return to us at the beginning of July.  We wish Matthew all the best in his travels and hope he has a fantastic time.
Send us a postcard!