Thursday 22 May 2008

New Competition Structure - Further Update


Some further changes have been announced:
  1. Minimum age requirements have changed such that grades E and below no longer require competitors to be aged 9 in the year of competition but instead must have attained age 6 instead;
  2. There are some changes in membership levels that will be resolved through the club admin team in time for the new season membership renewal; and
  3. The promised Competition Log Book has now been issued in PDF form.
More details and downloads are available on our website here.



Friday 16 May 2008

Jack Petchey - April Winner


Always cheerful and smiling, always getting involved, an exemplary Assistant Coach and a recently qualified judge, Sophie Banks meets all the requirements of a deserving Jack Petchey winner. On top of this she continues to train hard and is determined to improve her own performance on the trampoline as well as that of her coaching group. Well done Sophie!


Jack Petchey - March Winner


Charlotte Hussey has been with the club for what seems like years (and probably is). In that time she has been a determined and enthusiastic member always wanting more from herself and becoming frustrated when she can't produce what she expects. Recent results, including a 3rd place in the recent Brentwood Grading, have shown some payback for the years of effort and she is a deserving winner for the March award.


Tuesday 13 May 2008

Session times during exams


As many members will be aware from prior years we are now in that period of the year when our session start times are affected by examinations both in the main hall and the Vincent Room upstairs. Some sessions may be starting up to an hour late during this time and you are advised to check our calendar online here to ensure you do not arrive too early - this calendar will be kept up to date with the latest information available to us. Other than the half-term week (where we will be as normal) exams will affect us until the middle of June.

Monday 12 May 2008

Birmingham Gala Weekend - 10th & 11th May

With only 2 members competing each day this was a lightly attended competition but we had some good results despite that. Saturday saw Stephen Page & Natasha Holme competing. Both finalled and Steve came 2nd and 'Tash 5th in their under-17 grade 1 competitions.

Sunday was grade 2 day and Kensie Sherlock was in excellent form coming 2nd in the under-11 and Chrissie Law delighted to qualify to National Finals and take 8th place in the under-15.

More detailed results can be found on our website here.

Wednesday 7 May 2008

The day the Mayor came to visit

Last night saw the Mayor of Brentwood, Cllr. Frank Kenny, his colleague Cllr. Joan Holmes, Deputy Chair of the council's Leisure, Sports & Culture panel, Bob McLintock, Brentwood's Leisure, Sports & Culture Advisor (and erstwhile Chief Executive) and Jo Cory, Sport Development Officer, visiting us for the 'official launch' of our new trampoline. This 'International standard' trampoline cost more than £4,000 and was bought using £1,000 from Brentwood Council (Brentwood Academy Club Scheme), £2,000 from Jack Petchey and the balance from our own fund-raising. The Mayor also presented Dave Kingaby and Paul Kitchen with their Jack Petchey 'Outstanding Leader' awards which were achieved for 2007 and 2008 respectively and resulted in the £2,000 funding referred to above.

The event gave opportunity for many photographs some of which are shown in the collage below:

The original photos can be viewed on Picasa here. To see our press release on this visit check our main site at http://www.brentwoodtc.org/pr_09may08.htm.




Tuesday 6 May 2008

New Competition Structure - Update

British Gymnastics has now released more details about the new system coming into force in October this year (and which we will be using for routines, at least, in our September Open).

The announcement (downloadable here with a summary of the combined effects available here) introduces some more details but the most material changes appear to be as follows:
  • promotion from regional grades G through to D will not now be based on a points system but will, instead, be by achieving a combined form score of 45.0 over two rounds. There are also some requirements about tariff that have not been defined;
  • determining which grade performers will start at has been more closely defined although there appears to be an error inasmuch there is no provision for anybody starting the next season at regional grade F;
  • all competitors in regional competitions ought to be aged 9 in the year of the competition.
This last change (which may be subject to regional discretion and is therefore being clarified) will affect several of our young development members and the effect on these will be discussed directly with members' parents when more is known.

A future change will also see marks introduced for the time the routine takes - this will reward the more confident, higher bouncers.

For other members the effects are largely as has been discussed with them during training sessions.

Saturday 3 May 2008

Eleanor Clarke on BBC with Sir Steve Redgrave

Member Eleanor Clarke was recently featured on the BBC Inside Out (East) programme where her battle against diabetes and its affect on her trampolining was examined.

The feature lasted 10-minutes in total and included some good video footage (available online for a limited time only on BBC iPlayer) of Ellie performing in training and at competitions and Paul encouraging everybody to get back to work (did he rehearse that?)!

Many members of the club will have been aware of the programme coming up having been around during its filming - perhaps the most memorable evening was on 10th January when Sir Steven Redgrave (pictured right towering above those members fortunate to have been present that evening) visited and spent several hours at the club (and afterwards) talking to many members.