National Finals - Two Golds, One Bronze

Susanna, Josh & Chrissie with their medals

For national trampolinists, the culmination of their efforts throughout the competition season is to attend the National Finals and the icing on the cake is to make the finals day having ended in the top-8 following the preliminary rounds on the first day. For 3 Brentwood Trampoline Club members this past weekend was their chance to show just how good they were as the finals were held in the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

For the past 3 years Chrissie Law, from Brentwood, has made the Finals but missed out on finals day achieving a best result of 29th last year; this year, however, she has stepped up a gear and was more confident having finalled consistently in the gala competitions she had attended making 4th place on a few occasions. For Susanna Badley, from Harold Wood, and Josh Newman, from Noak Bridge, this was to be their first experience having only graduated from regional competition last October.

Competing in the NIA is a daunting experience as each group of competitors walk into the huge arena from behind the curtained training area to music and loud clapping from audience and officials alike and many find their nerves begin to take hold at this point. This year the three Brentwood Trampoline Club members overcame all nerves and put on a wonderful display on the qualifying day to impress the judges with their great form and saw all three move into finals day in top three places. Chrissie, in particular, had excelled posting all new personal best scores in her efforts to put past years disappointments behind her.

Finals day and and there was plenty of time for nerves to build up as other finals went before them but finally time came for Susanna & Josh to compete in their respective groups, Chrissie had longer for nerves to build as her final was later in the day. All three, however, prevailed with Susanna becoming under-15 girls National C champion, Josh under-13 boys National C champion and Chrissie taking 3rd place in the under-19 girls National C with yet another personal best score.

Brentwood Trampoline Club takes its competitive training seriously and so work resumes throughout the summer period towards next years competition season, (unlike many other youth groups) the club remains open throughout the summer period for both competitive and recreational trampolining and regularly has pay-as-you-go spaces. If you are interested in taking the sport up just check the club's web-site (www.brentwoodtc.org) for session times.

Jack's visit

Jack Kelly, England National Development Coach for British Gymnastics and erstwhile coach to no less than two former world champions, popped in to Brentwood Trampoline Club this week to oversee the final preparation of the club's 3 National Finallists.  The Nationals, taking place next weekend(23rd/24th July)  at the NIA in Birmingham, is the culmination of every gymnasts competitive year and based on their performances this year all three stand a good chance of winning a medal.

Pictured with Jack are Chrissie Law, 17, from Brentwood who will be competing in the Under-19 Ladies national C finals, Josh Newman, 12, from Noak Bridge who will be competing in the Under-13 Boys national C and Susanna Badley, 13, from Hornchurch who will be competing in the Under-15 Girls national C.

All three have trained with Brentwood from their very early days in trampolining and have progressed through the grading system delighting audiences wherever they compete with the elegance of their style - a trademark of the club which prides itself on high-quality above all else.