ECGA Regional Awards

The club was recently surprised to learn that it had been nominated for an Eastern Counties Gymnastics Association annual award.  

To date we are still not sure who it was that nominated us but the icing was certainly put on the cake when we received a certificate for being "Small Club of 2008" because of our success in "getting gymnasts selected for international competition as well as providing general classes for the community", together with a cheque for £100.

Scott at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival

Scott Gregory is one of the young future Olympians representing Team GB in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) this week. Time lags and cost of telephone calls mean we have been getting little information back but there are some reports and interviews online as follows:

• Interview with Scott and his trampolining partner Steven Williams - click here;
• Report on the opening ceremony with Scott pictured top left (also shown on the right on this blog) - click here;

The actual trampoline competition takes part on 17th January, still a couple of days away.  As and when more reports become available I will link them in from here.

Hitchin Grading

This grade G - D competition held on 11th January saw 16 of our members travelling to Hitchin with traces of snow still on the ground and the inside of the hall didn't get much warmer - fortunately our members' performances were good and warmed us all up.

• Antony Wyman, O15M G, came 1st and qualified to E,
  
• Abbie-Jo Goldsmith, U15F G, came 2nd (of 27!) and also qualified to E,
• Jamie Perry, U15M G, came 2nd,
• Kendra Sherlock (14th), Megan Gannon (10th), Victoria Webb (11th) & Georgia Tyrell (21st), U13F G, took team 1st against 3 other teams in this large, 2-flight, group whilst Tegan Roycroft in the same group overcame her mid-week gremlins to end in 12th place,
• Joseph Dulieu-Hasler, U13M G, came 2nd,
• Lizzie Nicholls, O15F E, came 7th,
• Mark Hardiman, O15M E, came 6th scoring a new PB,
• Kallum Sherlock, U15M E, came 2nd
• Chrissie Law and Emma Frost, O15F D, came 1st and 6th,
• Daniel Frost, O15M D, came 2nd with two new PBs and a qualification point,
• Kensie Sherlock, U15F D, came 3rd.

Detail scores etc... are on our website here.

Eastern Representation

The club was proud recently that no less than 7 of its members represented East of England at the first ever English National Championships.  East finished in 6th place (of 10 regions) which is probably a fair reflection of the general standard of the region at present. The best result was in the men's trampoline where Scott Gregory and Stephen Page helped secure a Silver Medal. The other club members competing were Chrissie Law, Hannah McCann, Charlotte Webb, Kensie Sherlock and Natasha Holme.  You can read more on our website here.

Australian Youth Olympic Festival

With rumours having been flying for several weeks now that Scott Gregory was to represent GB at this event it was gratifying to finally see it confirmed today by BG:

"The British Olympic Association has announced the athletes due to attend the Australian Youth Olympic Festival early next year. Amongst the delegates, 16 gymnasts representing all 4 Olympic Disciplines.

"The Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) is a bi-annual multi-sport for Olympic aspirants between the ages of 13 and 19. It is organised and hosted by the Australian Olympic Committee, and importantly has the patronage of the International Olympic Committee."

Scott will be competing alongside fellow Olympic aspirant from Liverpool, Stephen Williams.

Annual Awards Evening

It turns out our Annual Awards Evening went well on Friday with some 70 members and their family turning up to enjoy good company and (some) good singing with the Karaoke. We also took the opportunity to run our AGM and although most committee places remain filled we are still looking for a Minute Secretary, Competitions Secretary and Parent Representatives.

To see more pictures visit our main website here.

Annual Awards Evening

Well, there are only a few days to go until our annual Awards evening at the centre and a huge number of you have said you are coming - that is great news since it means I will not have to sing during the Karaoke session! The evening will start at 7pm in two halves:

• adults and those juniors who are interested, will participate in as brief an AGM as we are able to make it. You are encouraged to look over the Annual Report in advance (click to open) in order to ensure it does, indeed, remain a brief affair, meanwhile
• the junior members, with some suitable supervision, will start off the karaoke session.

We will then come together for the awards presentations and an amazing video that Stephen Page has constructed. After this we will all (except me of course) participate in the Karaoke. The bar will be operating on a pay-basis throughout the evening although some snacks will be provided.

BBC Visit

For the second time this year we have been visited by BBC Essex Radio.

Last time the reporter popped along to find out about trampolining, this time the reporter was interested in the history of trampolining and the place Brentwood has within that history. To find out more visit our website here.

Jack Petchey winners

We finally got around to catching up with Jack Petchey recognition awards recently following summer holidays and preoccupation with getting into the new competition season and structure. This gave us a backlog to catch up on but all winners were highly deserving of their awards achieved for commitment in training and competitive performance.

Congratulations go to Georgia Walker, Daniel Frost, Joseph Dulieu-Hasler and Jamie Perry for the months of July to October respectively.