Men's British Set Works May 2010
Girl's Novice Apparatus Feb 2010
6 girls from the Swallows of Helston Gymnastics Club travelled to Melksham, Wiltshire last weekend to take part in the Wiltshire Open Invitational competition 2010. The competition was set to begin with the youngest age group at
Phoebe Jenkin and Jessica Hubbard were up against 28 gymnasts in the Level 5 in age section. For all these girls, this was their first time competing out of their Counties. The competition was extremely close, but both girls handled the pressure admirably. Phoebe gained an impressive 8th place on beam with no falls and 12th place on floor. Jessica had a consistent competition throughout, but with a few majors errors on beam, did not rank quite so high on this occasion. A fantastic experience for both the gymnasts with Phoebe finishing her competition in 18th and Jessica in 25th. Great prospects for the future.
In the Level 4, in age competition, 9 year old Maea Morgan wanted to improve upon her previous results at the South West Springboard event earlier in the month. Maea had a slight fault on bars, but recovered her routine well. Beam was Maea’s best result, gaining 2nd position out of 19 gymnasts her age. Good solid routines on both Floor and Vault contributed to a pleasing set of scores for Maea coming in overall 8th place. A great achievement for all her efforts in the lead up to the event.
More success to come with 9 year old Heather Bolton representing the Club in the Level 4, 10 year old category. Heather had worked hard all year to make some fantastic improvements throughout all the disciplines and this paid off with some great consistency in her work. A much improved vault for 8th position, a fabulous beam routine for 5th place and a great floor for 8th place also. Heather ranked overall bronze medal position at the end of the competition, proving that all the dedication to her training has paid off.
Later on in the afternoon, 11 year old Libby Rescorla was in action, in her Level 4 event. 21 gymnasts were competing for the top places and Libby hoped that she could hold the nerves for a good competition. However, the competition was very tense with some outstanding gymnasts from Rushmoor and
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Head coach, Donna Jenkin said, 'another great day for the Club and the girls all of who have worked very hard to achieve these results. Well done to all the coaches involved with the girl’s preparation. We didn't know what to expect, but the gymnasts performed to the very best on the day and that’s all that we could ask. All six gymnasts dedicate a lot of time to their training, and they should be extremely proud of their achievements. We look forward to getting back into training now over the summer months in order for the gymnasts to all learn new skills for the new season. The Club has had a fantastic year with numerous
MEN’S BRITISH SET WORKS
REGIONAL, CLUB DEVELOPMENT & VOLUNTARY TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
The Men’s British Set Works Regional, Club Development & Voluntary Teams Championships took place over two weekends during May in which 4 gymnasts from Swallows of Helston had qualified to represent their Club and Region.
Competing for the South West were the best gymnasts ranked previously from the Regional event. The competition proved to be extremely tough with the best gymnasts from Yorkshire, London, Scotland, West Midlands, Wales, the South, North West, the North, South East, East Midlands and the East all competing for the title of National Champions.
Swallow’s gymnasts Cameron Wheat and Calum Walklett both entered the Men’s Elite Grades in Leicester on Saturday 8th May. This competition was the first of a hectic schedule, with the National Regional Grades being held the following weekend. Both Cameron and Calum were training two different sets of routines on all the apparatus, plus a Physical Preparation programme.
The boy’s were up against the best 9 year olds in the Country, and working at the highest level for their age group. With a very strong field of boys, Cameron performed very consistently to gain =6th on Vault and =3rd on High Bar. Overall Cameron gained 10th place, very promising for the future.
Calum Walklett also had the 3rd highest Vault score of the competition which proved to be his best piece of apparatus. Calum was placed in 16th position overall. Excellent results for the boys and their coaches.
Sunday saw 14 year old Jaron Morgan participate in the Voluntary over 14 team event. This competition saw the best gymnasts throughout the country with men over 20 years competing. The South West fielded the youngest team, however, managed to control their nerves admirably and showed great potential for future years. Jaron managed to top the Region’s scoreboard on both Vault and High Bar. At the end of the competition the boy’s were ranked in 6th position.
The following weekend saw three of the Club’s gymnasts representing the Region in the Under 9 and Under 12 team competition.
Qualifying to represent the South West, the Swallows of Helston saw 12 year old Jonathan Murray take to the podium. The event was held in Birmingham and Jonathan represented the Under 12 team in the Club Development Grade. Jonathan competed well with five of his scores to count towards the team total. At the end of a very close competition the South West team just missed the bronze medal by 2.50 marks. A fantastic experience for Jonathan who did very well to win his place in the region’s team.
After a great competition in Leicester, Cameron and Calum were focused and determined to help the team medal. The team consisted of the four best 9 year olds within the South West, the other two boys coming from Devon and Dorset. Both boys competed extremely well improving on the previous weekend’s scores, and with the other team members also proving to have a great competition the team were credited with overall Bronze medal position. A great result after a long period of hard training and a busy competition season.
Boy’s coach Edy Bratu said ‘I am very pleased with the progress that all four boys have made over the last six months. It is a great achievement for the Club to have four male gymnasts representing their Club and Region at the highest level in gymnastics, as this is a first for the Swallows.’
The coaches and gymnasts now look forward to working hard in order to maintain and improve upon these achievements and results.
The Cornwall Intermediate Apparatus Championships were held on Sunday 16 May 2010 at The Swallows of Helston Gymnastics Club. The girls from the Swallows of Helston Gymnastics Club travelled to Melksham, Wiltshire last weekend to take part in the South West Springboard Competition. The Club performed well last year gaining first place in the 13/14 year section and Club silver medallists, and hoped to equal that at this year's event.
Competing for the Swallows of Helston were gymnasts aged between 8yrs and 15 years at Intermediate level.
In the Intermediate event Swallows had one gymnast competing in the 8 year age group. Following her recent success at the Novice Championships earlier in the year, Megan Morris had made big improvements to her work. Megan won gold medals on all four pieces of apparatus as well as being crowned overall champion in the age group.
In the 11 year age group, Swallow’s gymnast Phoebe Johns was competing. This was the first time that Phoebe had competed at this level, and she made some remarkable improvements on her Club competition results in April. Phoebe won silver medals on Vault and Bars and a bronze medal for her Beam routine. Phoebe came overall second place, narrowly missing the gold by 0.133.
Swallows continued to notch up more medals in the 13 year age group. Competing for the Club were 12 year olds Bryony Morgan and Flossie Cook and 13 year old Susie Knight. Flossie had recently moved up from Novice level to Intermediate but coped with the competition admirably. Flossie managed to gain a bronze medal on Beam. Susie and Bryony had good competitions on the whole, however, Susie made some major errors on beam and unfortunately did not medal on this piece. Susie won silver on Floor, bronze on both Vault and Bars and overall ranked third. Bryony picked up medals on all four pieces and at the end of the day was ranked silver medallist overall. The best result of the year for Bryony!
In the 14 year age group, Swallows gymnasts Charlotte Jameson and Emily Rhodes took to the floor. Charlotte competing in her first Intermediate Apparatus event, and following her recent success in the Club’s Apparatus competition coped very well with the pressure of the competition. Charlotte was ranked 3rd overall for her performance and won gold on Bars and bronze medals on all other disciplines. Defending Apparatus champion, Emily Rhodes made a few errors throughout her competition, but still medalled on every piece. Emily took 3 silver medals and a bronze on the apparatus, and was overall silver medallist at the end of the day.
Molly Furness was the Club’s only competitor in the Open age group with the withdrawal of team mate Louise Knight earlier in the week. Molly competed confidently and gained gold medals on all four disciplines making her the overall Champion in this age group.
A pleasing set of results at the end of the Intermediate competition with 36 medals being won by the gymnasts in the Apparatus event.
Head coach, Donna Jenkin said, ‘the coaches are extremely proud of all the gymnasts that competed at the competition. All the girls performed to the best of their abilities and were on this occasion rewarded with the medals that they deserved. The gymnasts and their families dedicate a number of hours to their training and medal winning performances such as these are a great reward. We are looking forward to competing at the forthcoming Wiltshire Open Championships at the end of May with the County girls, and look forward to some more pleasing results.
A huge well done also goes to the coaching team and the volunteer coaches who have worked so hard in the lead up to this event.
The competition was well supported with clubs from throughout the South West fielding teams, and in excess of 150 gymnasts participating throughout the day. In the morning competition 13 year old Nadine Carter and 14 year old Tegan Beale began their competitions. Nadine was already the defending 13/14 year old Champion and wanted to retain this title. Tegan was competing at this competition for the first time in the Ladies section and performed neat, high quality work with low technical faults. Tegan was the top scorer on all four pieces making her the Champion in the section overall, by a considerable margin. Nadine made some steady routines, however carried a few falls on beam and floor, but was still ranked overall champion in the group with an excellent vault score, and the highest of the day.
2 champions down and still the younger girls to compete. Pressure was on 9 year old Maea Morgan, Heather Bolton and 10 year old Eleanor Lloyd. Also competing in the 11/12 year was Libby Rescorla. Both age groups were extremely large with over 40 girls in the 9/10 years and 30 in the 11/12 years. The girls had to concentrate and focus on the competition ahead. It was going to be a great task to medal, with a very good standard of gymnasts throughout the age groups. The girls started on Asymetric Bars, and with tension running high made a number of errors in the warm up period. Nerves were beginning to show, but when the competition began the girls performed extremely well, making some neat routines for some very good scores overall. Unfortunately, Maea took a fall on her dismount, so had a lower score on this apparatus. On the most difficult piece, beam, the girls were settling down and remained positive. Maea took to the beam first and made a fantastic routine with no falls and recovered admirably after her bar error earlier. Eleanor followed, and then Heather both of whom went clean with great routines, no falls so far. Libby was last up with a lot to follow. Having a more difficult routine, the pressure was certainly on. Libby started very confidently and went through her routine with great precision and very few wobbles. No falls at the end of beam put the Club in a great position. With both Floor and Vault to follow the girls could relax a little, although they remained extremely focused. Four very good routines on floor, with no major errors Heather ranked 2nd on floor, Eleanor, 3rd and Maea 6th. Libby did equally as well gaining 2nd place on floor in her section. Last piece to Vault and this was the girls' strongest apparatus. The gymnasts just had to complete their vaults with good shapes and quality landings. Libby competed first and made top score for her vault. Eleanor did a fabulous handspring over the platform for the 2nd highest score in her group. An excellent end to the competition.
Finally the girls had to wait for the presentations and to see how they were ranked overall. After a long wait the results were in and in the 9/10 section Heather had made top 6 with 4th place overall. Maea had performed well in her first South West event to gain 19th place overall. The overall Springboard Champion was to be crowned and Eleanor had done enough to receive her first South West title.
In the 11/12 years, Swallows hopes were pinned on Libby. Had she done enough to make top 6? It had come down to the overall 1st place, with no mention of Libby's name. But Libby was called out as being the Springboard Champion in her section, taking the Club's tally to 4 out of 4 overall champions.
The Club Champions were still to be crowned, but hopes were high at this point having made top placings in each age group. Swallows had won by 4 marks ahead of the Academy, from Portishead and Fromeside in 3rd place
Head coach, Donna Jenkin said, 'A fantastic day for the Club and the girls all of who have worked very hard to achieve these results. Well done to everyone at the Club. We didn't expect to do quite so well, but with very few errors throughout the day, we knew we stood a reasonable chance. The girls were up against some very good gymnasts from Bristol, Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire, so expectations were not that high! We knew that we had some great gymnasts competing and with a defending champion, wanted to emulate this result. Never did we expect to take all four titles, but at the end of the day we proved to be the best Club. I am so proud of the girls and the way they have improved over the past twelve months. Our attentions now are focused on the next South West competition on 30 May. More hard work to be done!'
Girl’s Intermediate and County Floor & Vault Championships 2010
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Cornwall’s Floor and Vault Championships were held on Sunday 21 March 2010 at The Swallows of Helston Gymnastics Club.
Competing for the Swallows of Helston were 13 gymnasts aged between 10yrs and 16 years at Intermediate level and a further 11 gymnasts at County level.
In the Intermediate event, 10 year olds Phoebe Johns and Jessica Woods took part in their first Intermediate event after leaving the Novice level. The girls performed extremely consistently and the judges could not split them on both Floor and Vault. With scores totalling 22.040 the girls tied for individual bronze medals.
11 year old Georgia Sanders also took part in the event for the first time and gained overall bronze medal in the 12 year old section. A very good start for her in the Intermediate level competition. The three gymnasts made up the Club’s team for the Under 13 age group and when all scores were added together, were awarded with the Team silver medal.
In the 14 year age group the Club had 4 competitors. Leading the way in this competition was Louise Willis-Richards, who made excellent performances on both floor and vault gaining the highest scores on both apparatus. Louise was crowned individual Champion with team mate Susie Knight winning the individual bronze medal for her routines. The team consisting of Louise, Susie, Bryony Morgan and Flossie Cook took the Team Gold award.
In the 15 year age group, Swallows made a clean sweep of overall medals with Charlotte Jameson gaining the top spot, Sarah Forbes coming in silver place and Martha Mouat-Salkeld earning a bronze medal. The girl’s team totals were not quite high enough to beat the 14 year olds, but ranked them in silver medal place team.
In the Open section the Club had 3 gymnasts competing in a very closely contested group. Louise Knight was the highest ranked Swallow in the section taking overall silver medal, whilst team mate Molly Furness was placed in bronze medal position. The girls plus Club’s Poppy Pellow took the title of Team Champions making Swallows the most successful Club in the event.
The Club won an amazing 23 medals in the Intermediate section and were Club Team Champions in 2 out of the 3 sections that we had entered in.
In the County event the Swallows continued with their good run of results.
Competing in their first ever County competition 7 year old Jessica Hubbard, and 8 year olds Phoebe Jenkin and Harly Beale all did a remarkable job. It was difficult to predict the winner for the group, however, Harly performed a fantastic vault to secure the gold medal overall. Phoebe performed a polished floor exercise and was just pipped into silver medal place, whilst Jessica took the bronze medal. All 3 gymnasts are looking good for the future.
9 year old Maea Morgan won her age group with a few errors in her floor exercise, but a great all round performance nonetheless.
Team gold in the 9 year and under went to Swallows gymnasts consisting of Harly Beale, Phoebe Jenkin, Jessica Hubbard and Maea Morgan.
10 year old Eleanor Lloyd regained her title from 2009, and won the 10 year old age group comfortably with no errors in her performances on the day. 9 year old Heather Bolton had it all to do, and competing in the County event for the first time was under pressure to make a perfect routine. At the end of the day Heather managed to ease herself into silver medal position behind Eleanor.
11 year old Libby Rescorla gained overall gold medal in her section making her County champion for the second year in a row in this level competition.
The 11 and under team comprising of Eleanor, Heather and Libby easily won the Gold medal team position.
13 year old Shauna Mitchell eased her way back into competition after a number of injuries. Shauna competed an easier floor routine, but with few deductions earning her the overall top spot.
In the 14 year age group Nadine Carter and Emily Rhodes took to the floor. Both girls did their very best, but unfortunately were not good enough to take the overall Champion spot. Nadine earned the silver medal and Emily took bronze.
Tegan Beale was the only gymnast competing in the Open section, and took the overall champion title with a very confident performance. The Team winners in the 15 and under went to Emily, Nadine and Tegan, ending off the day’s events with another title for the Club.
In all a total of 21 medals were won by the gymnasts in the County event and Team shields in all of the age groups, 9 and under, 11 and under and the 15 and under.
Head Coach, Donna Jenkin, said ‘the gymnasts were fantastic on the day. The Club won an amazing 44 medals and 5 Team Winners shields, making the Club the most successful one on the day. Well done to all the gymnasts and the coaches for all their hard work over the last few months getting the gymnasts ready for the competition.
These achievements came on the same weekend as the Club’s boys competed in Exeter. Senior coach Eddie Bratu attended the South West Elite Grades on Saturday 20th March where 3 of the Club’s gymnasts were competing. In the Level 1 competition, 8 year olds Calum Walklett and Cameron Wheat had to be at their best as inclusion in the National finals teams were their aim. Both boys needed to be ranked in the top 6 in order to compete at the National Championships later in the year. Calum made consistent routines throughout and earned overall 3rd place, whilst team mate Cameron placed just behind in 4th place.
Jaron Morgan was aiming to excel at this competition also, and earn his rightful place alongside the South West team. Although Jaron carried an injury to his wrist, still managed to place in 5th position overall and also was selected for the National final team in the Over 14 age group.
Head Coach, Donna Jenkin said, ‘The Club are extremely proud of the boy’s achievements as we have never had more than one male gymnast attend a National event. We wish all the boys good luck for the forthcoming British Elite Grades competition. A great result for the boys and also for their coach Eddie.
On the Sunday, Jonathan Murray added to the Club’s successes as he competed at the Regional Club Grades competition in Exeter. This event also had National finals to aim for. Jonathan made some excellent routines and managed to finish in 5 place earning is right to also attend the finals later on in the year. Team mate Tom Rimmer narrowly missed out on making the Regional team with a fall on high bar and an under par performance on floor, but nonetheless a challenging competition and ranking of 8th overall. A reasonable achievement in a Regional event for Tom.
The coaches would like to congratulate all the boys including 8 year old Kai Cornish, who also ranked in 8th, position overall in his first ever Regional competition. Kai narrowly missed out on the South West team for Level 1. Good luck to Calum Walklett, Cameron Wheat, Jaron Morgan and Jonathan Murray in their National Championships in May.
The Girl’s Novice Apparatus Championships were held 2010 on Sunday 14th February at Penzance Leisure Centre.
Competing for the Swallows of Helston were 14 gymnasts aged between 8yrs and 16 years. For the majority of these gymnasts, this was their first event competing on all four disciplines – Vault, Asymmetric Bars, Beam and Floor.
The morning’s competition saw the 8 year and 9 year old girls compete. For the competitors in the 8 year age group the competition was extremely closely fought from start to finish. Swallows gymnasts, Megan Morris and Megan Marchant (both aged 7 yrs) handled the pressure extremely well in their first ever County competition. Medals were awarded for all 4 individual apparatus as well as overall champion. Megan Marchant performed extremely well throughout the event and with some errors in her beam routine managed to win Gold on vault and Silver on bars. Megan Morris had a much steadier competition with Gold medal wins on beam and bars and Bronze on floor. After all the scores were calculated Megan Morris was crowned overall Apparatus Champion, with Megan Marchant in overall Bronze medal position.
The Swallows had 3 gymnasts competing in the 9 years category and the competition proved to be extremely close. All gymnasts performed confidently in their first competition within the County. Lucy Smith won Bronze for her floor routine, whilst team mate Emily Bent won the Gold medal on vault. The most consistent performer for the club in the 9 year age group was Kerenza Pickett who gained the Gold medal on beam and a Bronze on the bars. Unfortunately Kerenza narrowly missed an overall medal and was placed in 4th place.
The end to a fantastic morning’s competition for the Club with a total of 11 medals being awarded to the girls.
The afternoon’s event saw the older competitors take the podium. In the 11 year category gymnasts Jessica Woods and Phoebe Johns performed consistently and managed to medal on a number of apparatus. This age group was the most difficult group throughout the competition with some very talented gymnasts entered. However, Jessica performed a very bouncy floor routine, with few errors and gained the Silver medal and a Bronze medal for her steady beam performance. Phoebe made excellent improvements on her bar routine and won the Gold medal with a Bronze for her vault. Very pleasing results for the girls and their Coach, Clive Thomas.
12 year old Georgia Sanders continued to add to the Swallows medal tally by gaining Bronze medals on vault, beam and for her floor exercise. Georgia should be extremely proud of these achievements after her hard work in the lead up to the competition and her improvements were clearly identified.
In the Under 15 year age groups the medal tally was impressive. A total of 28 medals were won by the Swallows who dominated the group. 4 gymnasts competed and won the Team Champion shield with an excellent team score of 67.24, 4 whole marks higher than any other team throughout the day. The team comprised of 13 year olds Flossie Cook and Kea Wheat and 14 year olds Sarah Forbes and Martha Mouat Salkeld.
Flossie also performed competently in her apparatus competition with Gold medals on vault, bars and floor and Silver on beam. Kea managed to win Silver medals on vault, bars and floor and a Gold medal for her clean beam routine. Overall Champion by just 0.25 was Flossie with Kea taking the Silver.
Sarah and Martha also took a number of medals in the 14 year old section. Sarah gained the Gold medal on floor, Silver medal on beam and Bronze on vault and bars. Martha won Silvers on bars and vault with Bronze on floor and beam. Overall Silver went to Sarah and Bronze to Martha.
The final competition of the day and in the 15+ age group, Swallows had 2 gymnasts entered. 15 year old Poppy Pellow and 16 year old Louise Knight competed to gain the title of Apparatus champion. After only starting Gymnastics 10 months ago, Poppy performed extremely well. Silver medals were awarded on all 4 individual apparatus with the Silver medal overall. Louise took the top spot of the day with Gold medals on all 4 pieces of apparatus as well as taking the overall Floor and Vault title.
A great start to the competition season for all the gymnasts at the Club with a total of 57 medals being won on the day. Champions in the 8 year and 15+ year sections. The coaching team look forward to a pleasing competition year. Well done to all the gymnasts and coaches that have worked so hard to produce these results.