Thirty gymnasts from Okehampton Flyers Gym, Trampoline & DMT Club competed at the South West club tumbling championships in Newton Abbot, with superb performances, many podium places and seven gymnasts becoming South West club level champions in their grade.
In tumbling gymnastics, gymnasts perform three ‘passes’. Each pass comprises a series of up to 8 floor skills on a long sprung track, from cartwheels and backward rolls at beginner level to flics, whips and somersaults at an advanced level.
In the club 1, 7 year old girls, Renee Keenor and Sennen Cornfield performed tidy passes to achieve 5th and 8th place.
Rose Bisson and Annabel Woolnough secured the gold medal, and Kathryn Scott-Tucker took bronze in the club 1, 8 year old girls class, all with excellent form, with Amy Cobbledick and Emma Yeo coming joint 5th, and Ghazal Yahya, Phoebe Potten and Summer Eagleton coming 7th, 8th and 9th, also with tidy performances.
In the club 7-8 boys category, Jasper Pudner took first place with very neat passes.
Meagan Fletcher and Lily Putman showed flair to take gold and silver respectively in the club 1, 9-10 girls class, with Emily Szwarc and Coral Vallance showing style to come joint 4th, and Gracie Cann, Freya Hancock, Rosie Cann and Bethany Medland also showing good form to achieve top 10 places.
In club 1, 11-12 girls, Alexis Plant took the gold medal, with Paige Raines and Ionie Vallance taking silver and bronze respectively, all with tidy skills.
In club 2, 9 year old girls, Phoebe Marten came 5th with good form. Olivia Laverty came first in club 2, 10 year old girls and Bo Langman coming 4th, with Myla Spencer coming 6th in club 2 11 year old girls. Vanesa Valdmane took the gold medal in club 2 12 year old girls, all with excellent technique and form.
In club 3 7-8 girls, Evie Nicks took the silver medal with fast, tidy passes, with Bracken Granger and Ella Godfrey taking the silver and bronze medals in club 3 11-12 girls with tight shapes and good form.
Rose Bisson, Meagan Fletcher, Olivia Laverty, Jasper Pester, Alexis Plant, Vanesa Valdmane and Annabel Woolnough all became South West club tumbling champions in their grades.
The club’s head coach, Vicki Pritchard, said: “We’re really pleased at the team spirit shown by all of the children at the event, and the hard work they put into preparing for the competition. Thank you our coaches and judges for volunteering and supporting the gymnasts and making the competition a fun experience for them.”
Over the last competition season, the club has had 14 gymnasts become club and regional South West champions in their trampoline, double mini trampoline and tumbling grades, a gold medal at the national English Championships, a bronze medal at the national English qualifier, a top 6 place at the Spring Cup and National Age Group Finals and a gymnast compete at the British Championships. The club has many more gymnasts working towards regional and national competitions for this coming season.
Okehampton Flyers set up many additional sessions in gymnastics and trampoline in the Autumn Term, and is setting up more sessions in Okehampton next term. The club is also starting new sessions Holsworthy in partnership with OCRA next term. Join the club waiting list or find out more by emailing okehamptonflyers(at)yahoo.com.
Gallery
Picture 1: Kathryn Scott-Tucker, Annabel Woolnough, Rose Bisson
Picture 2: Lily Putman, Jasper Pudner, Meagan Fletcher, Evie Nicks
Picture 3: front row – Bethany Hill (coach), Vicki Pritchard (head coach), Gracie Cann, Meagan Fletcher, Rosie Cann, Jasper Pudner, Teegan Smith (coach and judge), Miya Porter (coach); back row – Lily Putman, Freya Hancock, Emily Szwarc, Bethany Medland, Evie Nicks, Coral Vallance
Picture 4: Bracken Granger, Paige Raines, Myla Spencer, Alexis Plant, Ionie Vallance, Ella Godfrey
Picture 5: Olivia Laverty, Bo Langman, Vanesa Valdmane