The Norfolk Academy
of Gymnastics
Unit 10
Rookery Business Park
Silver Street
Besthorpe
Attleborough
NR17 2LD
T: 01953 453309
Email: info@tnag.co.uk
NORFOLK ACADEMY GIRLS DOMINATE NORFOLK CHAMPS
07/09/2009
NORFOLK ACADEMY GIRLS DOMINATE NORFOLK CHAMPS The Norfolk Academy’s 28 strong squad dominated the Norfolk Voluntary Gymnastics Championships held at Norwich GC on Sunday 6th September. The day goes down as one of the most successful in the club’s short history as the gymnasts collected a magnificent 18 medals, 10 golds and, the icing on the cake, all 5 of the overall level trophies on offer. As expected, the venue was packed out for the level 5 section of the competition where 42 gymnasts from 5 clubs participated across 3 age groups. In the 8 years age group TNAG had 6 of the 11 competitors. The girls faced tough competition from Norwich and Easton who both had gymnasts who had competed at elite compulsory 5 earlier in the year. The five members of ECS2 had spent hours drilling their routines, particularly on the beam and that hard work paid off with all of them staying on – very few gymnasts across the whole event were able to do so. They, and Isobel Woods from CGFS performed solidly across the four apparatus with clean and precise routines on the bars and beam and beautifully presented and well executed floor routines. Harmony Kenzitt (47.2) was pronounced the winner of this section, followed closely by compatriots Olivia Syder in the silver medal position (46.35) and Eleanor Parsons, still only aged 7, taking bronze (46.2) to give the Norfolk Academy its first clean sweep of the day. Caitlin Baker (44.1 – 5th place), Charlotte Donnelly (43.45 – 6th place) and Isobel Woods (40.00 – 8th) also put in very impressive performances, showing the Academy’s strength in depth at this age group.
So high were the scores of the three medal-winning gymnasts that they were also the top three scorers in the level 5 competition as a whole and so Harmony was declared overall champion for level 5. These gymnasts, along with the injured Olivia Crowe who would surely also have been in the medals, have very bright futures ahead of them.
The 9-10 age group had a huge 22 entrants with 5 members of CGFS taking part. These gymnasts only train 6 hours per week and were unfortunately not quite able to demonstrate the consistency needed to challenge for the medals on this occasion. Best placed were Laura Glover (42.75 – 5th place) and Naomi Bash (42.65 – 6th place). Laura is new to squad gymnastics and this was her very first competition – with more practice and refinement of her undoubted talent great things are expected of her for the future. Naomi once again demonstrated beautiful and artistic presentation and is a pleasure to watch. Well done also to the other competitors in this category; Saffron Casbourne (11th), Elise Jaggard (12th) and Hayley Chalcraft (15th) they will all have gained experience from their first voluntary competition.
In the 11+ age group Poppy Brown was the clear favourite and she delivered on that status with a very strong all around performance, her bar routine a particular highlight (11.9) to score 44.15 and take the gold medal in this section by a margin of over 3.5 marks. Chloe Cooper and Lottie Grey-Wilson train only 4 hours per week in the Competitive Intermediate group and so had a tough task in getting ready for this competition. Both managed to do so admirably and special mention must go to Chloe who put together an impressive set of scores to take the silver medal with 40.80. Well done also to Lottie (7th) and Tally Watt (9th) who suffered a very unfortunate mistake on the vault which put pay to her medal chances this time around.
So the level 5 section concluded with TNAG having taken 5 out of 9 medals, 2 out of 3 golds and the top three overall scores of the section to get the day off to a fantastic start.
With a couple of withdrawals from the original start list, sixteen gymnasts assembled to contest levels 4, 3, 2 and FIG. At level 4 in age, Bethany Harmer was in a class of her own as expected. Despite mistakes on her vault (where she must be one of the smallest gymnasts ever to perform a tsukahara!) and bars she still strolled to the gold medal with an overall score of 47.2. Her performances on beam (12.2) and beam (12.65) were particular highlights of the day. Her score was unequalled by any of the other level 4 competitors and she therefore took TNAG’s second overall trophy of the day.
In the 10-11 years age group a close competition took place between Melissa Brown, Georgia Bunn and Charlotte Taylor. Melissa victored on this occasion with 44.3 and fully deserves her success after some very hard work over the summer. Charlotte was just pipped to the gold, missing out by only 0.05, to take the silver medal, with an excellent 12.15 on floor. Georgia Bunn took the bronze medal with 39.5. At 12-13 years another close internal battle ensued. Shyla Norkett showed class with her stuck beam routine for 12.25 which set her apart from her competitors. Shyla’s total of 45.4 gave her the gold medal ahead of team mates Grace Ashworth (44.0 – silver) and Sienna Sprong (43.3 – bronze).
Lucy Jarvis (10 yrs) and Polina Polyakova (11-12 yrs) were the only competitors at level 3. Lucy put in a clean set of routines performed with her usual grace and elegance to score 45.58 for the gold medal in her section. Polina did not have her best day with uncharacteristic mistakes on beam but showed her beautiful floor routine and a strong first vault to score 45.9 and take gold in her section. She also just managed to hold off Lucy for the overall level 3 trophy.
At level 2, Sarah Kett was the sole competitor in the 14 plus age group. She also managed to go cleanly through her routines, and showed powerful work on vault and floor to score 42.48 and take the gold medal. Angel Kenzitt and Emily Crowe, as usual, showed the highest levels of difficulty of the day. Angel continued her recovery from a knee injury with a clean solid al around performance, scoring an excellent 48.08 for the silver medal. Emily performed two excellent vaults and a stunning floor routine which contained the only double back of the competition for which she received scores in the 13s, meaning that even with a fall from beam she strode to the gold medal and overall level 2 trophy with the highest score of the day 50.88. To score so well even with errors shows Emily’s potential for the rest of the season at regional and national level.
One of the most eagerly anticipated results of the day was the FIG section with Summer-Jade Kenzitt taking on Norwich’s Natalie Jarvis. Summer was focussed on her task and not phased by the considerably higher difficulty level of her competitor. Apart from a fall on vault she went through cleanly to score 40.55 and hold off Natalie’s challenge – showing once again that clean, consistent routines are what counts! The fifth and final trophy of the day was proudly collected by Summer.
The coaching team were extremely proud of all the fantastic performances put in by the gymnasts across the day. If any doubt remained, the day surely cemented the club’s position as the premier club in the county for girls’ competitive gymnastics at all levels. Thank you also to everyone that supported all of the girls so fantastically. The junior gymnasts have finished their voluntary season and now turn their attention towards acquiring new skills and routines for next year’s grades and beyond. The seniors have many more events still to come at regional and national level – a squad of 11 travels to the Alpha Factor national invitational next weekend. They have given themselves a flying start.
