The Norfolk Academy
of Gymnastics
Unit 10
Rookery Business Park
Silver Street
Besthorpe
Attleborough
NR17 2LD
T: 01953 453309
Email: info@tnag.co.uk
BRILLIANT RESULTS FOR NORFOLK ACADEMY GIRLS AT NATIONAL FINALS
08/11/2009
BRILLIANT RESULTS FOR NORFOLK ACADEMY GIRLS AT NATIONAL FINALS
The Norfolk Academy had its best ever national event this weekend with two top eight finishes and all three of its competitors placing in the top twenty rankings for their level for the year.
Lucy Jarvis was the first TNAG gymnast to compete – on Saturday morning in the level 3 competition for 10 year olds. She was part of the East team which was unfortunately depleted by injury to one of its team members meaning the reserve had to step in at short notice. Lucy competed very confidently, starting with a strong and precise floor routine for 11.55 and following it up with one of the best handspring vaults of the day which seemed slightly harshly marked at 10.8. Lucy had the two trickiest pieces last but got through bars cleanly (10.95) and performed a beautiful and solid beam routine scoring 12.30 to conclude her competition for a total of 45.70. This placed her 19th overall out of 38 gymnasts and also 19th in the combined rankings for the year, which take into account her results from compulsory level 3 earlier in the year. The East team placed 7th.
Lucy deserves great credit for the way she works solidly and consistently in training and the way that she has transferred this to clean performances in every one of her competitions this season. She did her absolute best performances in this competition and could have given no more.
Emily Crowe competed in the level 2 competition on Saturday afternoon. There is no team event at level 2 so it was about the individual competition only. There was an expectation that Emily could do very well, given her performance at the recent Bill Slater team competition. Emily was last to perform on her first piece, the bars, which is also her weakest event. Her warm up routine had gone very well and the competition routine was not quite as good but she got through it cleanly for 10.5. A reasonable start but much ground to make up. Emily moved next to beam where competition results are often determined. She was composed and, despite a big wobble on her first skill, the free forward walkover, she was rock solid on her flick layout and precise on her double twist dismount to score 12.5. With the two “easier” pieces remaining Emily relaxed into her floor routine. She was one of only a handful of gymnasts to perform the required double back somersault, with just a couple of paces back. Emily’s music cut out half way through the routine but this did not deter her and, urged on by the claps of the crowd, she finished brilliantly and obtained 12.7, the highest floor score in the competition for the second event in succession! Only the vault stood between Emily and a very good result and she performed two very precise piked Yurchenko vaults to average 12.625. Her total of 48.325 gave her a fantastic fifth place finish. She is ranked 11th for the year in the combined results.
Emily works very hard and with a brilliant attitude in training and a happy and relaxed disposition which masks a real determination to be the best. She impresses everyone that works with her and has been waiting for this kind of result for some time. With new moves ready to add to her routines for next year, there is much more to come from her and this should only be the very start of her success.
Nine year old Bethany Harmer was the last TNAG gymnast to compete as she fought it out in a field of 49 in the level 4 competition, which is always closely contested. Bethany competed as an individual gymnast and started her competition on beam, which is a tough task. Bethany performed her difficult routine (which she says is easy for her!) beautifully and with hardly a wobble. She received a score of 12.05 which ended up being the sixth best of the day and got her off to a fantastic start. She followed this up with an excellent floor routine with well landed tumbles combined with expressive and entertaining dance for 12.10 which was the fourth best floor score of the day. Vault is always a challenge for Bethany who was, as usual, one of the smallest girls in the competition to perform the tsukahara. She was short of rotation on the first vault, putting her hands down and over-correcting the mistake on the second, which was a far better vault and on which she over-rotated and fell backwards. Despite Bethany’s obvious upset, 11.0 was still a decent score and kept her in the hunt for a top placing. Bethany has had some problems with hitting her bar routine in recent competitions but made no mistake this time and the improvement she has made with her shapes and techniques on this piece in recent months stands out. She received 12.15 to give her a total of 47.30. This gave her an excellent seventh place in the voluntary competition and eleventh for the year combined, matching Emily’s ranking.
Bethany was also reserve for the East team who strolled to victory by five marks in the team competition. Although Bethany’s scores did not count for the team because of her status as reserve, had they have done so it would have improved the team’s margin of victory as she was the third ranked gymnast from the region on the day. She joined the team in collecting a gold medal on top of the rostrum.
Bethany is a hard worker who is always first on and last off the apparatus and this result should give her the confidence in her own ability to help her to stay positive in training, knowing that if she can do so, she has the ability to produce even more exciting results in the future.
Head coach Sara-Jane Inglis was delighted with the results of the weekend’s competition as a whole saying, “All three girls performed brilliantly this weekend and it is definitely our best national event yet. The girls were noticed by judges, officials and other coaches in a positive way and this can only help us for the future. It shows that the system we have is working and starting to produce the results we have long expected of our talented group of gymnasts. We keep our fingers crossed now for national Squad places for Emily and Bethany but whatever the outcome of that issue, all three girls deserve massive congratulations for their performances this weekend which have truly put the club on the national radar”.
