The Norfolk Academy
of Gymnastics
Unit 10
Rookery Business Park
Silver Street
Besthorpe
Attleborough
NR17 2LD
T: 01953 453309
Email: info@tnag.co.uk
TNAG's most successful day ever - 1 day; 3 champions
12/10/2008
Regional “out of age” levels 4,3 and 2 finals – 11/10/08
ONE DAY – THREE REGIONAL CHAMPIONS!!
TNAG had its most successful day ever yesterday when it had an astonishing three gymnasts become regional overall champions at the level 4,3 and 2 out of age finals. The Academy had gymnasts in every one of the four rounds of the competition so it was set to be a busy day for gymnasts, coaches and spectators alike.
Sprowston High School pupil Chloe White started the day off for TNAG in the opening round. She was competing in the level 3, 13 plus category, having qualified by virtue of her Norfolk championship victory last month. Chloe won the equivalent competition at level 4 last year so the pressure was on for her to step up a level and maintain her position. Despite some wobbles in warm up on her first piece, vault, Chloe went through a clean competition including successfully performing her tsukahara vault onto a “hard” landing for the first time in competition, sticking her beam and a beautiful floor performance. She scored 45.75 and won the event by over 1.5 marks, and also picked up an apparatus silver for vault (the apparatus medals being awarded across the two level 3 age groups).
The next round of the event was for the level 2 gymnasts, and Summer-Jade Kenzitt and Sarah Kett took part in the 12-13 years category. This was always going to be a tough competition as the standard was very high. Summer and Sarah both had very clean successful competitions and performed the best that they possibly could. Summer placed 4th and Sarah 7th overall, with Summer picking up a bronze medal for her bars score of 11.45. Sarah just missed out on the apparatus but deserves a mention for her excellent beam score of 11.75.
The competition then moved on to the level with the most entrants – level 4, where there were categories for girls aged 10-11, 12-13 and 14 plus. The first of the two rounds at level 4 featured the two older age groups with Naomi Loome flying the flag for TNAG in the 14 plus competition. From the very start Naomi looked in a different league to the other competitors at this level and seemed completely untouched by any nerves or pressure, giving possibly the best performances she had ever done on beam, floor and even a mistake on bars couldn’t stop her. Naomi took gold overall by 1.8 marks with a score of 46.8, and later picked up a bronze across the level 4 age groups for her beam score of 12.2. By this point TNAG were on a roll!
Grace Ashworth and Polina Polyakova competed in the final round of the event in the 10-11 years category which was the most closely fought contest of the day. The TNAG girls had a tricky draw starting on beam and being the first two gymnasts up. Grace unfortunately was overcome by nerves and suffered some mistakes on this opening piece, but recovered exceptionally well on the other pieces, to score 42.85 and place 11th overall. Grace is still a relatively inexperienced competitor and as she gains in confidence should be able to hold her nerve and do even better in future events.
Starting on beam didn’t phase Polina in the slightest! She went through the routine probably the best that she ever has, hitting all of her difficult elements without even a falter, to score an amazing 13.05 and give her a massive boost of confidence for the rest of the event. From there Polina’s feet barely touched the ground – going through the rest of her routines cleanly and precisely without any major faults and achieving high scores throughout. Two gymnasts from Sapphire had also posted exceptionally high scores and it was a nail biting wait to see if Polina’s massive total of 48.8 would be enough for the gold. By a tiny margin of just 0.15, it was and Polina took TNAG’s third overall title of the day and adding a third gold for her to her Norfolk championship and Alpha Factor invitational awards. She also picked up a silver for bars and gold for beam.
All in all it was a fantastic day for the Academy who had more regional champions crowned at the championships than any other club, and picked up a fabulous 8 medals in total to continue its meteoric rise! Well done to all of the girls who have worked exceptionally hard, and to Tracy Appleby, personal coach of Chloe and Naomi.
