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 CHAMPS - FULL REPORT
08/02/2009
NORFOLK ACADEMY GIRLS DOMINATE COUNTY GRADES CHAMPIONSHIPS WITH TEN GOLD MEDALS AND EIGHTEEN MEDALS IN ALL The Norfolk Academy of Gymnastics had an extremely successful day at the Norfolk Grades Championships on 7th February. The Attleborough based club sent 29 gymnasts to the event (it would have been 30 but for Olivia Syder’s unfortunate late withdrawal due to illness) which was the largest team at the competition and by far the biggest number of gymnasts TNAG has had in any one event in its short history. There were 14 different categories being held throughout two rounds, with TNAG entering gymnasts into an incredible 13 of those categories; demonstrating great strength in depth. A return of 10 gold medals from those 13 categories speaks for itself. The Championships did not end until around 9.45pm, and a huge thank you must go to the fabulous supporters that TNAG had throughout the day – they certainly helped the tired girls finishing their floor routines at the end of the night – and it was also delightful to see the growing team spirit which is developing at TNAG with all the girls providing excellent support to each other. In the first round of the day 30 gymnasts contested the grade 14 event across the 8-9 years and 10-11 plus years’ age groups. TNAG had a total of 13 gymnasts in the grade 14 event, many of whom only started gymnastics when the Academy opened last year and thus are its first generation of completely home grown talents. At age 10-11+ level the TNAG gymnasts were not yet at a level to challenge the top scorers in the category, however they would all have gained great experience from their first competition. Taylor Thompsett was the leading TNAG competitor who finished in a very credible 6th place. The strength in depth of talent at the 8-9 years age group was staggering. This category saw the Academy win the bronze medal with Olivia Crowe (who finished equal third with another competitor) and silver medal with Caitlin Baker (just 0.05 marks away from gold); there was only one tenth of a mark separating all four of the medallists and thus the two TNAG girls did amazingly well. The results bode well for the future of Norfolk gymnastics, and we look forward to seeing how all of these girls develop as they move on to more complex gymnastics. TNAG also occupied all placings from fifth to ninth, thus demonstrating the strength in depth of the squad – save for the two gymnasts who shared the top four places with TNAG our girls dominated proceedings. Particular mention should go to Naomi Bash (5th) who scored very highly and earned a distinction. Olivia Crowe and Caitlin Baker, by virtue of their top three finishes, will now progress to the forthcoming regional finals of the same event. The second round showcased all of the remaining grades. TNAG had a very strong quartet of gymnasts in grade 13 with Amber Matthews, Tamzin Impey and Melissa Brown at age 9-10 and Poppy Brown at age 11 plus. The girls showed some high quality gymnastics with a particularly stunning range and conditioning set from Amber earning a fantastic score of 12.5 helping her to her first ever gold medal, just pipping Melissa (silver) and Tamzin (bronze) and ensuring a fantastic TNAG 1-2-3. Poppy was classy and assured across all apparatus as she romped home to a convincing victory, winning by over an astonishing 7 marks and taking the trophy for the highest score across the age groups of grade 13. All 4 girls will go forward to the regionals with confidence. Shyla Norkett competed at grade 12 against contenders from Norwich and Easton in what was expected to be a closely fought event. Shyla, enhancing her reputation as a true performer when the pressure is on, scored very highly on all pieces and was able to win the gold by some margin – scoring 46.85, ensuring she beat her nearest competitor by over five marks. TNAG had 3 gymnasts in the grade 11 category – Sienna Sprong at age 12 plus and Georgia Bunn and Megan Clarke at age 10-11. Sienna easily stormed to victory in her category with the largest winning margin of the day (an amazing ten marks) which was particularly satisfying given she has not taken part in competition for 2 ½ years following illness and a break from the sport. Megan Clarke won gold at the younger age group, with Georgia Bunn taking silver despite competing with a painful injury that saw her unable to complete her floor routine. Full marks go to Georgia whose determination and spirit alone merited her silver medal. All 3 plus Shyla will go on to the regional event. Grace Ashworth and Summer-Jade Kenzitt represented the Academy in the new National Grades competition, Grace at grade 8 and Summer at grade 6, and both faced competition in their bid to add to TNAG’s gold tally. Despite a relatively low beam score Grace was in a class of her own and took the grade 8 gold by over eight marks and Summer was able to repeat this achievement at grade 6, showing her usual blend of classy clean work, to win with comfort. The final set of grades being contested were the Elite Compulsory Grades where TNAG had 6 out of the 9 entrants across the 4 grades. Harmony Kenzitt, aged only 7, took on contenders from 2 other clubs at Compulsory 5 and was in a class of her own comfortably picking up the highest score on four of the five pieces of apparatus on her way to gold medal number 2 for the Kenzitt family. Bethany Harmer was first, by some distance, on four of the five pieces, with a particularly outstanding beam routine, a floor that delighted the crowd and a good showing on the testing range and conditioning. However, Bethany had a disaster on vault, hitting her head on the vault on both attempts, resulting in a technical zero score being awarded. Even with this zero score, Bethany finished only 5 marks behind the gold medal winner, Norwich’s Jessica Scarlett, and despite being gutted with the turn of events (and her silver medal) Bethany should gain great confidence from the improvement she has made over the last six months and her scoring potential. Both Harmony and Bethany move to their forthcoming regional events in great shape. At the highest two grades, Compulsory 3 and 2, TNAG’s two girls in each level were competing only against each other but the competitions were as closely fought as ever. Polina Polyakova and Lucy Jarvis changed places several times throughout the compulsory 3 event with Polina just edging Lucy out starting off what will hopefully be a busy and successful year for Polina as she aims to move on to her Compulsory 2 at the end of the year. Congratulations to Polina for her gold and Lucy for her silver, the latter of whom performed cleanly on all pieces. Angel Kenzitt and Emily Crowe contested the Compulsory 2 competition. This is the highest grade in the country and when the girls move on to the national competition in Liverpool on 8th March, they will be trying to pass the grade in order to gain a place at the British Championships in 2010. Therefore the level of gymnastics the girls were showing was extremely high and a real treat for the crowd. Once again, the girls battled amongst themselves fiercely but were also a great support to each other. Angel managed to get through the very difficult bars exercise successfully which, on this occasion, made the difference. Angel came out on top but more importantly both girls easily achieved the pass mark of 52.50 which if repeated in Liverpool next month will give them the much coveted status of Elite gymnasts – the first in Norfolk to have achieved this level for a number of years. One story which developed from the Championships worthy of mention is that Harmony, Summer-Jade and Angel Kenzitt had all managed to win Gold. For three sisters to all be crowned county champions on the same day must be an achievement that makes history in British gymnastics. TNAG’s total medal tally was 18 – 10 golds, 6 silvers and 2 bronzes which was way in excess of any other club and a truly fantastic haul. Head coach Sara-Jane Inglis said, “This was a brilliant day. We knew we had a strong presence across the grades but couldn’t have dreamt of this level of success. But for some tiny margins we could have won even more golds, but it is no bad thing for us to have something to aim for next time! A big well done to all of the medal winners and everyone that took part and did the club so proud, and also to my fantastic coaching team of Tracy, Helen, Jan and Kim who did such a thorough job of preparing the gymnasts to such high standards. Now there can really be no doubt that we are the leading competitive club in the county, and I am delighted that – some fourteen months or so after starting the Academy – we are now in a position where we have strength in depth across all age groups and grades as well as several truly top quality elite or prospective elite gymnasts. The achievement of the Kenzitt sisters obviously merits particular mention, but I was proud of all the girls today – not just the medal winners. We are trying to build a real team approach at TNAG, even though gymnastics is essentially an individual sport, and one only had to watch today’s proceedings to know that we are achieving that.”
