The Norfolk Academy
of Gymnastics
Unit 10
Rookery Business Park
Silver Street
Besthorpe
Attleborough
NR17 2LD
T: 01953 453309
Email: info@tnag.co.uk
SUPER SILVERS FOR SHLYLA AND SIENNA
04/04/2009
Seven Norfolk Academy gymnasts performed brilliantly at the Regional Club Grades finals at Ipswich, with the highlights being two silver medals, for Shyla Norkett and Sienna Sprong.
All of the girls had qualified by virtue of their medal winning performances at the Norfolk championships back in early February and so had had a long wait to step up to the regional stage. All of the other competitors had also come through county qualifying competitions and so the quality was high, and with 6 different grades being contested across 4 rounds, each featuring a TNAG gymnast, it was a long day for all involved!
The day started early with the grade 14 8/9 yrs event, in which the Academy was represented by Olivia Crowe and Caitlin Baker, bronze and silver medallists from the Norfolk championships in what is historically a very high quality event. This year was no different with 19 strong competitors. The girls, in their first ever regional event, well and truly held their own and were among the best gymnasts on show. Olivia placed 6th and Caitlin 8th with scores of 60.85 and 60.7 respectively. The girls turned the tables from the Norfolk championships and were comfortably the county's top two finishers. Olivia’s 12.65 was the highest vault score and Caitlin’s 12.55 on bars and 12.3 on range were the second best on each of those pieces. The girls now aim to switch to the elite grades for next year and so have even greater challenges ahead.
At Grade 13 TNAG had Melisaa Brown and Tamzin Impey in the 9/10 years category and Poppy Brown at 11/12 plus. All of the girls went through their routines cleanly with Melissa placing 11th and Poppy 7th and Tamzin Impey putting together an excellent set of scores, all but one in the 12s, to score above the magic 60 points barrier for the first time, placing her 6th. Tamzin’s 12.4 on vault was equal 2nd highest there. All of the girls now look forwards to the voluntary season in the autumn.
The third round of the competition featured grade 12 in which the Academy was represented by Shyla Norkett. It was obvious from the start that Shyla was one of the top few gymnasts on show in the 12/13 years category, looking classy and artistic throughout. With a very cool performance Shyla posted excellent scores across the pieces, the highlights being her first placings of 12.25 on bars and second placing 12.05 on beam, contributing to her 48.3 overall total which gave her an excellent and well deserved silver medal, missing out on gold by just 0.15. Shyla’s achievement is all the more outstanding considering she underwent surgery on her arm a few short weeks ago. It is testament to Shyla’s courage and determination that she was back in the gym after only a few days, getting ready for the competition. It is these qualities which mean that Shyla has a very promising future ahead of her.
In the final round of the day, Sienna Sprong competed at grade 11 in the 12/13 years plus section. The level of difficulty demanded of the gymnasts in this grade was a considerable step up from the lower levels showcased earlier in the day and thus the potential for errors increased. Sienna started her competition on bars where she put in an almost faultless performance with beautiful swing and rythmn throughout to post 12.6 and get her off to a brilliant start. This score was not surpassed by any of the other competitors. Moving on to the beam, Sienna was naturally a little bit nervous going up last and thus being the centre of attention in the arena and was a little shaky throughout. Despite a broken combination Sienna battled hard to stay on the beam and the score of 10.5 kept her in contention. Sienna’s beautiful floor routine was one of the highlights of the entire day with the crowd appreciating her excellent choreography. Her score of 11.5 meant she was still in the running with one piece remaining. Sienna has suffered a shoulder injury which caused her some discomfort on vault but she battled through this and posted 12.4, the second best score on this piece, to seal a total of 47.00 and a fantastic silver medal. Sienna’s gymnastics career has been hampered by injury and illness and thus she remains a relatively inexperienced gymnast. As recently as last week she was sidelined due to her shoulder injury and it was not even clear whether she would be able to compete at all – only starting training again on Monday. It is fantastic to see Sienna doing so well at last.
Congratulations to all of the competitors and to Tracy Appleby and Jan Barrett, the personal coaches of Shyla and Sienna respectively, for all of their hard work. It is fantastic for the Academy to be so strongly represented in a regional finals in only our second year and on this occasion the two medallists were both competing at regionals for TNAG for the very first time. This event almost brings the grades season to a close, with just the national compulsory 4 and 3 finals left to go, over the weekend of 2/3 May in Birmingham, where Bethany Harmer and Lucy Jarvis will compete for TNAG.
