The Norfolk Academy
of Gymnastics
Unit 10
Rookery Business Park
Silver Street
Besthorpe
Attleborough
NR17 2LD
T: 01953 453309
Email: info@tnag.co.uk
ACADEMY GIRLS PUT ON STUNNING SHOW IN SPALDING
12/07/2009
The Norfolk Academy gymnasts got their voluntary competition season off to a flying start with an excellent team performance at a friendly event against Spalding Gymnastics Academy. 23 Academy gymnasts made the trip to Lincolnshire to the home of Sara-Jane and Helen's former club.
The level 5 competition started the day with two teams from each club battling for the medals. Most of the TNAG girls have had to make huge steps forwards in terms of difficulty from their grades competitions in the winter and were performing new routines for the first time. The TNAG "B" team put on a very good show to beat both Spalding teams and take the silver medals. Well done to Caitlin Baker (4th individually), Bethany Dunn (6th), Charlotte Donnelly (11th) and Eleanor Parsons (12th). A special thank you to Bethany who stepped into the team at very late notice and put on a great performance in her very first competition. The TNAG "A" girls displayed some high quality gymnastics and gave away very little to the judges as they romped home to take the team gold medals by a huge winning margin of over seven marks. Well done to Olivia Syder (5th overall), Poppy Brown, Olivia Crowe and Harmony Kenzitt. Medals were also awarded to the top 3 highest scoring individual gymnasts and in this category TNAG had their first clean sweep of the day with Harmony Kenzitt taking bronze (44.80), Poppy Brown the silver (45.60) and Olivia Crowe the gold (46.30). Many of the TNAG girls are aged only 7 or 8 and were several years younger than some of their competitors and thus all of the results are very promising.
Next on were the level 4 gymnasts where the Norfolk Academy squad again demonstrated its strength in depth in fielding both A and B teams against one team from Spalding. The B team gave the A team a very close run for their money in picking up the team silver medals. Well done to Melissa Brown (10th individually), Charlotte Taylor (6th), Tamzin Impey (5th) and Grace Ashworth (4th). Those last two gymnasts deserve a special mention - Grace for her fantastic performance after taking some time out from high level gymnastics to combat her fears of the beam, was fearless and almost faultless on this piece of apparatus in particular - and Tamzin for whom this was her last competition for TNAG as her family move to Suffolk later this month. We are very proud of how Tamzin has grown in the last 18 months that she has been with us and wish her and her family the absolute best for the future. Just keeping their noses in front were the A team of Georgia Bunn (11th), Shyla Norkett (7th), Sienna Sprong and Bethany Harmer who took team golds. In the individual overall event Sienna Sprong put together a very good set of scores across the pieces to take bronze with 43.90. 8 year old Bethany Harmer was top of the pile on 3 out of the 4 pieces of apparatus and showed exceptionally difficult work for her age teamed with excellent presentation, but suffered two unfortunate falls on beam which kept her off the overall gold. Bethany therefore took overall silver just behind Spalding gymnast Clara Willis.
The final round of the day saw the level 3 and 2 gymnasts on show. TNAG had managed to pursuade semi-retired Chloe White to make up a team at level 3 and Chloe competed admirably on 3 pieces of apparatus showing she has lost none of her beauty or elegance on floor and beam - thank you and well done to Chloe. Chloe and the rest of the level 3 team were some way ahead of the Spalding team in this section, easily fulfilling and frequently exceeding the requirements of the level. The team picked up the gold medals with 7 marks to spare. Individually Lucy Jarvis picked up the overall bronze with 43.65 and Naomi Loome silver with 45.05. With possibly the most faultless all around performance of the day Polina Polyakova scored best on all 4 pieces of apparatus on her way to amassing a fantastic total of 48.60 and, with it, the gold medal. Polina's new floor routine was a particular highlight of the day.
There was unfortunately no team event at level 2 as Spalding did not have enough gymnasts available and so TNAG's level 2 girls fought against Spalding's Anna Goulding for individual honours only. Summer and Angel Kenzitt and Emily Crowe treated the admiring crowd to some top quality gymnastics with all of the girls debuting new moves and routines with Angel battling through the competition cleanly despite a serious knee injury. The girls ensured TNAG finished with another clean sweep of the medals - Summer finished 3rd and took the bronze medal with 46.15, Angel took silver with 48.40 and Emily the gold with 49.00 including a fantastic 12.6 for her show stopping floor routine.
This meant that TNAG finished the day having won all 3 team titles, and 11 out of 12 individual medals on offer. The large TNAG delegation were very well looked after by the staff and volunteers at Spalding to whom we are very grateful for providing this opportunity for a much needed early-season friendly competition. All of the gymnasts have earned a huge confidence boost from the day and made their coaches very proud.
