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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Grade 1 National Finals – 14th – 15th July 2007
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Stephen Page, Natasha Holme & Scott Gregory |
Following a highly competitive Grade 1 season Brentwood Trampoline Club once again had three of its members competing in the annual British Championships at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham recently. Winning through to 'the Nationals' is a huge achievement in itself and the event reflects this with each competitor performing their routines as the sole focus of attention of the crowded NIA audience. The event starts, however, with a training opportunity in the NIA on the Friday evening where the three, Natasha Holme, Stephen Page & Scott Gregory, were to hone their routines. Scott & Stephen both made full use of this, Natasha, however, probably the most consistent performer throughout the season, chose this weekend of all to come down with a bug and was too ill to practice.
On Saturday each competitor had to perform one set and one voluntary routine in order to determine the top 8 performers in each age group to qualify through to the 'finals' round on the Sunday. The day started with Stephen in the under-15 boys, Stephen performed a workmanlike set routine putting him into 5th place and then pulled up into 4th through a good voluntary to be the first finalist for the club. Scott in the under-17 boys, followed around lunchtime, when he performing a competent set routine that put him in 8th place (of 24) and then a well-executed voluntary that just put him in the safety zone in 7th to be the second finalist. Natasha was last to compete in the 28-strong under-15 girls group, performing a good quality set she was placed in the middle of the pack but, although buoyed by Scott and Stephen's support, together with Head Coach Paul Kitchen, she was still weak from her bug, and faltered in her voluntary to drop back to 21st.
Sunday started with general warm-ups before the final round of competition. With their order of competition reversed, Scott was first to compete and having added some difficulty to his routine still needed to maintain form to stand a chance of getting a medal place - this he did with some style surprising many of his competitors by leapfrogging from 7th to 3rd place! Stephen, repeating his voluntary routine, was rewarded with much better form scores this time around and was delighted also to be lifted into 3rd place overall. Having secured their trophies the boys now had to wait to see how it might affect their selection for international competition whilst Natasha had to set her sights on preparing for the finals next year.
Fortunately the boys only had to wait a few days until British Gymnastics' National Squad Technical Director for Development, John Beer, paid a surprise visit to the club. He was pleased to be able to inform them that they had both been selected to represent Great Britain in junior internationals later this year. Scott will compete for GB against Germany & Canada in Sheffield (late August) whilst both will travel to Canada in November for the World Age Games.
Speaking after the competition the club's High Performance Coach, Paul Kitchen, commented “What a brilliant result for the boys, it is a fitting return for their hard work and dedication. It was a shame about Natasha of course; based on her form all season she could easily have added a third trophy but sadly that was not to be so this year. For now, though, it is back to work to build up for internationals and next year's competition season."
Contact
Brentwood Trampoline Club trains at Brentwood School Sports Centre four nights a week as well as many Sunday mornings (£5 pay and bounce) and is committed to having fun with a serious objective. For details call 01277 220722, pop in & see them in action some time (and possibly have a bounce) or maybe just have a look at the club's web site at www.brentwoodtc.org which contains full details of sessions, results and information about many other facets of trampolining.
Note to Editors: Picture © David J Kingaby, 2007