Congratulations to our Head Coach Mike Wakely, who has successfully passed his Double Mini-Trampoline (DMT) Regional Judge assessment.

Already a Trampoline Regional Judge and involved in judging and chairing since DMT competitions first started in the region, Mike joins a small number of individuals in the country with that level of qualification, with fewer than 60 in trampoline at the beginning of 2026 and a substantially smaller number in DMT. Congratulations to Mike!

Congratulations to every one of our gymnasts who competed in the Southern Regional Championships at the weekend!

With 15 members taking part, it proved to be a busy day of thrills, spills, somersaults, plus a regional champion or two (or FOUR in this instance!).

Well done to Natalia, Elsie, Orin and Alice who all came 1st in their Club Level categories.

Gabriela and Effie also won trophies as they finished 3rd in their DMT groups. With Effie competing at Regional Level 1 her performance means that she is also first reserve for the Southern regional team.

Harriet, in her first competition, along with Isla both won bronze medals for their excellent trampoline scores in the Assessment Level.

Head Coach Mike said “These competitions are not solely about medals and trophies, but about personal accomplishments and teaching gymnasts to deal with adversity and challenges, as well as successes. Our gymnasts handled all of these with amazing character and we are incredibly proud of them all.”

There were ups and downs throughout the day. Olivia and Gabriela made unfortunate errors in their early DMT passes, but then stepped up to pull of great subsequent passes. Lauren had a fall in her final warm up, but then showed no fear as she landed her competition routine and a top 5 finish. The team spirit shown by every single Alton gymnast to support one another throughout was evident throughout!

Thanks as ever to our wonderful coaches, judges and helpers for their support on the day: strong>Kerry, James, Lauren, Zoe and Mike, and of course to our other coaches for preparing our gymnasts for the event. Best of luck to everyone representing the region in July and well done to everybody who took part this weekend.

Here are the final positions for all of our gymnasts:

• Trampoline Club 1: 9-10yrs: Orin (1st).
• Trampoline Club 3: 7-8yrs: Elsie (1st), 11-12yrs: Lauren (4th), Celia (5th), 13-14yrs: Ada (4th), Phoebe (8th), 15+yrs: Natalia (1st).
• Trampoline Regional 1: 9-10yrs: Kristiana (8th), 13-17yrsAlice J (22nd), Olivia (25th), Immie (26th), Gabriela (30th).
• Trampoline Regional 2: 15+yrs: Effie (16th).
• Trampoline Regional Assessment 1: Isla (Bronze), Harriet (Bronze).
• DMT Club 1: 13+yrs: Alice (1st), Gabriela (3rd).
• DMT Regional 1: 15+yrs: Effie (3rd), Olivia (6th).

A huge well done to Natalia as she finished 15th in the National Schools Trampoline Finals!

Competing in the impressive Derby Arena, in the centre of the Velodrome, Natalia proved that she deserved to be there, showing off the skills that took her through both the previous regional and zonal rounds.

We’re so proud of what she’s achieved, with coach James highlighting how it was “a huge accomplishment reaching the Finals” and Kerry, who was there coaching and supporting her at the event, praised her and how she successfully reached a step further than last year. She once more did a fantastic job representing Perins School too.

Well done Natalia!

Wow! Our members really turned up at the second Regional Trampoline & DMT Qualifier competition this past weekend!

There were medals and qualifiers throughout the whole day, and even those who missed out last time improved upon their previous efforts on this occasion! Once again, gymnasts competed across the Regional, Club and Assessment categories.

On the Trampoline there were medals for Orin (1st), Elsie (1st), Natalia (1st), Ada (3rd), Isla (Assessment Level Bronze) and Cleo (Assessment Level Bronze). In the DMT event both Orin and Elsie stoop atop the podium!

Congratulations to our trampoline qualifiers Immie, Ada, Phoebe, Natalia, Elsie and Orin, who all achieved the qualifying criteria for the Regional Finals.

While it was not meant to be for on this occasion, she showed great character to produce a voluntary routine a full mark higher than the competition just a few weeks ago. It’s not all just about the medals, and so many goals were hit throughout the event, and we are so proud of our gymnasts!

Thank you as well to Kerry and James for judging, and to Lauren and Mike for being on the competition floor throughout the day. It was a great event. Well done to everyone involved!

Adding to her already-impressive skillset, congratulations to our coach Kerry Wells, who has successfully passed her Trampoline Regional Judge assessment.

Having been qualified at County level previously, this is the next level up and demonstrates her ability to critique and evaluate an ever growing number of more difficult and impressive set of skills.

The stellar start to the competition year continued at the Southern Regional Trampoline and DMT competition this past weekend.

This competition is the first of the yearly Regional Pathway events, which sees gymnasts competing in either Regional, Club or Assessment categories, with an opportunity for Regional and Club competitors to qualify for the Southern finals in April.

Another large contingent attended the event at Eastleigh, jumping, somersaulting and smiling their way through plenty of proficient routines!

In the Trampoline categories there were medals for Natalia (1st), Elsie (2nd), Ada (2nd) and Lauren (3rd). There were also medals in the DMT event for Effie (1st), Elsie (2nd), Orin (2nd), Alice (2nd), Gabriela (3rd) and Rory (3rd).

Congratulations to our trampoline qualifiers Lauren, Celia, Ada, Phoebe, Natalia and Kristiana. Competing and qualifying in both the Trampoline and DMT categories were Effie, Olivia, Alice and Gabriela.

Special mention to our Assessment level gymnasts too: Isla, Cleo, Rory and Lucy, who can all be proud of their performances. For Isla, Cleo and Rory it was their first regional competition. Rory also competing on the DMT too, alongside fellow first-timer Orin. Watching them, it has hard to believe they hadn’t competed at a regional event before as all five of them were cool, calm and collected throughout!

Head Coach Mike said “We are so proud of their efforts and performances. It was also brilliant to see the great comradery and support they all gave each other throughout the day”.

Thanks as ever to our support team of coaches and officials on the day, including Rachael doing a great job judging for the first time. There’s not long to wait for the next event either, as our members return to competition action at the next regional competition on Saturday February 28th.

A magnificent start to 2026 as Natalia’s exquisite performances at the Southern Zonal Schools competition has earned her a place at the National Finals!

Having qualified in December in the regional round, Natalia was competing alongside the top gymnasts in the Year 10-14 Intermediate Girls category from the across the South of Great Britain, covering Cornwall all the way to East Sussex. Representing Perins School, she produced two high-scoring exercises to deservedly earn her place on the podium with her 3rd place finish also qualifying her for the National Finals!

A huge well done to our members from Amery Hill School too. The team of Ada, Phoebe, Arabelle and Elisabeth all produced excellent performances successfully completing all of their skills, with Amery Hill finishing a very respectable 7th in the team event.

Thanks to coach James for supporting the gymnasts throughout the day. It was a really positive event and congratulations once again to everyone who took part!

Congratulations to our Chairperson, Rachael Jennings, who successfully passed her assessment and has qualified as a Trampoline Club Judge!

This is the Level 1 judging qualification and her new-found knowledge will no doubt help both the club and also help her appreciate and understand more when she watches her daughter compete in competitions.

If you’re interested in judging then please feel free to contact us or speak to one of our coaches at training, as we are happy to support those that wish to do it and in turn support us. As a small club we’re always interested in having a larger pool of judges available for when our members compete, and of course the more we have then less commitment there actually is to doing it as it gets shared throughout the year.

For now though, well done to Rachael on her new qualification!

There were some fantastic results at the Southern round British Schools Trampoline Championships, which included Natalia winning silver in her individual category and the team of Ada, Phoebe and Arabelle winning a team silver for their school!

In the British Schools Gymnastics Association (BSGA) Trampoline Championships, the regional round sees the top 5 individual and top 2 teams from each category qualify for the Zonal round, taking place in the new year. There were plenty of excellent results and performances from Alton members throughout the day, which also saw:

• Alice 12th and Immie 15th in the Girls Years 7-9 Advanced Level.
• Beatrice 6th in the Girls Years 1-6 Intermediate Level.
• Effie 8th in the Girls Years 10-14 Advanced Level.
• Ada 7th, Phoebe 8th and Arabelle 9th in the Girls Years 7-9 Intermediate Level.
• Alice 12th and Immie 15th in the Girls Years 7-9 Advanced Level.

For Natalia, her routines were both incredibly neat and even earned perfect HD scores in her 2nd exercise and this earned her 2nd place in the Girls 10-14 Intermediate Level and a place at the Zonals for her and Perins School.

The combined scores for Ada, Phoebe and Arabelle, were also strong enough for them and Amery Hill to earn a spot as a team in January.

All of the gymnasts were a huge credit to both their schools and to the club. Well done to them all!

Thanks to coaches James, Kerry and Mike for supporting and judging on the day, along with the teachers in attendance who made the trip to Oxford to support their pupils.

New to our training sessions is a brand new gymnastics incline wedge mat. We are very grateful to the Alton Beer Festival Charitable Trust, who have awarded us the funding with which we’ve been able to purchase this highly useful piece of kit.

The mat has already started being used and will be a beneficial training aide, especially in helping our gymnasts rotate, particularly for learning somersault initiation.

We have already seen its benefits in action, and with the competition season starting in a couple of months’ time, we have a number of members who are targeted more difficult routines involving their first competitive somersaulting elements.

The Alton Beer Festival raise thousands of pounds through their events that they kindly use to support local causes. The next festival dates are on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th May 2026. If you’d like to know more about the event then please visit their website: https://www.altonbeerfestival.org.uk/ .