The headline pretty much says it all… Congratulations to coaches Lisa Tope and Clare Wakely as they both had their assessments for their latest Level 3 coaching modules, and we are delighted for them as they both successfully passed.

Lisa is now qualified up to Level 3 Module 1, and Clare up to Module 3. This is a great testament to the work they have put in and to their abilities as coaches, and will benefit our members even more. Thank you as well to the gymnasts they coach, who made themselves available to help out with the assessments.

We are delighted to announce that Stuart Sharpe became a British Champion this past weekend! The 2015 Trampoline, Tumbling and Double-Mini Trampoline British Championships took place in Liverpool and Stuart was competing in the finals of the Disability Mens Category 1 National A group, where he produced his highest score of the season to win the the Gold medal.

It is a terrific achievement and caps off an incredible season for Stu who, having returned to action after a year off, had earlier in the year won the Double Mini-Trampoline Level 6 group at the National Finals.

With their successful performances throughout the season, both Stuart and Dan had successfully qualified for the Finals. While unfortunately Dan wasn’t able to make it, their successes, along with the other competitors in the Disability Trampoline category, are a real inspiration, and a testament to the hard work that both the gymnasts and their coaches put in.

The day was capped off when the presentations took place where, not only did Stuart get presented with his medal and trophy, but the coaches were also recognised, where “proud coach” Sylvia was also invited up to receive her trophy. Huge congratulations to the both of them!

These results also mean that in 2015 Alton Trampoline Club has seen members achieve medals at the British Championships, the National Finals, as well as the National Schools Finals, in a quite extraordinary year for the club – for a club run solely by volunteers this is a real success story and a remarkable achievement for its members!

Technology is always advancing, and Alton Trampoline Club is adding innovating methods of learning for its performers with the purchase of a new modern Video Analysis system.

Used by some of the elite clubs in the country, the system allows performers and coaches to record skills in HD, and use the touchscreen to view and highlight specific areas to enable instant visual feedback.

We were delighted to invite ex-councillor Nicholas Branch, along with Laurie Redstone, the Chairman of The Winton Players, to demonstrate the system and show how enthusiastic the gymnasts were in using it. We are incredibly grateful to The Winton Players for a donation they gave to the Club, and to Nicholas Branch and East Hampshire District Council for the grant that they provided. We wanted to demonstrate to them the positive effect the system will have on the gymnasts and how much this will help to benefit the club.

We would also like to thank CMA Sports Analysis who supplied the new system, and have supplied equipment for use by elite athletes at Basingstoke Gymnastics Club, and Edgebarrow Trampoline Club among others.

We look forward to using the system to continue to provide the best opportunities for local gymnasts to improve at trampolining.

Are you 18 years or older? Did you want to try Trampolining?

Alton Trampoline Club are running Adult Trampoline sessions every Thursday night from 8.30pm – 9.30pm at Alton Sports Centre, from 30th July to 27th August. Alton Sports Centre Adult sessions start back up again on Thursday 3rd September.

These sessions are available to Novice or Veterans alike.

The cost to attend is £32.50 (or £27.50 if you are already a member of British Gymnastics). Please contact us if you are interested in attending or if you have any questions.

Update:
There are still spaces available if you wish to join the remaining sessions. The cost will be (dependent on spaces available):

• From 6th August: £27 (or £22 if you are already a member of BG)
• From 13th August: £21.50 (or £16.50).

Following a year of coaching, Claire has decided to stop coaching on regular basis. Having passed her exam in 2014 with Alton, she has been supportive of our younger recreational members especially and we’d like to thank Claire for all of her help.

Congratulations to Lee Parrott, Pete Walley, Angel and Morven, who all passed the assessment for their Level 1 Trampoline Coach award this past weekend.

They all worked hard to complete their log books and have completed many hours of coaching and practice. It is great to see their efforts pay off and they are all now successfully qualified.

Thanks to the support of the other coaches and mentors who helped them through the course as well. We are pleased to have such a support system in place to help develop new and existing coaches.

Are you interested in coaching or judging? Or are you an existing coach who wishes to get back involved? If so then please feel free to contact us.

Alton celebrated success at the National NDP Finals with the crowning of a new National Champion! Stuart Sharpe competed in the Double-Mini Trampoline (DMT) Level 6 group and successfully won the event.

Stuart’s combination of passes had the highest difficulty he had ever competed, and after successfully completing and landing all four of them, he was awarded the gold medal in front of the crowd at The Telford International Centre.

Coach Sylvia Comber was delighted: “What a great day for Alton Trampoline Club, I am so proud of my DMT Champion!”.

This capped off a fine weekend for the club, which also saw Katherine and Scott both competing in their first National Finals. All three gymnasts had to qualify through regional events and then the Regional Team Finals in order to get to the National Finals.

Scott, competing in the Level 1 Trampoline group, continued to show his improvement by producing two strong routines which saw him finish 5th.

In the DMT Level 4 group Katherine started well, but unfortunately her second pass did not count due to an incorrect move. She showed great determination to follow this up with two excellent passes. She narrowly missed out on a medal place and finished in 4th, which was still a terrific achievement in her first full season competing in DMT.

The weekend finished with Stuart competing. Despite a heart-stopping moment where he started falling backwards on his final landing, he managed to get his foot down and remain upright, securing the gold medal.

For a club run by volunteers, it is a terrific accomplishment to see three members competing in the National Finals and a great testament to the efforts of Katherine, Scott & Stuart, their coaches and families. Congratulations!

It’s the Summer again and so we are holding our annual Barbecue again on Saturday 18th July 2015 for members of the club. It has always proven to be a popular afternoon for the family. We have booked one of the picnic spots and will have a barbecue running all afternoon and into the early evening. Bring your own food and enjoy an afternoon socialising, playing games or simply relaxing.

Hopefully we can avoid the rain from last year and enjoy some Sun!

Scott, Katherine and Stuart are all in action this weekend (11th and 12th July) as they have all qualified to compete in the National NDP Finals in Telford.

Scott is competing at Trampoline Level 1 on Saturday, while Katherine follows him in Double Mini-Trampoline (DMT) Level 4. Stuart competes in DMT Level 6 on Sunday morning.

It’s a terrific achievement for all 3 to have qualified this far, and the whole club wishes them the very best of luck!

You can follow their performances, as well as all of the other competitors by downloading the BG Score App.

Stuart and Dan, along with their families, travelled up to Sheffield to take part in the second National Spring Series competition of the year.

In the impressive setting at the English Institute of Sport, Stuart stepped up first in the Mens Category 1 and posted the highest set score in his group. Unfortunately he only completed 9 moves in his voluntary routine so zero-scored and came 7th in his group.

Dan immediately followed Stuart, competing in the Mens Category 2 group. He finished both of his routines and was successful in coming away with the bronze medal for his efforts.

The results from this and the first Spring Series event stand both Stuart and Dan in with a good chance of qualifying through to the National Championships, for which we will find out in due course.

Well done to both of them, and thanks must extend to Andy and Dawn as well for their support on the day.