There was a fantastic turnout at our annual Intra-Club Championships, as more than half of our club members showed off their skills and were awarded with plenty of medals and trophies throughout the exciting event!

All levels and experiences were invited to take part, and the parents and spectators who supported us throughout the competition were treated to performances on both the Trampoline and DMT, culminating in a thrilling Synchro competition and a display from our GB Squad member and British Champion Stuart Sharpe.

For many of our members, it was their first experience of a competition, and they were greatly supported by our coaches and other more experienced members. We had everything from 5-move routines all the way up to 10-somersault routines, there was huge variety and it meant that all members, young and less-young, had a chance to take part.

Special mention to the Syncho competition at the end of the day, which saw teams such as Lorna & Scarlett and Hattie & Katherine, pulling out excellent high-level routines in nigh-on perfect synchronicity, coaches Scott & Eloise baffling the judges by completing complex skills you wouldn’t usually see within a routine, League-finalist Jonty & Level 1-Alex joining forces for the first time, a wonderful moment where brother and sister duo Frankie & Zach celebrated their routine having never tried Synchro with each other before, and eventual winners Stu & Kate Wiggens producing their National-level voluntary routine.

Medals and Trophies

As well as the vast number of medals awarded for the competition, we awarded our annual awards for our Most Improved Members, as well as highest scores throughout the year and day. The winners were well-deserved and listed below. We also made a special presentation to two of our members for their outstanding contribution to the club over the year. Phoebe, one of our youngest members, raised over £200 by training and taking part in a 2k run, and Jonty, who after being unable to train for over 6 months following an injury (outside of club), continued to assist coach in training sessions and officiating and supporting members at competitions.

• Most Improved Recreational Member: Rhianna
• Most Improved Competitive Member: Alex A
• Most Improved DMT: Zach
• Highest Trampoline Form Score of the Year: Hattie
• Highest DMT Form Score of the Year: Jasmine
• Highest Form Score of the Day: Chloe S

Finally, we would like to put out a huge thank you to everyone who helped and supported the club at the event. Many members donated prizes for our raffle, or made cakes to sell (including Vicky, Judy and Reuben) and this raised an amazing £150! To all coaches and officials who took the day to help the event run, and to our Competition Secretaries Anne and Federica, who did much of the organising for groups, timetables, and all of the various behind-the-scene work necessary for our competition to run so successfully.

Our Chairperson, Vicky, presented the awards and said what an amazing job we do for such a small club. We are hoping that this inspires our younger members to compete, and an opportunity for parents to meet our friendly Executive Committee. We are always welcoming, and if anyone is interested in helping join our committee and being part of our fantastic team then drop us a line, or come and speak to us to let us know.

Huge congratulations to Zaki and Federica, who both won medals at the Schools competition over the weekend and have now qualified for the BSGA National Schools Finals!

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Federica, representing Alton College in the Year 7-14 Disability Novice Category 1 group, yet again showed great confidence and composure as she stretched, pointed her toes, remained in the middle of the trampoline, and produced two excellent routines. Her performance earned her third place, a place on the podium and the opportunity to compete in March in the National Finals.

Zaki from Eggar’s School improved upon his performance in the Regional round to produce two strong routines against even stronger competition. His high-scoring routines merited a medal and qualification to the Finals, which he duly earned by finishing in third.

Eggar’s School had also qualified for this competition in the team event, and their team included another of our members, Alex. He had already competed in one competition over the weekend, doing well at the Regional NDP event. Alex continued his good form as he completed his routines safely to add to the overall Eggar’s School score. Ultimately, Eggar’s School, which included Ethan from Alpha TC, did well and finished in third place. In the team competition, only the top two teams qualify for the National Finals, so it wasn’t to be on this occasion for the School, but they can be incredibly pleased with the performances of their pupils.

Thank you to Zoe Perkins, Tegan, and to Anne Edward, who supported all of the gymnasts as well as coaching and judging at the event.

Well done to everyone who took part, and best of luck to Zaki and Federica, who will be flying the flag for their schools at the National Finals on March 14th in Eastleigh.

The 2020 season commenced this past weekend and saw ATC members taking part and achieving success in the first Regional NDP competition in both DMT and Trampoline.

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In all events, if a gymnast achieved a targeted score then they would qualify to be able to take part in the Regional Compulsory Final in March.

Zach was competing in his first DMT competition as he entered the Level 2 11-12 category. He absolutely nailed all four of his passes to achieve the qualification score. He then showed innocent surprise when his name was read out as finishing second and he got to celebrate on the podium with his silver medal!

Also on DMT was Frankie, who has shot up the levels to enter the Level 5 13-14 category. While failing to complete her initial pass, she regrouped and produced three fantastic passes, all landing in the box. This included a Double-Back Somersault, which was the first time she had done this in competition and was one of the few people in the region to attempt the skill! While the first zero score meant that she didn’t achieve the qualification score on this occasion, she still earned the gold medal for her performance.

Elena was following up on her success from last season, where she represented the Southern Region at the Regional Team Finals (RTF). A change in the rules frustratingly means that her category has been removed from the RTF. This hasn’t stopped Elena from working hard and continuing to improve. This improvement was evident as she confidently finished her routines and earned first place for her efforts!

Another member new to Regional competitions was Alex. This was to be a busy weekend for Alex, who was also due to compete in the Schools Zonal round the following day, with yet another different routine. He completed all the correct skills here to score highly and comfortably smash the qualification score! He finished in a very respectable 4th place too and can come away hugely pleased with his performance.

Well done to all our members, who did a great job in the first regional event of the year. There is one more event in February to give gymnasts the opportunity to qualify. We would also like to thank Coach Kerry for her fantastic support on the day to our members.

We’d like to wish all of our members and viewers of this site and Happy New Year! 2020 promises to be an exciting year for Alton Trampoline Club, as we move into new premises into the new Alton Sports Centre this month!

While we have one week of training in the existing site in January, the brand new centre opens to the public of Saturday 11th January. We will have our first training session in the new centre on Sunday 12th January, and the timetable for our regular training sessions will remain the same.

Our usual Saturday session is not running on Saturday 11th, as the new venue, run by ‘Everyone Active’, hosts an Open Day, although we encourage all of our members to drop in and see the new site for themselves.

We will be moving our equipment a few metres across from the existing building into the new build in the evening of Thursday 9th January. We have our usual training session that evening from 6 – 8:30pm, where we will start moving the unused equipment across, with the remaining kit being transported as soon as regular training finishes that evening. We would appreciate any assistance from members and parents in the move, even if it’s just to move mats or trolleys!

The competition season then kicks off the following weekend, with the first regional event taking place on the 18th, and further competitions to follow.

We look forward to continue developing, improving, and ensuring our members continue enjoying the sport as we enter the new decade. Here’s a fantastic 2020!

Members from our club did a wonderful job representing their Schools in the regional round of the 2019-20 BSGA Schools Trampoline Competition!

Zaki and Alex were both representing Eggar’s School in the Years 7-9 Boys Intermediate category. Both did well in their routines, which saw Zaki finish atop the podium in first place and Alex finishing in 4th.

Also competing in the same category from Eggar’s School was Ethan, who himself competes with Alpha Trampoline Club. He did well and came 2nd. All three of the boys also formed a team, with their individual scores being added together to give an overall team score. Their excellent performances meant that Eggar’s School came 1st. These results mean that Eggar’s School, comprising of all three boys, qualified for the Zonal round, with both Zaki and Ethan qualifying in the individual event as well!

Federica was representing Alton College for the 2nd consecutive year in the Year 7-14 Girls Category 1 Novice group. She jumped strongly and confidently to complete both routines, easily improving on her previous performances to secure 1st place and a place in the Zonal round!

Jasmine represented Ditcham Park in one of the largest groups of the day (Year 10-14 Girls Intermediate). She performed the same voluntary routine as she had done in the Friendly competition a couple of weeks previously, but improved upon this immensely to score higher and finish in a hugely respectable 7th place.

Well done to all of our members for their performances. Their Schools can be incredibly pleased with how they were represented. Our thanks go out to Lisa Lewis, Zoe Perkins and Anne Edward, who were all wonderful in their help and support to our members on the day, in the absence of our regular coaching team. Good luck to Federica and to the boys for the Zonal round in January!

There were plenty of fantastic performances by our club members as we joined other local clubs at a Friendly competition down the road in Haslemere.

The event was open to all ages and abilities, from Novice up to national-level routines. We had a large number of ATC competitors, with 17 members all taking part and for the majority of these it was their first experience of a Trampoline competition, outside of our own internal event.

In the Novice Under 8s, Gabriela was our youngest competitor and she showed few nerves to complete her routines to come 4th.

In the largest group of the day, the Novice Under 11s, Jay picked up 9th position with Natalia scored slightly higher to finish 7th. There were huge cheers as the results were read out as Chloe came 2nd and was awarded the silver medal for her fantastic routines!

In the Intermediate B Under 13s, Sam came 4th after not quite landing the final move in her second routine, although she did manage to achieve the maximum possible score for HD (so she remained in the centre of the Trampoline throughout both routines without fail!).

The two sisters, Federica and Elena, battled in out in the TPD group. There was little to choose between them, scoring identically in their second routines. It was a successful event for the family, as both girls finished on the podium and Federica’s better first routine meant that she received the gold medal and Elena received silver.

In the Advanced A Under 11s, Yasmine, Chloe and William all successfully finished their routines complete with somersaults. Yasmine finished in 4th, just 0.1 off a podium place, with Chloe in 10th and William in 11th.

With just a solitary mark separating the top 10 gymnasts, the Advanced A Under 13s was surely one of the closest groups. Alex, Jessica and Edward finished in 9th, 10th and 11th respectively.

Our other Alex was the highest scoring boy in the Advanced B Under 13s, although the mixed groups meant that he finished in 6th place. Alex was competing the routines he performed at Regional level earlier in the year and demonstrated his improvement by scoring higher than he managed in those regionals.

The Elite categories saw Frankie improve on her previous scores to come 5th in the Under 15s, with Jasmine finishing 8th in the Over 15s. Reuben was attempting a routine with a difficulty more than twice that he had ever competed before, which he successfully negotiated to come away with the top spot on the podium and a gold medal!

It was a really enjoyable day with many parents also praising the event, with Natalia’s Mum exclaim that Natalia “loved it and was chuffed with her placing” adding that she was “so proud of her”. Chloe’s Mum also fed back that that “Chloe really enjoyed herself especially as it was her first comp”.

There was so much support throughout, and we’d especially like to thank coaches Kerry and Eloise for spending the day encouraging and looking after all of the members throughout, Mike and Glenda for judging (for Glenda this was her first experience of doing it officially and even ended up judging the Elite Synchronised groups!), and to parents Richard, Melanie and Dominika, along with club members Frankie and Jonty, for giving their time to marshall and look after members. We couldn’t have entered so many competitors without our volunteer coaches and officials, and so many offers of help meant that the workload was often spread throughout the day.

Finally, thank you to our own Anne for co-ordinating our entries, and to Swallows Trampoline Club for hosting an enjoyable event. Well done to everyone who took part. With the new competition season nearly upon us, it was great practice for some of our experienced gymnasts, and a glimpse at the future regional and national Alton Trampoline Club competitors. The future is very promising.

“No guts, no glory” as STUART SHARPE put it all on the line to win the silver medal at the 2019 British Championships!

In an entertaining and highly competitive event, Stuart and Nicholas Smith of Aspire Trampoline Club, produced one of the highest scoring Disability competitions in British Championships history.

There was little to separate them after the initial compulsory routine, with both gymnasts scoring 9.9 for HD (staying close to the middle) and 8s for their technical form. Nicholas then scored higher in the voluntary routine to take a slight lead going into the Final. Stuart left little behind as he attempted five double somersaults in his routine for the first time in a competitive environment. He put in an incredible effort, but couldn’t quite get enough rotation to complete the landing on his fifth double.

The silver medal completes another fantastic season for Stuart, whose achievements and attitude will undoubtedly continue to inspire other members at Alton Trampoline Club, and anyone that wishes to get into Trampolining. For a small voluntary club to have a medallist at the British Championships is a magnificent accomplishment.

Congratulations to Nicholas and to Aspire on his victory and the parts everyone played in a hugely entertaining competition. Thanks to Dawn for her support at the event, and to Sylvia for spending another full weekend coaching and attending it with Stuart.

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There were celebrations galore as Alton’s very own Stuart Sharpe became 2019 English Champion! Competing in the Mens Gold Category 1 group, Stuart regained his crown with a fantastic performance.

The standard in his group has continued to improve, with the voluntary routines all being the hardest routines ever performed in this category. Stuart himself has added an extra double-somersault into his routine, and this was the first occasion he was competing it. He proved he was up to the task though, nailing it in both his voluntary and final routines.

Winning the event once again is a magnificent achievement, and we are incredibly proud of Stuart and his continued commitment to improving and pushing himself to learn and achieve more. He is a great role model for our members and well-deserving of the championship. We would also like to thank Sylvia and Mike, his coaches, and Dawn and Hilbre for the help and support they have given Stuart as part of the GB Disability Squad.

The full results from the event can be found on the British Gymnastics website.

We are holding our club AGM on Friday 28th June at 7:30pm at The Crown Hotel in Alton.

This is an important evening where we will have the chance to celebrate our successes over the past year and discuss the upcoming chances that our planned for the club. We would love to see as many members and families there as possible, as it’s a fantastic opportunity to hear some important information and potentially give any feedback, or indeed to get involved.

It is not a formal evening, and we urge as many people as possible to come and join us!

It was a successful weekend at the Trampoline & DMT League event in Cardiff as our members Jonty and Frankie both guaranteed themselves a place in the League Finals at the end of year!

The weekend started well as Jonty competed in the League 3 Trampoline competition.  Despite finishing within millimetres of the end mat, he managed to remain on the bed and successfully completed his routines to finish in 16th place and earn himself his first League points of the year.

On Sunday things got even better for Jonty as he won the Silver medal in the League 3 DMT competition!  Frankie almost matched this is her larger group, as she did well to finish in 5th. Her group was so close she was only 0.2 off of 2nd place, which was a result of her toe being judged to have landed outside the target zone – such are the fine margins in DMT!

The league points they earned from their fantastic performances in DMT mean that they have both secured a place in the League Finals, and made even more impressive considering neither one had been able to prepare fully due to injuries.  Jonty also currently sits in 22nd position overall in his Trampoline group with one more League event remaining and the top 24 qualifying, so will have to wait until the end of August to discover whether he’ll be competing in both disciplines.

Congratulations once again to them both!