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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!

The 2019 Regional Team Finals took place in Birmingham, and saw Alton members representing the South in both the Trampoline and DMT events over the weekend.

On the Trampoline, Elena came 4th in the Disability NDP1 Category 1 group. Unfortunately an extra bounce in her first routine meant that scored zero for it. She later admitted that her legs were ‘like jelly‘ as she got on to compete in front of the few thousand people in attendance, but she showed great composure to not only continue her first routine, but to get back on and performed an excellent second routine which actually received the same score as the girl who won!

Zaki was back again, having represented the region last year. This time around he had qualified in the higher NDP2 category. He improved upon his performance last year and finished in a very respectable 10th place.

On the DMT, Elliot had also qualified for the 2nd year running, and he too had moved up a level to compete in the 13+ NDP2 category. He was competing alongside Liam, who was competing his first season in DMT. Both successfully completed all of their passes, with Elliot finishing in 11th and Liam in 9th.

Jasmine and Molly competed in groups where the scores were very close throughout, where every wobble or misstep made a difference. For Jasmine in the 13+ NDP2 group there were fewer than 4 marks between 1st and 19th place, with Jasmine finishing in 12th. Molly’s NDP1 11-12 years group was even closer, with Molly finishing 17th yet only 1.3 off of a place on the podium!

We’re proud of all of our members, who were fantastic representatives of both the club and region at this event. Sylvia Comber, who was selected as one of the Regional coaches, was thanked for her support over the weekend, with one parent expressing for the gymnasts “what a memorable experience for them all”. There was great support throughout by all of the competitors and the coaches of various clubs, who all helped each other and made for a really positive team environment. When the overall results were announced, Team South finished the event in 9th in Trampoline, 6th in DMT, 5th in Tumbling, and 3rd in the Disabilities categories. Well done to all those who took part!

The full results from the event can be found on the British Gymnastics website, and the Southern Trampoline & DMT Facebook page contains a selection of photos from the event as well.

Well done to our superb Stuart Sharpe, who won Silver medals at both of the 2019 Spring Series events, earning himself a place at the British Championships later in the year!

Stuart, defending his crown after winning the 2018 British Championships in the Mens 15+ Category 1 group, completed all of his routines, coming 2nd in both events in groups of a high standard.  Congratulations to Nicholas Smith of Aspire who came 1st on each occasion, and it looks to be an exciting final when the British Championships come around!

For Stuart, it was great to see him continue his consistency and demonstrating his ability with the GB Squad and coaches around.  Thanks to Sylvia, Hilbre, Dawn and his father Philip for their support at each event.

CONGRATULATIONS TO FRANKIE, as she claimed the Bronze medal at the first Trampoline League of the year.

It was her first experience at a national Trampoline League event, and Frankie showed little nerves as she pulled off four excellent passes.

After her initial two passes she was placed fifth, which meant she qualified for the final.  She then successfully landed her ‘Full’ (full-twisting back somersault) and her ‘Rudi’ (1 and a half twisting front somersault), earning high enough scores to push her up into third position and earning her place on the podium.

The results meant that Frankie earned 40 league points and a great chance of qualifying for the League Finals at the end of the year.  A brilliant result – well done to her!  Thank you as well to ‘Coach Kerry’ and to our friend Lisa Lewis, for supporting Frankie on the day.

The qualifying rounds have now been completed and we are delighted that Stuart Sharpe has qualified through to the 2019 English Championships!

Having won the title last year, Stuart made the ideal start, winning both of the qualifying events to gain his place in the finals to be held in September.

As well as this, Stuart was involved in the Disability Synchro competition, with this season seeing it introduced for the first time ever.  Stuart and his fellow GB Squad member, Aliyah of Activ8 Trampoline Club, came 3rd.  Once again, seeing the development within the whole disability categories is impressive, and the attitude and support shown by the coaches and competitors for one another is wonderful to see.

Full results can be found on the British Gymnastics website.

We would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to one of our long-standing coaches, Lisa Tope, who has decided to take a break from her regular coaching duties.

Lisa has been part of the club for many years, completing qualifications and giving us a huge number of hours for the benefit of our members. She is now stepping down to spend more time with her family and we would like to thank her and her family for her help over the years and wish her all the very best for the future.

Lisa said “thank you for my lovely send off and very generous gifts; I feel very spoilt. I will miss you all and sorry if I didn’t get round to saying Goodbye. I will miss being part of the ATC family, it has been such a huge part of my life for many years, but equally I’m looking forward to spending more time with my own family. Good Luck to you all as the club moves forward.”

Congratulations to Scott and Eloise, who recently passed their Level 1 Coaching assessements and become the latest coaches to join our team.

Both Scott and Eloise have been members of the club for many years and were keen to undertake the course as soon as they became old enough.

Both remain active members and continue to train too. We are delighted for them and will continue to support them, both as competitors and to help them develop into the fantastic coaches they are fast becoming!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ELLIOT, LIAM, JASMINE, MOLLY, ELENA AND ZAKI! All of whom have been invited to represent the Southern Region following their successful performances at the Regional Team Qualifier!

Elliot, Liam, Jasmine and Molly all achieved the qualifying score and a top 2 position in their DMT groups, while Elena and Zaki achieved the same on the Trampoline.

Having had 9 members reach the qualifier across the two disciplines, their were strong performances throughout the day. In Trampolining, Elena won her group in the TPD Regional 1 Category 1 group, while in the NDP 1 11-12 years Alex came 8th out of the boys and Molly 20th out of the girls. Elliot and Liam earned podium places in the 13+ boys, coming 2nd and 3rd respectively, although neither managed to hit the qualifying score, coming within 0.5 of it.

Zaki came 2nd in the NDP2 group to reach the regional squad for the 2nd year running. The NDP3 group saw Jasmine come 20th, the NDP4 group saw Scarlett produce an excellent compulsory routine but an error in her 2nd routine meant she finished in 24th. Finally, Hattie produced two excellent routines to finish 8th in a highly competitive NDP5 group.

While the groups were smaller in the DMT competitions, the target was still to hit those qualifying scores and a top 2 finish, and every single member did their best by successfully landing their passes. Molly’s 2nd place in the NDP1 group, along with 1st for Liam and 2nd for both Elliot and Jasmine in NDP2 all secured their places in the squad. Alex and Scarlett both narrowly missed out as they both achieved the qualification score, but finished in 3rd and 4th respectively. Hattie unfortunately had to withdraw midway through her competition after aggravating a foot injury.

Well done to all our members and to everyone who competed and qualified to join a strong Southern Regional Team, ready for the Regional Team Finals in June.