Congratulations to James, who won his first ever League medal after coming 3rd in the Trampoline League last weekend in Cardiff.

It was the second Trampoline League event of the season, and James followed up on a confident display in the first event to reach his highest placing, securing his first podium placing, his first medal at a League event, and enough points to guarantee him a place in the League Finals at the end of the year!

Pete Walley is also going to join James in the League Finals as he secured 5th place and enough points to guarantee a top 12 finish regardless of what happens at the next two competitions. Pete played it safe and completed two easier ‘Set’ routines, working on improving his form, and it proved the right thing to do and was shown in the improved Execution Scores he received. This will make it three year’s running that Pete has reached the Finals weekend – an excellent achievement!

Despite just missing out on League points by coming 26th, Chloe Ellis completed her hardest routine yet, with a 10-somersault voluntary routine this was the first time that Chloe had attempted this in a competition, so still plenty to take away. It was only Chloe’s lower HD scores which was the main difference between her and the other gymnasts around her.

Overall it was another good outing for ATC, and we’d like to thank everyone who gave time over the Bank Holiday weekend so that our members could take part.

If you are interested in the full results, they can be found on the Trampoline League website.

THREE WINS OUT OF THREE as Stuart’s fantastic season continued at the English Championships Qualifying event this past weekend.

Following his wins at the first Qualifying event and then the Spring Series a few weeks ago, Stuart Sharpe showed great confidence in all of his routines, consistently being awarded Execution scores in the 8s and improving on previous scores for both his voluntary and final routines. The results also confirmed his qualification into the English Championships in October!

Looking at the increased number of competitors in the group, and the continually improving scores it is clear that the quality displayed by all of the gymnasts in the category are increasing, which is great to see.

For Stuart and his coaches there are three weeks to prepare for the next Spring Series event. In the meantime, congratulations once again to Stu for this recent fantastic performance!

To view all of the results, visit the British Gymnastics website.

Stuart Sharpe continued his winning start to 2018 with first place at the Spring Series event in Telford.

Building on his performance at the English Qualifier a few weeks’ earlier, Stu showed a renewed sense of confidence as he included an additional somersault to compete a harder voluntary routine at this event. It proved to be a good decision as he was awarded the gold medal and got to stand on the podium alongside his fellow National teammates.

Stuart now stands in prime position for qualifying to the British Championships, taking place towards the end of the year.

Well done Stu!

Full results are available at https://www.british-gymnastics.org/event/8926/trampoline-and-tumbling-spring-event-series-1-2018.

It was a good start to the 2018 Trampoline League season with Alton members earning plenty of League points!

Following their appearance in the League Finals last year, Pete and James started solidly. After their initial two routines, both qualified for the group finals of their respective age groups, with James qualifying in 5th place and Pete in 2nd. James then remained in 5th with his final routine, while Pete used the opportunity to attempt a much harder routine, which didn’t quite pay off as he finished in 6th. League points are based on the placings after the initial two routines, which meant that James scored 40 points for coming 5th, and Pete received a massive 75 points for placing 2nd after the initial routines!

In the 11-12 years League 3 group, Jonty was taking part in his first national trampoline competition and did incredibly well. Everyone was delighted with his performance as he completed both routines and achieved 10th place.

Chloe Ellis, consistent throughout the whole of last year, was again in the points, securing 19th place in the large group of Over 19 Ladies. Her second routine especially showed what she is capable of, scoring a personal best with it and a whole mark higher than any routine she had completed previously.

Hattie was competing in a national Trampoline competition for the first time in a few years and improved on her last performance with the hardest routine she has competed to date. Hattie finished 45th in the second largest group of the event, and hopefully this performance is the start of her continuing to improve in both form and the difficulty of her routines.

Our only League 2 competitor, Alec Laurie, had a tough experience just getting to the venue! Being stuck in traffic for hours beforehand, Alec arrived at the venue in time to get one warm-up before competing. Despite this he managed to pull off both routines and earn himself 20 League points with a 10th place finish. A marked improvement over his performance in a University competition the day previously where he managed a total of 5 moves in the whole event!

There was a great team vibe across the competition, with team members staying at the event to support each other. Coach Lee Parrott described herself as “One very proud coach” after watching the display of our gymnasts and their camaraderie throughout. Well done to all of our competitors and best of luck for the season ahead!

As always, full results are available on the Trampoline League website.

CONGRATULATIONS to our four newest judges, who have all now passed their Level 1 Trampoline Judging qualification.

Jasmine Sibley, Vicky Othen, Judy Plumridge and Kerry Wells (photo pending…) all took their Club Judge course course and assessments a few weeks ago, and all came through it with flying colours!

For Vicky, Judy, and Kerry this was an even more impressive achievement – all of them being parents with little prior experience of judging. They all worked hard and made extra time to practice with the club members, and it paid off as they are all now qualified judges.

The advantage of having more qualified judges at the club means that we can enter more members into competitions, and also allows the jobs to be shared out throughout the year, so the same people are not required to judge at each competition. We continue to offer support and guidance to all of our officials as well.

Congratulations once again them all!

Stuart Sharpe started his 2018 competition campaign in style by winning GOLD at the first English Championships Qualifier in Gillingham!

It was Stuart’s first national event since failing to finish a routine in the Spring Series competitions last year, and he quickly banished all memories of that with some controlled routines. Ranked in first place after his initial two routines, Stuart managed to still improve, and received his highest score in the Final to secure first place. This puts him in a strong position to qualify for the English Championships later in the year, while also demonstrating why he recently retained his spot in the National Disability Squad.

Philip Sharpe, Stuart’s Dad, was proud of his son’s “great performance”.

Well done to Stuart, and best of luck to him for the rest of the season!

Full results are available at https://www.british-gymnastics.org/event/9063/trampoline-and-double-mini-tramp-english-championships-qualification-series-1-2018.

Congratulations to our members James and Chloe, who have both recently gained new Trampoline Coach qualifications!

As well as being a competitor, James has been helping out in sessions and decided to take his Level 1 coaching course as soon as he was old enough this year. After successfully passing his practical assessment he received the good news that he is now a qualified Level 1 Trampoline Coach!

Chloe Foster was taking her Level 2 qualification, and after getting confirmation that she had successfully passed both her practical and written exams, she is now a certified Level 2 Trampoline Coach.

Both Chloe and James worked hard and deserved to gain their qualifications – a huge well done to them both! We would also like to thank everyone who provided support and mentoring to help them through, something we as a club we are proud to be able to offer.

We are thrilled to announce that Stuart Sharpe has retained his place in the Great Britain Disabilities Trampoline Squad for 2018!

Following a small setback in the British Championship qualifiers last year, Stuart showed brilliant motivation and determination, working incredibly hard throughout the year, and this has shown by his performances in other competitions and during his Squad training.

Stuart is a great advert for the club and its members, and we are so proud that he has been recognised for his ability and performance. The National Squad continues to improve under the guidance of its National Coach, Dawn Lawson, and we wish to congratulate every one of the deserving gymnasts and coaches who have been selected.

The full squad list is as follows:

Congratulations to Alex, Elliot, Lorna, Katherine, Hattie and Scott, who have all been invited to join the Southern Team following the results of the Regional Team Qualifier event at Eastleigh.

All six of them were competing in DMT and successfully achieved a top 2 position while also hitting the required qualification score for their category.

It was a day of mainly positive results, with 14 competitors from Alton having earned the opportunity to compete at the event, with some taking part in both Trampoline and DMT.

There were twists and somersaults galore, as in the DMT groups every single person completed all four of their passes. Spread across a range of age groups and levels, the results saw Elliot and Alex coming 1st and 2nd in the NDP Level 1 category, while Level 2 had Lorna coming 2nd, Ezri 5th and Scarlett 6th. Scott came 2nd in the Level 3 category, while Frankie came 1st in the 11-12 years group of that level although unfortunately didn’t quite achieve the qualification score. Hattie came 2nd at Level 4, and the highest scoring ATC was Katherine, who soared to 1st place in her Level 5 group!

In the larger Trampoline groups, Zaki is reserve for the Team as he scored well in the Level 1 group and came 3rd on the day. In the same group, Elliot almost managed to qualify in both DMT and Trampoline, finishing 4th, just one place below Zaki. In the girls 11-12 Level 1 group, Molly smashed her previous score and achieved 8th place.

In the Level 3 group both Frankie and Scarlett improved on their previous best to come 6th and 7th respectively. Lorna came 11th with Jasmine reaching 15th.

In the largest group of the day, coach and competitor Jasmine Sibley scored her best individual score in her first routine and while an unfortunate meeting with the mat in her second routine meant she didn’t score as highly in that one, can still come away pleased with her clear improvement as she finished in 24th in the NDP Level 4 13+ group.

Katherine, Hattie, and Eloise all completed their routines in a very competitive 15+ years Level 5 group, with Katherine and Hattie both being awarded form scores in the 8s for their first routines. Katherine finished 9th, Hattie 15th, and Eloise in her first season at this level came 18th.

Well done to all of our members, who did well to qualify for this event, and congratulations to the 6 who have been invited to join the Southern Team at the Regional Team Finals in June. Thank you as well to the parents and coaches who came along to support our members on the day, and to Judy and Alec, who gave their time to be officials at the event.

Elliot performed some terrific skills to come away with trophies in both Trampolining and DMT, as Alton members had a successful day at the final Southern Regional competition before the Regional Qualifiers.

This was the final opportunity for all Trampoline and DMT competitors to achieve the required qualifying score for the Regional Team Qualifier in March. Elliot, one of the our youngest competitors, scored well in his two Trampoline routines (including a perfect 10 for HD in one of them!) to come 2nd in the NDP Level 1 group. He then followed this by landing all four of his passes in DMT in the afternoon to win 1st place! His scores also meant that he qualified for the Regional Team Qualifier in both events. This was a great response from Elliot, who narrowly missed the qualifying score last year and was just one place away from qualifying for the Schools Zonals round a few months ago. His two trophies were a great reward for the hard work he and his Coach, Pete, have put in since then.

There were other members who were competing in both Trampoline and DMT on the day. This included Frankie, Lorna, Scott and Eloise. All four of them achieved the qualification score in at least one of the events, with Frankie and Lorna qualifying in both. Frankie, Lorna and Scott also all earned trophies for their DMT performance. Ezri and Scarlett unfortunately had to pull out, but both had already qualified at previous competitions.

Molly was successful in attempting a Back Somersault in a Trampoline competition for the very first time, as she secured the required score in the NDP 1 category, while the more experienced Hattie and Katherine both earning their place at the Regional Qualifier with their performances in the NDP 5 category.

With both her brother and sister also qualifying, Jasmine made it a full house as she qualified in the NDP 3 group.

Last, but by no means least, Alex went one better than his last DMT competition as he got to stand on top of the podium and was rewarded with a 1st place trophy for his performance!

Well done to everyone who took part, and we are pleased that there will now be an increased Alton presence at the Regional Team Qualifier.

Full results from the day can be found here: