Fundraising News

Thank you to everyone who came along to our fantastic Spring Ball in May. Photos taken by Heather Hobbs have now been uploaded to the gallery on this website; take a look at www.spelthornegymnastics.com/gallery. 

This summer we have two fundraising activities:  

SPONSORED WALK AROUND VIRGINIA WATER LAKE - SUNDAY 23RD JUNE
Join us for a walk around Virginia Water Lake, whilst raising valuable funds for Spelthorne Gymnastics Fundraising. Invite along friends and family to enjoy the stunning surroundings, and bring along a picnic to enjoy at the Totem Pole afterwards... or just come along for the picnic! 

There will be a circuit of 2.5 miles for our younger walkers or the option to walk the complete 4.5 mile circuit for the more adventurous. Our main walker Robert Reynolds (Sophie’s dad) has raised a lot of money for us and will be walking at least three full circuits of the lake. 

Please pick up a sponsorship form from reception or download a printable one here. 

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS - SUNDAY 30TH JUNE
The championships are run by the Club every summer. Our main sponsor presents the Imtech Cup to the Club Champion at the end of the day. 

The fundraising team will be firing up the barbecue and serving burgers and hot dogs from 10.30am. We will also be running a cake sale, and are requesting donations of home-made cakes and biscuits (no nuts please) which should be brought along on the day. We had a fantastic variety of cakes last year - thank you! Finally, prizes for our popular mixed tombola will be gratefully received. Please give donations to any member of the fundraising team or leave at reception for us to collect.    

Thank you for your support.

The Spelthorne Gymnastics Fundraising Team.

National Tumbling Finals

Ten Spelthorne gymnasts headed to Stoke-on-Trent on the weekend of 1st and 2nd June to represent South East England in the National Tumbling Finals.

Each gymnast had to execute two tumbles in the heats; with the top scorers earning a place in the finals and the opportunity to perform their third tumble.

On Saturday, national grades 1 to 3 were contested. Competing at grade 1 were Sophie Reynolds (women’s 9-10 years) and Bradley Gold (men’s 9-10 years). Both young gymnasts showed great composure to comfortably reach the finals, Bradley in first place and Sophie in second (despite suffering an injury to her humerus which had prevented her from taking part in the acro national finals in May). Competing at grade 2 were Ethan Law (men’s 9-10 years) and Katie Blackford (women’s 11-12 years). Katie came out strong to convincingly earn a place in the finals in first position. Ethan made a couple of errors which put him in fourth position going forward. Spelthorne’s grade 3 gymnasts Finlay Gray (men’s 11-12 years) and Louisa Dewey (women’s 13+ years) were our final competitors of the day. Finlay displayed his usual accuracy and confidence to lead the way into the finals, whilst Louisa executed great tumbles to qualify in sixth place in an extremely tough group.

The finals took place later in the afternoon and what a wonderful afternoon it was. Ethan put earlier mistakes behind him to score highest in the final round, but it wasn’t quite enough to earn him a medal as he retained fourth position overall. Louisa again performed well and managed to pull up to fifth place. Bradley and Finlay withstood the pressure to hold on to their leads, earning them each the well-deserved title of National Champion. Sophie and Katie also rose to the challenge to achieve second places. Two Gold Medals and Two Silvers for Spelthorne and a great day's work.

Day two of the competition saw national grades 4 to 7 and Spelthorne’s older gymnasts in action. Our tumblers had jumped two grades this season so the competition was going to be tough. Competing at grade 5 were Oliver Coombs (men’s 13-14 years), Ellie Coombs (women’s 15+ years) and Chris Tierney (men’s 15+ years). Oliver and Chris performed neat tumbles to each be placed in fourth position going into the finals. Ellie led the day’s Spelthorne scores after the heats, but stiff competition meant that she qualified in seventh position. Our grade 6 tumbler Oliver Baines (men’s 13+ years) faced some very experienced opposition but held his nerve to qualify for the finals in fourth place.

Again, all of our gymnasts through to the finals, a fantastic achievement. Ellie held her composure and managed to pull up to sixth place. All three boys performed steady tumbles to hold on to fourth position, with Oliver C. closing the gap to miss out on the bronze medal by a mere 0.1 points, and Oliver B. missing out by 0.4.

The new format of the competition, away from acrobatics for the first time, was interesting and a fabulous weekend was had by all. Two full length tumble tracks with constant action and a dedicated audience made for a friendly and exciting weekend.

Visit the GALLERY to view more photos of the competition.

Spelthorne Gymnastics Summer Camps

We are pleased to announce details of the 2013 Summer Camps.

Week 1 - Monday 29th July to Friday 2nd August
Week 2 - Monday 5th August to Friday 9th August

£18 per day or £75 for all 5 days

9.30am to 3.00pm

Aged 4 to 12 years old (must be in reception class at school, not nursery)

Friends are welcome but must be a current British Gymnastics member, or prepared to pay the £6 fee for this (6 weeks temporary membership)

Camps must be booked in advance. Payment in full is required with booking (and certainly at least 3 days beforehand); this is so we can anticipate the number of coaches required to provide excellent coaching ratios.

Please visit our DOWNLOADS section for further information on the camps and a printable booking form, or alternatively register your interest at reception.

We may offer our pre-school aged members shorter days on certain days only – please let reception know if you are interested, and if we have enough interest we will organize this.

PLEASE NOTE: Playtime will be closed from Thursday 25th July and will re-open either 12th August or 28th August – see website for confirmation (will be closed Bank Holiday Monday 26th August)

Summer Displays

Come and see Spelthorne Gymnasts perform at two major local events this summer:

Ashford on the Map
Sunday 2nd June
We will be performing between 1.00pm and 2.30pm
http://www.ashfordonthemap.org.uk/

Shepperton Fair
Saturday 8th June
We will be performing at 3.15pm
http://shepperton-fair.org/

 

NDP National Acrobatic Finals

Last week, seven gymnasts from Spelthorne travelled to Fenton Manor, Stoke on Trent, for the National NDP Finals, where they would be competing against the best acrobatic gymnasts in Great Britain. They had qualified to compete here by winning the qualifiers for the Suuth East Region in March.

First up on Saturday morning were Ellie and Olivia, who were competing in the Prep A, Women's Pairs. They performed a flawless routine and finished in joint second place, coming home with a silver medal, and just being pipped to gold medal by a small margin.

Next up were Saskia, Jodie and Alyssa who had to wait until nearly 6pm in the evening to perform. The girls were in a very tough category, Grade 1 Women's Groups. They danced beautifully to their Pink Panther music, and received the highest score of all Spelthorne gymnasts at the finals. The top three in this category however scored very highly, and unfortunately they just missed out on a medal finishing in fourth place.

We had to wait until Sunday morning for Rhys and Mollie's performance and they did not disappoint. Their routine was stunning as usual, and despite a very small slip up and having a height deduction, managed to hold onto third place, and a very well deserved bronze medal.

All the gymnasts performed excellently over the weekend, and should be very proud of their achievements.

Thank you to Heather Hobbs for writing this report.

Playtime - Important Notice

Apologies but Playtime will be closed during the half term holidays.

Please click here for details of the Half Term Holiday Club we will be running for school age children.

May Half Term Holiday Club

Playtime will not be running during the May half term holiday.

Instead we are offering a Half Term Holiday Club to our existing members aged 4 (school age) to 12 years. Friends will be welcome, but must have British Gymnastics membership (or can buy an annual membership for £16).

The club will run on Tuesday 28th, Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th May.

The cost will be £18 per day or £45 for all three days (9.30am to 2.30pm) and places must be booked and paid for in advance.

Children will need to bring a packed lunch and a drink.

Further information on our Half Term Holiday Club will be available soon. We hope to run another club during the summer holidays. 

NB The clubs will not be available to the 11-16, Grades and Tumbling groups.

Acrobatic British Championships Report

13th-14th April 2013

Hayley & Elise
Sophie & Niamh
Frazer & Finlay 

A very small contingent headed to Stoke-on-Trent with only 2 women's pairs and a men's pair eligible to compete. 

It was an early start for everyone on Friday morning with a training slot allocated at 1.30pm in Fenton Manor.  

Saturday was the qualifying rounds and the girls needed to reach the top 8 to compete in the final on Sunday. First up in the morning the women's pair balance routine. Sophie and Niamh had a shakey start with some time faults, a height penalty and a large stumble leaving them in 5th place for the morning; Hayley and Elise had a solid routine and finished the balance round in 4th place. Next up the boys and a solid balance routine left them in an excellent 2nd position going into the afternoon session.

After a break back at the hotel for lunch and then a mad rush after finding out the afternoon was running 45 minutes early, a nervous Hayley and Elise started the afternoon off with a good dynamic routine to finish in joint 3rd position and comfortably through to Sunday's final. Sophie and Niamh had a more solid afternoon and finished the afternoon in 4th place going through to the final. Next up the boys and a fall on one of their elements pushed them back to 4th going through to Sunday.

With a clean slate and knowing a better day needed to be had by everyone, Sophie & Niamh started the session off with a more secure dynamic routine but finished the day in 6th position. Hayley and Elise came out strong and with a beautiful routine, claimed the Silver medal. Frazer and Finlay finished off the session with a good solid routine putting the mistakes of the day before behind them to take 4th place.

Thank you to Aoife Lee for supplying this report.

Visit the Photo Gallery to view some more images taken at the competition,
and the Video Gallery to watch Hayley and Elise's silver medal winning routine.

Classes & Playtime on Bank Holiday Monday

Recreational classes will run as usual next Monday, 6th May.

Playtime is also open for those aged 5 and under. Children aged 6 and over are welcome upstairs in the dance studios for craft activities (9.30am - 2.15pm).

Alison & Bob receive Community Award

Our club directors Alison and Bob Cooper were presented with the Community Award at last week's Spelthorne Civic Awards ceremony.

The award recognises their contribution to the community over 25 years.

It was presented to them by the Mayor of Spelthorne, Councillor Robin Sider who said "It was a wonderful evening and a delight to see those who give such an excellent service to the borough in a voluntary capacity."

Clipping from the Surrey Herald: