YMCA youngsters retain overall team title (From Barry And District News)

YMCA youngsters retain overall team title

FOLLOWING the footsteps of their club-mates who recently represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games, Barry YMCA's younger gymnasts showed that they were not to be outdone by their older counterparts when they performed at the South Wales 6, 7 & 8 years Championships which were recently held in Cardiff.

As gymnasts are not eligible for Welsh competition until they are eight years old, the South Wales competition gives the youngsters a chance to perform the basic skills that they have been mastering, in a less intimidating environment before they go on to national competitions.

The aim of the festival is to have a fun introduction to competition and this certainly seemed to be the case as the Barry gymnasts smiled their way through the competition. The gymnasts were warmly encouraged and cheered on by the audience of parents.

In the six years of competition, the Barry team of Olivia Parry, Nicole Forbes, Chantelle Jones and Elena Jamieson were an excellent demonstration of the ethos of the festival as they jumped, tumbled and swung their way to first place in the team competition, which was gained not only due to their great work but by their obvious enjoyment and enthusiasm through the event.

This team success was mirrored by success in the individual section where Olivia Parry took the title followed by team-mates Nicole Forbes in 2nd place and Chantelle Jones in 3rd. Coaches Becky Hosken and Mikelle Courtney were thrilled with their great work and fun attitude.

Continuing with the fun, Barry's seven year old gymnasts showed that the club truly does have strength in depth when they entered seven gymnasts into the competition. Performing routines on tumble, bars, beam and vault, the six girls performed excellently, especially as the majority of them were competing in their first competition.

Barry's success continued with the red team consisting of Chaliese Anderson-Ludvigson, Hazel Noel, Natasha Burrows and Emma Worrell that took second place in the team competition. Sadly due to a team member not showing up at the competition, there were not enough gymnasts to complete the blue team but Sophie Gildersleve and Seren Moyle put in some great performances and were awarded a medal of achievement by the club on returning to the gym to highlight the hard work put in.

There was also success in the individual event where Chaliese achieved a well-deserved third place. Thanks to coaches Donna Parsons, Kirby Goddard, Becky Hosken and Mikelle Courtney for their hard work.

The 8 years category proved to be the toughest competition of all. Many of the gymnasts in this section had already competed in the Welsh Grading Scheme earlier this year so were a little more used to the competition format. Coached by Kirby Goddard and Donna Parsons, Barry's gymnasts of Chloe Ladner, Bethan Goddard, Jessica Raby and April Dee illustrated how much they had improved in the past year, demonstrating well performed skills, which will be the backbone for learning the more difficult movements as they become older. Their great team effort ensured that they took third position and finished off a great morning of gymnastics for Barry YMCA.

The afternoon brought with it the South Wales Preliminary Championships where Barry entered a team in the under 11 phase two category. This event entailed gymnasts aged from 8 - 11 performing two set routines on both tumble and vault. Coached by Katie Ingram and Debbie Richardson, the five gymnasts performed near faultless routines resulting in Daisy Debono (9), Nicole Collier (9), Curzon Melbourne-Glanville (9), Zoe Thomas (10) and Becky Bates (8) taking the team title.

Their success was mirrored at the Welsh Preliminary Championships where the team maintained the overall team title which they had one last year. It was a great way to finish off an enjoyable day.