YMCA Barry’s Male Artistic Gymnastic squad have had a hugely successful couple of months in several competitions and team selections.

There was big excitement when Sammi Morgan and Taylor James qualified to represent Wales at the British Grade Finals.

Taylor James competed in the level four club competition and performed extremely maturely and executed some lovely routines. Taylor made YMCA Barry and the Welsh team extremely proud when competing such a high level of competition.

Sammi Morgan competed in the elite level four category where there was great success from Sammi and Team Wales. Sammi put in some superb routines and helped Wales to Team Gold. This was a huge achievement for Sammi and his teammates as well as Welsh Gymnastics as a whole.

Many of the YMCA Barry gymnasts competed at the annual Men’s Welsh Floor and Vault Championships where YMCA Barry demonstrated that they were a force to be reckoned with.

In the under-7s, the youngest category of the day, Jacob Watkins and Harley Clifton performed fantastically. On floor Jacob and Harley couldn’t be separated and were jointly named Welsh Floor Champion. On vault Jacob received third and Harley became the Vault Welsh Champion and overall Jacob came second and Harley was crowned Welsh Under-7s Champion.

In the under-8s category, Rowan Merrett received fourth on floor, fourth on vault and fourth overall and Charlie Watkins became Welsh Floor Champion. Charlie and Jay were jointly made Welsh Vault Champions and Charlie overall became the Welsh Under-8s Champion. Charlie, Jay and Rowan performed together as a great team and also won the team gold for the category.

Moving onto the under-12s category, YMCA Barry gained even more results. On vault, Taylor and Mason joint for fifth, Jacob fourth and Sammi became the Welsh Vault Champion. On floor, Sammi came sixth, Taylor third and Jacob second.

Overall Sammi received sixth place, Taylor third and Jacob second. Fantastically, the team of Cameron, Mason, Sammi, Taylor and Jacob were made Welsh Under-12s Team Champions.

In the last category of the day, the under-16s, Harri Morgan received second on floor, second on vault and second overall. Josh went onto being crowed the vault, floor and overall champion of the under-16s category.

A big congratulations to all the boys who competed, YMCA Barry were extremely proud, especially with so many Welsh Champions.

Josh Cook following on from such great success, was selected to represent Wales at the 2016 Northern Europeans. Josh had a fantastic competition against the best gymnasts in Northern Europe, where he deservedly came away with fifth on floor, fifth on high bar and seventh on vault.

YMCA Barry are demonstrating their competitiveness not only in Britain but internationally.

With such success at the end of 2016, YMCA Barry were ecstatic with the male squad working so hard all year. This has only been topped by extremely exciting news which was officially released last week.

YMCA Barry are delighted to announce that Josh Cook and Iwan Mepham have been named on the long list of Welsh gymnasts aiming towards the 2018 Gold Cost Commonwealth Games.

Over the next year, alongside four other gymnasts, Josh and Iwan will undergo several trials and competitions to decide the final gymnasts who will represent Wales in Australia 2018.

Barry YMCA wish Josh and Iwan the best of luck over the next year and hope to be able to see Josh in his first Commonwealth and Iwan in his second. Additionally, a big good luck to Josh, Iwan, Dex, Harri and Sammi in the British Championships coming up in March.

YMCA Barry has classes suitable for children of different ages, male and female artistic, rhythmic gymnastics, cheerleading and trampolining.

If you would like any information on any of the classes please follow Barry YMCA on social media @ymcabarry, ring 01446 724000 or email sophie@ymcabarry.org.uk.