Last weekend saw all regions from across Great Britain come together in Birmingham for the 2016 national finals. Many of our boys were successful at the recent regional trial and were selected to compete at the event for the East Midlands region.

The event began on Friday 4^th November, with the Club level 1 and 3 competition. James Norman represented the region at level 1. James performed a solid Pommel routine (8.9), Vault (8.65) and Floor despite a minor wobble (7.95) to score 53.25. Harry Norman and Leo Hoggard competed at Level 3. Leo produced one of the highest scoring Pommel routines of the day with a brilliant routine (9.85) as well as solid routines on Vault and Parallel bars. Harry also had a strong Pommel routine, scoring 9.45 and a stylish Floor routine (8.5).

Saturday 5^th November saw the Club Level 2 competition, where 3 of our boys where involved in the team, Kian Keogh, Charles Gardner and Jack Reyes. Kian led the way with brilliant performances on the Floor (9.1), Pommel (9.2), Vault (9.9) and PPP (8.55). Charlie also produced a very stylish floor routine which was the 3^rd highest score of the competition (9.15), as well as strong performances on Vault (9.65) and High Bar (8.7). Jack scored brilliantly on a much improved vault for him (9.4) and had solid performances on Floor (8.1) and PPP (8.1). After a huge team effort, the team placed in 2^nd place, winning the Silver medal, less than a mark off gold! Huge congratulations to the boys and their coach, Jonathan Reyes.

Saturday also saw Luke Harrington and Liam Jury compete at Club and Elite Level 4 respectively. Luke contributed to the team with a fine performance on rings (8.4) and vault (8.95). Liam Jury overcame some prior nerves with strong performances on Vault (8.925), APP (9.1) and the 3^rd highest score on PPP (8.9).

On the Sunday, Niall Storer competed in the Elite Level 1 team. Niall built on both the regional selection trial and the London Open with a confident performance and particularly strong performances on Pommel (9.05) and Vault (9.0). Colbi also built on previous competitions with an assured performance on floor (8.6), pommel (9.225) and vault (9.45), with a very strong high-bar routine (9.0).

Congratulations to all gymnasts and coaches involved!

Download the latest quarterly update - Academy Performance Director update October 2016

We are delighted to announce that we have appointed Sergey Sizhanov as Assistant Head of the Men’s discipline.

Sergey is a Level 6 – International Performance Coach and has produced exceptional results in both a club setting and internationally with Great Britain. Back when we were Notts school of gymnastics, Sergey coached both the junior and senior boys for 5 years. During this time, Notts won the British U12 team championships 3 years in a row, as well as the British NDP team championships. He personally coached the likes of Andrew Smith, Reece Pearson, Zach Walker as well as Sam Oldham, who all achieved British All-Around titles in this time. During his time at British Gymnastics, he has been a driving factor in the success of the men’s junior teams, with many going on to represent GB at the Olympic Games. Sergey was the head coach to the Junior European Championship winning team in 2008, which included his own gymnasts Reece Pearson and Sam, as well as Daniel Keatings and Daniel Purvis. He was also the Head Coach to the Junior European Championship winning teams in 2010 and 2016, which involved gymnasts such as Max Whitlock, Frank Baines, Nile Wilson and Brinn Bevan. At a senior level, he was also Sam Hunter’s personal coach during his success at the 2010 European Championships, as well as the 2010 World Championships when he finished 7^th All-Around.

We look forward to officially welcoming Sergey to the academy on Monday 31^st October.

Last weekend, London Gymnastics hosted the London Development Open at the Redbridge Sports Centre in Essex which saw over 500 boys compete across the weekend. Notts had a strong contingent of 21 boys that competed between Friday 30^th September and Sunday 2^nd October.

The weekend began with the Under 8 and Under 9 boys on the Friday. Within the U8 category, we had Phoenix Frost, Callum Haywood, Noah Farnsworth and Alfie Heard. After a slightly nervous start for the young boys on Parallel Bars, the boys rose to the occasion and had a brilliant competition. In a field of 65 competitors, all the boys achieved a top 20 All-Around finish, with Phoenix Frost (a year younger than all the other boys) placing 19^th, Callum Haywood in 15^th, Alfie Heard in 12^th, with Noah Farnsworth finishing 4^th despite a fall on Parallel Bars, a fantastic achievement for the boys. As well as strong All-Around positions, Noah Farnsworth took the Gold medal on High Bar with a score of 9.234, and the Silver medals on Floor and Rings with scores of 9.0 and 7.3 respectively. Huge well done Noah! On the Pommel horse, Callum Haywood achieved a Silver medal on the Pommel with a fantastic routine scoring 9.4. In the Under 9 category we had James Norman and Oscar Sampson, both built on their performances at the recent regional championships and will act as good preparation for James who is competing at the National finals in November.

Saturday saw Charlie Gardner, Kaydon Kennedy, Archie Latter, Ethan Norris, Louis O’Keeffe and Jack Reyes compete in the Under 10 competition, as well as Liam Jury in the Elite Under 12 category. The Under 10’s also built on their performances at the recent regional competition and in a field of 75, achieved impressive All-Around finishes of 11^th for Kian, 13^th for Charlie, 34^th for Jack, 43^rd for Louis, 45^th for Kaydon, 57^th for Ethan and 60^th for Archie. Huge congratulations to Charlie, who won the Gold medal on the floor with a brilliant routine scoring 9.367. Huge congrats also to Kian, who achieved the Silver medal on pommel with a score of 9.7 and also to Louis who achieved the bronze medal on vault with a score of 9.8. Special mention also to Louis, who after struggling with a mental block on a tumble on the floor in the week prior to the competition, performed the skill and the routine brilliantly, scoring an impressive 8.867 placing 9^th. Liam Jury made improvements on his pommel routine, as well as strong performances on Vault, Rings and Parallel Bars to finish in 16^th place. Colbi Curtis competed in the final round of the day. He got off to a great start on pommel despite an undfortuate slip and then the rings where he completed a skill that he has been having trouble with (winning £5 off his coach) to score 2 marks higher than regionals. Colbi produced solid performances on Floor (8.56) and Vault (9.3), and performed an excellent high bar routine scoring 9.534 which unfortunately just missed out on a medal in 4th. 

On the final day of the competition we had Niall Storer competing in the Elite U9 competition, Niall produced strong performances on the pommel (8.75), vault (8.7) and high bar (8.5) to finish with score of 44.78. In the Elite U8 category we had Lucas Bowen and Zakaine Fawzi-Mccaffrey competing. Zakaine produced brilliant performances on Pommel (9.25), Vault (9.45) and High Bar (9.23) and despite uncharacteristic mistakes on floor and parallel bars achieved a score of 48.4 and a 14^th place finish. Lucas Bowen also started strong with a score of 9.05 on the pommel, and produced good performances on rings and vault, but also made uncharacteristic mistakes on floor, parallel bars and high bar scoring 46.5 All-around finishing in 18^th place. The afternoon saw Harry Clarke and Leo Hoggard compete in the U11 competition. Leo produced strong performances on the pommel (9.3) and Vault (9.1) to achieve an All-Around score of 42.86. Harry also had performed well on pommel (8.75) and Vault (9.70) to achieve an All-Around score of 44.6.

Huge well done to all the gymnasts and coaches in what was a very successful weekend for the boys!

Message from Adam Folwell - Return of Sam Oldham