We are delighted to announce to the return of former Notts gymnast Sam Oldham to the academy.

Sam joined Notts as a 7-year-old and achieved a lot of success during his time at the club, breaking into the junior national squad and became the British under 12 champion. He left Notts at the age of 14 and has gone on to achieve great things within the sport.

As a junior, he was part of the 2008 Great Britain team that won the Junior European Championships for very first time, before going onto becoming individual Junior European All-Around and High Bar Champion in 2010. He also represented Great Britain at the Youth Olympic Games, claiming Gold on the High Bar and Silver on Pommel.

As a senior, Sam has represented Great Britain at the European and World championships, achieving an individual Silver medal at the 2013 and 2014 Euro’s on High Bar. He was also part of Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics, who claimed a historic Bronze medal in the team event.

Sam will be training at the academy full time within the Men’s squad and has his sights firmly set on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.

We wish to offer him a huge welcome home and the best of luck in the future from everyone here at NGA!

On Sunday 18^th September, 15 boys competed in the East Midlands selection trial for the National Finals, which will be hosted in Birmingham in November.

The first round saw Niall Storer, Colbi Curtis and Liam Jury compete for a place in the Level 1, Level 2 and Level 4 Elite Grade teams respectively. Niall secured his place with a 5^th place finish, as well as Colbi finishing 3^rd and claiming the bronze medal. Liam was the only boy in the region competing at Elite level 4 and will represent the East Midlands as an individual. At Club level 1 both James Norman and Oscar Sampson produced a confident performance, with James earning selection with a 6^th place finish.

Within the second round we had boys competing for a place in the Club Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4 teams. In a very tough competition with 23 boys going for 6 places, Kaydon Kennedy and Ethan Norris competed finishing 12^th and 11^th respectively. Kian Keogh (3^rd), Charlie Gardner (5^th) and Jack Reyes (6^th) earned selection with Louis O’Keefe (7^th) named as 1^st reserve. Within this competition, Louis O’Keefe won Floor, with Charlie and Kian claiming joint 2nd. Kian won vault, and Charlie came in 3^rd place. Kian claimed 2nd on the parallel bars and Jack Reyes claimed 1^st place on high bar, with Louis in 2^nd and Charlie in 3^rd.

Harry Clarke, Harry Norman and Leo Hoggard competed in the Level 3 competition, with Harry Norman and Leo achieving selection with 5^th and 6^th place finishes respectively. Harry Clarke achieved 2nd place on Vault, and Harry Norman came 3^rd on Rings.

Luke Harrington was also successful in gaining selection in the Level 4 team with a 2^nd place finish. He won floor, rings and high bar, claiming 2^nd on pommel and 3^rd on vault, parallel bars and PPP.

Although too young be eligible to compete at the National Finals, a number of boys competed in the Level 0 competition. At Elite Level 0, Zakaine Fawzi-Mccaffrey claimed the gold medal all-around with a strong performance, scoring a perfect 10 on the pommel horse! Lucas Bowen was close behind, claiming the silver medal with a brilliant performance. At Club Level 0, Alfie Heard achieved a 4^th place finish all-around with Noah Farnsworth and Callum Haywood finishing 9^th and 7^th respectively. Alfie claimed 1^st place on floor and 2^nd on pommel, with Callum achieving 1^st place on pommel.

Huge well done to all gymnasts selected to represent the East Midlands at the National Finals and their coaches!

The Downie sisters Becky (2008 Olympian) and Ellie become the first British gymnastics sisters to compete together in an Olympic Games. Becky the 2016 European bars champion competed at Beijing whilst for Ellie, the 2016 vault and floor European silver medallist, this is her first Games. British all-around champion Claudia Fragapane and World Championships team bronze medal winners Ruby Harrold and Amy Tinkler complete the line-up.

Becky Downie: “I’m really, really excited and pleased to be selected. I can’t wait to get out there now; all of the team have worked so hard and are so excited. For me personally it was a big decision to carry on for this Olympic cycle but I knew I had more to give and feel like I’ve proved that. Being part of Team GB is amazing, we’re so excited to get our kit, to be in Rio, to see all the other athletes and be on that Olympic stage.”

Women’s Head National Coach, Amanda Reddin: “We have selected a team of gymnasts who have experience at the very top level. All the of team members were part of our line-up that made history by taking World Championship team bronze in 2015 and we have continued with further successes at this year’s European Championships - so we go in to the Games full of confidence. The balance of the line-up means we have a strong team set up and also individual chances for success.  The priority now is to fine tune the routines in the next four weeks as we build up to Rio.”

The weekend of 9th & 10th July 2016 saw 12 gymnasts from Notts Gymnastics Academy attend the Gymstars Invitational competition in Tarxien, Malta.

Despite the fact that it was the first competition abroad for many of the gymnasts they performed extremely well exceeding all expectations.

Olivia Hackney and Thea Dane competed in Category B against strong opposition including gymnasts from Abingdon, Marriotts and Malta. Liv finishing 5th overall and Thea 6th, Thea also took the gold medal on Floor and Silver on Vault.

Two teams from Notts competed in Category D, In the Individual 10-12 age group category Katie Watson and Olivia Coventry both won medals with Katie, despite being 2 years younger than many of the other competitors, 2nd overall and 3rd on Vault, Olivia produced her best Vault to take the Silver and finish 9th overall in a strong category of 56 gymnasts. Amy Harper - 20th, Erin Scott - 26th and Lara Hill - 27th also helped the team to a 5thplace finish.

The other team consisted of Lucy Willis and JoJo Darby who finished 28th & 46th in the 10-12 age group category, Niamh Lehane 10th in the 7-9 age group category, Lori Prentice 13th (7-9) and the youngest member of the team Amelia Short 20th (7-9).

It was a successful trip for the academy from a relatively inexperienced group of gymnasts, who relaxed with a trip to the waterpark and beach after the competition.

Well done to everyone and thanks to the coaches, Alan Price, Sarah Middleton and Libby Sheard.

Gymnasts:Olivia Hackney, Thea Dane, Olivia Coventry, Katie Watson, Amy Harper, Erin Scott, Lara Hill, Lucy Willis, JoJo Darby, Niamh Lehane, Lori Prentice, Amelia Short

Coaches:Alan Price, Sarah Middleton, Libby Sheard

Please note that between the 4th and the 21st August the office will be closed. 

For general inquiries during this time please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will get back to you as soon as possible once the office re-opens. 

Thank you.