Friday's (18th March) Espoir championships saw WA gymnasts Scarlett Williams, Cailtin Williams (2 pieces), Isla Lees, Ramiyah Kofi, Isabella Willocks (3 pieces) and Thea Dane compete, for many of them this was their first English championships. All girls performed fabulously with some recognisable achievements. Scarlett Williams won the espoir vault gold, also placing 4th on bars and 5th overall, Caitlin Williams placed 7th on vault and performed 2 fabulous new skills on beam (flic mount and front somi), Isla Lees had a clean competition placing joint 6th on beam with Ramiyah Kofi, who also showed a new routine on bars. Isabella Willocks and Thea Dane both showed new skills including a flic mount on beam for issy and a double back on floor for thea. Well done girls!

Friday also saw the Men’s under 12 competition. 7 boys represented Notts including Liam Jury,  who built on his performance at the British under 12 championships the week before with a brilliant all-around performance and an overall score of  67.0, which was a missive 4.8 marks higher! This achieved Liam 20th place all-around. Massive well done to him. Also competing in their first ever national competition was Harry Clarke, Luke Harrington, Leo Hoggard, Harry Norman, Jacob Warren and Tobi Watson. All the boys handled their nerves and had a brilliant competition in what was a great experience for them. Leo Hoggard produced a fine pommel horse routine and placed 10th! 

In the Saturday senior competition Becky Downie was the only Notts WA competitor, competing on bars and beam only. Becky won the silver medal on bars with her upgraded routine. 

Sunday saw Laura Kaletha and Olivia Hackney compete in the junior competition. Laura Kaletha had a strong day, placing 10th overall and 5th on bars. Olivia new to the competition had a clean competition. Fabulous work girls. 

Also competing on the Sunday were Joel Milner and Indi Watson in the Men’s under 14 event. Both boys overcame mistakes in what was also their first ever national voluntary competition and performed well, huge well done to them. 

Following the under 14 Men’s competition saw the Under 16 event, where 3 Notts boys competed including Tyla-Jae Curtis, Matthew Boardman and Thomas Morely. A fantastic pommel routine earned Tyla 6th place on the apparatus. Thomas Morley produced 2 brilliant vaults, a tucked Kazamatzu (12.56) and a handspring tucked front. He also produced a solid floor routine, but was unfortunately penalised by a controversial judging decision on his dismount, however, a strong performance going into the U16 British Championships in April. 

Matthew Boardman built upon his silver medal at the British Championships last year (13.73) with a spectacular floor routine with increased difficulty, scoring 14.1 and placing 1st, becoming U16 English Floor Champion!! Huge well done to him. 

Congratulations to all gymnasts and coaches in what was a very successful weekend for the academy!

On Thursday 10th March, Liam Jury competed in the Men’s Artistic under 12 British Championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, in what was a great experience for him. Liam built on his performance at the North West Championships back in February and scored a new all-around personal best of 62.8. 

 He started the competition strongly on the High Bar, performing a solid routine and scoring 9.8. This was followed by a confident routine on the floor, with just a slight mistake on his dismount earning him a score of 12.35 and an impressive 16th place. A mistake on pommel led to one of his moves not being counted, but fought well to go through the routine without falling and scored 7.70. A very solid rings routine earned him a score of 10.9, but a Liam unfortunately could not control his landing after a powerful vault which led to a fall, scoring 10.25. However, after the mistake on vault, Liam finished the competition strongly with clean performance on Parallel Bars, scoring 11.8.

This was Liam’s first ever national voluntary competition, and we wish him luck next weekend at the English Championships in Loughborough!

Well done to Liam and his coach, Matt Hennessey!

On Sunday the 21st of February, a strong contingent of Notts boys travelled to Robin Park Arena, Wigan, to compete at the North West Open in the Under 10, Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16 competitions. 

In the Under 10 competition, Notts had 9 boys competing which involved Colbi-Jai Curtis, Charlie Gardner, Jake Harrington, Kaydon Kennedy, Kian Keogh, Archie Latter, Ethan Norris, Louis O’Keefe and Jack Reyes. All boys displayed confidence and had a positive competition. A huge well done goes to Colbi-Jai Curtis, who secured a top 10 finish against a very strong field, placing 9th all-around with a score of 62.55. 

In the Under 12 competition, Harry Clarke, Leo Hoggard, Liam Jury, Luke Harrington, Harry Norman, Jacob Warren and Tobi Watson were involved. The competition was a good experience for all the boys as it was the first time any had competed on the national Under 12 code. Liam Jury excelled, scoring 62.33 and claiming 6th place all-around in a strong competition. This result should increase Liam’s confidence going into the British Championships, held in Glasgow next month, as well as the other boys competing in next months English Championships.

In the Under 14 competition, Joel Milner and and Indi Watson competed in what was also their first time competing on the national junior code, and performed their routines well. 

At Under 16 three boys were involved including Tyla-Jae Curtis, Sam Plant and Thomas Morley, with Matthew Boardman unfortunately having to withdraw due to injury. A brilliant floor routine by Tyla secured him 3rd place on that apparatus with a score of 13.20, and despite a couple of unfortunate mistakes scored 63.25 and finished in 6th place all-around. Thomas Morley, competing on floor and vault also produced two brilliant performances, scoring 12.8 and 12.70 on floor and vault respectively. These efforts saw the Under 16 team claim 3rd place and a bronze medal!

Well done to all gymnasts and coaches involved!

CLUB OF THE YEAR 2016!

Notts were nominated and won Club of the Year, Ellie Downie was nominated and won Junior Sportsperson of the Year for the 3rd year in a row and Coach Jemma Wilson was nominated and voted runner up in the Performance Coach of the Year category.

The team of coaches, staff, gymnasts, parents & volunteers that work day in day out to keep all our gymnasts enjoying the sport they love deserve a big thank you.

Director Jo Jackson said

"Well done Team Notts, you have worked so very hard that I can't think of more deserving winners."

Junior Sportsperson of the Year- Ellie Downie

Winner Ellie pictured with big sister Becky

Ellie Downie has kicked off 2016 in style as part of Hello! magazine glamorous photo shoot featuring Rising Stars of 2016.

'Young, hot & talented' Ellie has been picked as one of the amazing achievers after winning the BBC's Young Sports personality of the Year 2015.

The magazine picked 6 young talents from screen, stage & sport as they step into the spotlight.

The issue is the 11 Jan, number 1412