Okehampton Flyers had another successful day at the South West Trampoline Club and Regional Challenge Cup Final in Bath this month, with a number of club gymnasts becoming Challenge Cup champions in their categories.
At the South West qualifying competition in June, the club had achieved 17 qualifying places for the Cup Final in trampoline and double mini trampoline (DMT).
For trampolining, gymnasts perform two routines containing 10 moves each in front of a panel of judges. For DMT, gymnasts compete four passes consisting of two moves each on a long, narrow trampoline. Competitors are marked for form and technique, height, travel and in more advanced categories, difficulty.
In trampoline, all of the gymnasts showed style in their routines, with Abigail Graves and Bracken Granger both taking first place in their respective club one and club two categories.
In the club three 11-12 girls, Skye File came first, with Connie James coming second by 0.05, and Victoria Bristow came sixth. In the club three 13-14 girls, Sophie Ware took the gold medal, with Sienna Trick taking silver, and Charlotte Pickbourne coming fifth.
In the regional categories for trampoline, Adela Wrzecionko took the silver medal in regional one 11-12 girls, with Esther Smith also giving neat performances and finishing 34th after a couple of errors.
In regional two 15+ girls, both Teegan Smith and Miya Porter performed well to come fourth and eighth respectively. All of the regional gymnasts had increased their routine difficulty ready for the cup final.
For DMT, Victoria Bristow took the gold medal for with very tidy passes, and in the club two 11-12 girls, Connie James took gold, with Adela Wrzecionko taking silver and Esther Smith taking bronze, all with neat, solid passes. Mason Parker-Groves also took the gold medal in the regional one 9-12 boys.
In the team competitions, Skye File, Connie James and Victoria Bristow took the gold medal for club three 11-12 girls trampoline, and Sophie Ware, Sienna Trick and Charlotte Pickbourne won gold in the club three 13-14 trampoline. For DMT, Esther Smith, Adela Wrzecionko and Connie James took team gold for club two 11-12 girls.
Many of the club gymnasts took Challenge Cup titles, with Abigail Graves, Bracken Granger, Skye File and Sophie Ware all becoming Club Challenge Cup champions in trampoline, and Connie James and Victoria Bristow becoming Club Challenge Cup champions in DMT. Mason Parker-Groves became Regional Challenge Cup champion in DMT.
The gymnasts were developed by a team of coaches at the club. All of the gymnasts are now working towards higher grades and increasing their skill difficulty ready for next season, and many other club gymnasts are preparing to compete next season either at British Gymnastics regional or national level.
The club’s head coach, Vicki Pritchard, said: ‘Thank you very much to Ann Smith and Robin Catling for judging all day, the coaches for all of their hard work preparing the children for the competition and supporting them on the day and to all of the parents who did bed marshalling. It was also lovely to see such team spirit amongst the gymnasts at the event.’
The club is trialling for its 5-8 year old junior squads in trampoline and tumbling. Children don’t need any experience of trampolining or gymnastics to trial. Contact [email protected] if your child would like to trial, or follow the club on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok @okehamptonflyers. The club also has a website okehamptonflyers.org.uk with more information.