Challenge Cup

Sunday 25th November

Jessica Comes 4th Overall

Congratulations to Jessica Hill for a good all round competition!

Jessica earnt hereself a bronze on beam and came a respectable 5th on floor.

On bars she achieved a personal best in a National F.I.G.competition with a score of 9.550.

!!! Well Done Jess !!!

On Saturday the 10th Nov ,Colchester School of Gymnastics, gymnasts,  Charlotte Volf , Sophie groves and Annousha Humphries were chosen to represent Essex in the Eastern Counties Gymnastic Association Level 3 Team Competition. However due to illness Annousha Humphries had to pull out which left Charlotte and Sophie to travel to Ipswich for the competition along with a fourth Colchester gymnast, Molly Palmor ,who was selected as reserve.

The girls competed consistently well on all pieces and along with the other team members gained a total score of 136.20, which took the bronze medal.

On Sunday 21 October

Colchester School of Gymnastics hosted the

Regional Recreational Qualifier competition.

In the morning the club entered 9 gymnasts from their boy’s squad. For some of the gymnasts this was their first competition! The boy’s all competed superbly.

In the 11/12 age group Archie Menzies competed consistently on all pieces and took the gold medal with an excellent score of 44.60.

The other 8 boys all competed in the 8/10 age group and again after some excellent performances Dominic Emm took the overall gold medal with a score of 42.50, with Bradley Martin coming a very close second with 42.40 and Marcus Fenton was third with 42.35.

The competition was also an individual apparatus final with the top 6 on each piece going through to a regional final in Ipswich. Each of the Colchester boys competed excellently and they all qualified for the final on one or more pieces of apparatus!!

The Colchester boy’s that competed were, Archie Menzies, Dominic Emm, Bradley Martin, Marcus Fenton, Callum Barber, Jack Oakes, Josh Sage, Arthur Greig and Oliver Hulstrum.

In the afternoon it was the turn of the girls. Competing for Colchester in the 11/12 age group was Megan Shahdin. Megan did extremely well and managed to qualify for both the beam final and the floor final. Megan also took the silver medal on floor.

Rebecca Bailey was competing in the 13+ age group and again performed well on all 4 pieces of apparatus. Rebecca qualified for the vault, beam and floor finals and also took the silver medal on the vault.

This was an extremely busy weekend for the gymnasts and coaches of Colchester School of Gymnastics.

Saturday 13th October

the Eastern Counties Gymnastics Association

Out of Age levels took place at the Ipswich Gymnasium.

In the morning Ellie Watson and Molly Palmor competed in the 10 & 11 age group for Level 4. Ellie just missed out on a Bronze medal by .15 with her score of 44.55.  Molly scored 43.70 and was placed in 7th position.

In the afternoon two gymnasts competed in the Level 3 competition.  In the 11 & 12 age group Sophie Groves produced a score of 44.40 gaining her 7th place and Charlotte Volf  came in 10th position with a score of 43.75.

On Sunday morning Colchester entered five girls into the level 4 team competition. They were Molly Palmor ,Finley Clarridge-Laurance, Ellie Watson, Megan Frogley and Jessica Darkins with a very good all around performance from each gymnast they scored an excellent team score of 136.55, which gave them the bronze medal in a very high standard competition.

In the afternoon the level 3 team consisted of Sophie Groves, Annousha Humphry , Charlotte volf and Eleanor Clifford. The girls again, each, competed excellently and after a very close competition the girls walked away with the gold medal with a combined score of 140.60.

Colchester School of Gymnastics would like to thank all their gymnasts, coaches and volunteers for their dedication over the last few months.

On Sunday 30 September 2007 Colchester Gymnastics Club hosted the Essex and Suffolk FIG and Level 2 competition.

Competing for Colchester was Jessica Hill.

Jessica had a good day finishing with an excellent score of 44.525 which gave her the silver medal.

The competition was also an individual apparatus final, with Jessica taking a further 4 medals!! Jessica completed a superb floor routine which gave her the gold medal on this piece along with an excellent beam routine which gave her a second gold medal. Jessica’s bar routine and vault both gained her bronze medals, making her total 5 for the day!   

On Sunday 23rd September the Eastern Counties Gymnastics Association held the Level 3 in age competition at Pipers Vale Gymnastics Club in Ipswich.

Eleanor Clifford was Competing for Colchester School of Gymnastics.

Eleanor had an excellent competition with a superb all around performance, which included the highest score of this competition on Floor, of 12.95!

This score helped Eleanor win the silver medal and a place in the National finals as part of the team representing the East region.

On the morning of Sunday 09 September Colchester School of Gymnastics entered 5 girls into the Essex Recreational Level 7 competition.

Emma Burley in the 11+ age group put in an excellent all around performance and just missed out  on gold by .3, taking silver with a score of 41.950.  Katie Males was Colchester’s entrant for the 9/10 age group. Katie did very well in her first competition and finished in 5th position scoring 29.800. The 7/8 age group had a large number of entries and  the Colchester girls ,all competing in their first competition did extremely well with Natasha Males coming 7th with a score of 41.050, Lucy Tate was 8th with 39.00 and Isobel Stanton, came 11th  scoring 36.35.

In the level 6 competition, the Colchester school of gymnastics girls stole the show!! Maisie Corton’s performed brilliantly and her score of 45.000 gave her the gold medal, Imogen Mohammed and Carys Healy also had a superb competition winning silver and bronze respectively with scores of 43.65 and 43.45.

In the 10/11 age group Annabelle Dando also performed extremely well and scored 43.150 which stole the gold medal. Tara Smith scored 41.850 and came in 4th position, missing out on the bronze medal by just .3.

Megan Frogley won bronze for her superb all around performance in the 12+ category with a score of 43.35, and Bethany bridge scored 41.050 giving her 5th position.

The level 5 contestants equally impressed the judges with their superb performances.  Jessica Darkins won gold with an outstanding score of 45.650 with Temar Habtezghi taking the bronze with her 44.60 score. In the 11/12 age group Kayleigh Wilson came in 5th position scoring 40.450.

On Sunday 16th September the Essex County Levels took place at the Colchester School of Gymnastics.

In the Level 4 competition, Molly Palmer in the 10/11 age group won gold with an outstanding performance which gained her a score of 45.70. Ellie Watson was pipped at the post for bronze by just .2 gaining fourth place with a score of 43.00.

In the 12/13 age group Finley Claridge-Lawrence was another who just missed out on the bronze by .05 scoring 43.85.

The Level 3 took place simultaneously with Charlotte Volf winning the silver for her excellent 44.10 score and Sophie Groves again performing extremely well took the bronze with a score of 43.950.  Annousha Humphries took a gold medal for her outstanding bar performance and came 5th overall with a score of 43.350.

Competing in age for Colchester was Eleanor Clifford who received a total of 5 gold medals!!! She managed to win gold on each individual piece with an final score of 49.250 giving her the overall medal too.

The gymnasts from the club all competed to a very high standard and the club are very proud of their achievements.

This would not be possible without the help of the coaches and volunteers who help run these competitions, so efficiently.

On 24th June, Colchester School of Gymnastics had 16 gymnasts entered in the Bury Spectrum Novice competition held at Bury Gymnastics Club.

In the morning competition, Jessica Saunders received the Silver medal for her outstanding performance in the 11/12 age category, receiving a final score of 46.250.  Bethany Bridge obtained 43.850 which included an excellent bar score of 11.850 and Katie Haywood gave a beautiful floor performance finishing with a score of 36.300.

In the 9/10 age group Colchester entered 5 gymnasts, who all gave great performances, especially on their floor routines. Ellie Humphries got an overall score of 42.350 which gained her 7th place and Katie Spencer finished with round score of 40.000 and 10th place. This was followed by Charlotte Evans with 39.950, 11th, Sophie Sunderland with 38.900, 12th, and a very close 38.850 from Holly Ong,13th.

In the afternoon, Emma Burley and Tara Smith were entered into the 10/11 age group.  There was a large number of entries in this age group with Emma managing to win 6th place with a score of 44.750 and Tara came in 10th with 43.750.  Both girls gave a superb performance on their floor routine.

In the 12/13 age group Megan Frogley stole gold for her exceptional performance, which gave her a score of 47.250.  Ceri butcher gave a good all-round performance scoring 41.100 and immediately behind her was Verity Michie scoring 41.050 with another great performance.

The Boys took the top three places with Archie Menzies winning gold with a fantastic score of 44.450, Carl Brice closely in second taking the silver with 44.300 and Thomas Littlewood with bronze scoring 42.300.

Colchester School of gymnastics would like to once again thank their coaches for their dedication in training the gymnasts and to congratulate the gymnasts for their achievements.

On Saturday 14th July the gymnasts and coaches would like to offer an open invitation to the public to attend, their summer fete,

starting at 10 O’clock  at Colchester School of Gymnastics, Brinkley Road, Colchester. FREE ADMISSION.

Jessica Hill  British National Grade 1 Champion!!

April 29th

Colchester School of Gymnastics has recently gained success with 8 of our members qualifying for National finals.

First to compete was Jessica Hill who qualified to enter the Club Grade 1 competition, as part of the regional team, held in Birmingham on April 29th. She did tremendously well and is now the proud title holder of the British Grade 1 Champion defeating gymnasts from all over the country to achieve this. Jessica obtained 1st place on Floor and 3rd  on Beam and Vault.  The East team also took the team gold medal.

Next up were the 6 boys who travelled the long distance to Newcastle for the Elite & NDP  National Finals held over the Bank holiday weekend. Tommy Nicolaou competed in the Elite age 9 tournament on Saturday. Tommy achieved 9th overall obtaining a superb 3rd on vault and Pommel score which helped him to achieve a National squad placement.

The 5 remaining boys competed in the National Development Plan section, which is a team event, involving teams from regions of the UK. George Chanarin took part in the Intermediate 2 NDP level. He won the individual silver medal, taking 1st on Pommel & P.Bar,2nd on H.Bar & PPP aswell as 3rd on Vault  making a huge contribution to his team winning the Gold medal.

Ashlee Tokeley was in Intermediate 1, his scores also enabled his team to win the Gold medal.

Primary 1 saw Toby Sayer assist his team to the Bronze medal. Toby obtained his best score on Pommel, a very difficult piece.

Alexander Winstanley  took part in the Primary 2  team event. His team also won the Bronze medal. Alexander’s best scores were on Vault and Rings. He also made a large contribution to the teams overall score.

On the same weekend there was a girls Compulsory National level competition in Birmingham. Competing for Colchester and the East region was Eleanor Clifford, who has recently been advised that she has been awarded a place in the junior National squad.The East team achieved the Bronze medal , with Eleanor obtaining excellent scores on Floor and Vault.

Last but by no means least was Adam Steele who had to wait until Monday to compete in Primary 3. Adam completed a superb weekend by obtaining 9th position and yet another place in the National squad. The East region successfully took both The Rose Bowl & The Blaxill Cup as overall winners of each event, an outstanding accomplishment.

All the Boys and Girls have worked very hard for this fantastic achievement.

As well as the time and effort made by the coaches Phil Morris, Shaun Mason, Amanda Mason, Steve Spinlove and Andrea Cook.

Amanda Mason said of the boys “I am very pleased with the results for the Colchester Boys. They are going from strength to strength and long may it continue, well done to all involved, to have 6 boys entered into the National Finals is a great foundation to build on.

Steve Spinlove (head coach) “ I am extremely proud off all the achievements of both  the boys and girls over the past few months. Which I hope will continue.”

On April 22 the 7 girls from Colchester School of Gymnastics, who qualified in February , competed in the regional finals of the NDP club grades in Ipswich.

The girls had a tremendous day, starting with Maisie Corton in grade 6 (aged 8). Maisie achieved  the highest floor score, in her grade, of 12.60 , and came third overall winning the bronze medal with a total score of 62.60.

In the 9-10 age group, Ellie Watson also succeeded in gaining the highest score on vault 12.90 and floor 12.55 gaining a total score of 61.45. These scores helped her to achieve 3rd place and the second bronze medal of the day. Imogen Mohammed scored well across the board with a total of 59.10 and 7th place overall. Meghan Beattie also had a good day with a total score of 58.45 beating her score from the County Qualifier.

Grade 5, age 9-11, included a further 3 of Colchester’s gymnasts. This was the largest group of the day. Brooke Wright equalized her County Qualifier score with 57.50. Annabel Dando also did well and totalled 57.35 and Temar Hebtezgh also had a good overall score of  57.10.

Colchester School of Gymnastics would like to congratulate these girls and their coaches for their hard work and dedication, which enabled them to achieve these excellent results. 

Six Colchester School of Gymnastics boys are going to compete in the National finals after qualifying at the Regional Setwork qualifier.

Tommy Nicolaou competed in the Elite Grade, over 8 and under 9 scoring an impressive 9.70 on Pommell and 58.95 overall. This score earned him a place in the National final.

In Primary 3 , Adam Steele quite literally stole the gold medal achieving top scores on all 6 pieces! His total score was an excellent 61.10. Adam will part of the team representing the East at the National finals.

Primary 1 saw Toby Sayer just miss out on the medals coming fourth overall. Toby is also going forward to the National finals as part of the East team.

There was more success in the Intermediate 2 event, where George Chanarin won the gold medal scoring  top marks on 3 apparatus and a total score of 61.70. Again George will be going to the National finals as part of the team representing the East.

In the Intermediate group 1 Ashlee Tokeley obtained a place in the East team for the National final but missed out on stepping onto the rostrum, also coming fourth overall.

Primary 2 was the biggest entry group of the day which included 5 Colchester Gymnasts. Alex Winstanley obtained exceptionally good scores across the board gaining an overall score of 58.50 which takes him through to the National Finals.

The remaining 4 Colchester Gymnasts  performed well and obtained good scores, Geoff Bethell 57.10, Alex Turton 52.35, Harry Hulstrum 52.15 and Joshua Brady 49.95 but just missed  travelling to the National finals in Newcastle in May.

A further Colchester gymnast, Jessica Hill, was also competing this weekend. Jessica was in the British Schools competition which is a National competition held in Newcastle, as part of the team representing the East.

Jessica performed extremely well coming second out of the East team and 20th  

Overall, with the team being placed 5th. 

Once again the club are very pleased with their gymnasts performances, which are the result of a lot of hard work and effort on the part of both the gymnasts and the coaches.

London development Open X [1]

Colchester boys bring back medals!!

On March 24th / 25th

 four boys from Colchester School of Gymnastics travelled to London to compete in the London Mens Open Development competition. The six piece apparatus competition was a fantasic day for the boys.

The first competition was Primary 4 which saw Tommy Nicolaou aged 8 up against 48 boys from across the country. Tommy came an impressive 2nd with 9’s across the board and an extremely high score of 55.70

Adam Steele took part in the 3rd competition of the day at Primary 3 level. He battled it out to gain 3rd place against tough opposition, with his outstanding floor routine winning him gold on this piece ana amassing a total of 53.70.

Primary 2 was the last competition of the day. Two Colchester Gymnasts, Alexander Winstanley and Geoff Bethell competed in this competition which again had a large entry. The boys competed very well and took 7th and 16th place respectively . Alex achieved a total of 53.00 and Geoff 50.80 against extremely stiff opposition. 

The boy’s coaches would like to convey their delight at the boys magnificent performances enabling them to gain such fantastic results at this level.

Sunday 3rd June

Colchester hosted the County Grade 1 and 2 competition. The club had 2 gymnasts entered in this competition and again had a very successful day.

Lauren O’Neill was entered in the 12+ age group. She competed extremely well and obtained the highest scores on Vault, Beam and Floor which help her achieve her excellent overall score of 49.25 which easily won her the gold medal and a pass with Distinction.

Megan Shardin was also competing for Colchester, in the 9/11 age group. Megan again competed very well and finished 5th with an excellent score of 47.30 which also gained her a pass with Distinction. 

Colchester School of Gymnastics would like to congratulate all their gymnasts for their achievements in these competitions, and acknowledge all the hard work put in by the gymnasts and their coaches.

Sunday 27th May

8 boy’s from Colchester Gymnastics Club competed in the Bury Spectrum Floor and Vault competition.

In the 8 and under age group Colchester had 6 boys competing in their very first competition. All 6 boys had an excellent competition, with Colchester taking the top 6 places! In first place and winning the gold medal with a superb score of 21.70 was Dominic Emm. He was very closely followed by Callum Barber with a score of 21.60 and the silver medal. DylanWalend-Wrigley took the bronze medal with another good score of 21.35. This was a very close competition with Arthur Greig coming 4th by just .10 with a score of 21.25, Joshua Sage was 5th  with a score of 21.10 and Oliver Hulstrom 6th with a score of 20.55.

In the 9 and over age group the club had 2 gymnasts competing. Archie Menzies had an excellent competition and gained top scores on both floor and vault, which won him the overall gold medal, with Marcus Fenton scooping the Silver medal with another excellent overall score of 21.80.

Jessica Hill 

British National Grade 1 Champion

Colchester School of Gymnastics has recently gained success with 8 of our members qualifying for National finals.

First to compete was Jessica Hill who qualified to enter the Club Grade 1 competition, as part of the regional team, held in Birmingham on April 29th. She did tremendously well and is now the proud title holder of the British Grade 1 Champion defeating gymnasts from all over the country to achieve this. Jessica obtained 1st place on Floor and 3rd  on Beam and Vault. The East team also took the team gold medal.

National Squad Place For

Tommy Nicolaou

Next up were the 6 boys who travelled the long distance to Newcastle for the Elite & NDP  National Finals held over the Bank holiday weekend. Tommy Nicolaou competed in the Elite age 9 tournament on Saturday. Tommy achieved 9th overall obtaining a superb 3rd on vault and Pommel score which helped him to achieve a National squad placement.

The 5 remaining boys competed in the National Development Plan section, which is a team event, involving teams from regions of the UK. George Chanarin took part in the Intermediate 2 NDP level. He won the individual silver medal, taking 1st on Pommel & P.Bar,2nd on H.Bar & PPP aswell as 3rd on Vault  making a huge contribution to his team winning the Gold medal.

Ashlee Tokeley was in Intermediate 1, his scores also enabled his team to win the Gold medal.

Primary 1 saw Toby Sayer assist his team to the Bronze medal. Toby obtained his best score on Pommel, a very difficult piece.

Alexander Winstanley  took part in the Primary 2  team event. His team also won the Bronze medal. Alexander’s best scores were on Vault and Rings. He also made a large contribution to the teams overall score.

On the same weekend there was a girls Compulsory National level competition in Birmingham. Competing for Colchester and the East region was Eleanor Clifford, who has recently been advised that she has been awarded a place in the junior National squad.The East team achieved the Bronze medal , with Eleanor obtaining excellent scores on Floor and Vault.

Last but by no means least was Adam Steele who had to wait until Monday to compete in Primary 3. Adam completed a superb weekend by obtaining 9th position and yet another place in the National squad. The East region successfully took both The Rose Bowl & The Blaxill Cup as overall winners of each event, an outstanding accomplishment.

All the Boys and Girls have worked very hard for this fantastic achievement.  As well as the time and effort made by the coaches Phil Morris, Shaun Mason, Amanda Mason, Steve Spinlove and Andrea Cook.

Amanda Mason said of the boys “I am very pleased with the results for the Colchester Boys. They are going from strength to strength and long may it continue, well done to all involved, to have 6 boys entered into the National Finals is a great foundation to build on."

Steve Spinlove (head coach) “ I am extremely proud off all the achievements of both  the boys and girls over the past few months. Which I hope will continue.”

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The county qualifier for Club grades 6 & 5, was the first competition of the year to be held at  Colchester School of Gymnastics.

The competition saw 54 gymnasts competing from all over the county. All nine girls from the club achieved the pass score with seven of them obtaining distinctions, as well as two gold medals and a bronze.

Grade 6 Maisie Corton in age 8, scored 61.20 which gave her the gold medal and a distinction.

In the 9/10 age group, Ellie Watson scored 61.15 to earn a distinction and the gold medal. Imogen Mohammed was awarded 59.40 to gain a distinction and the bronze medal, whilst Megan Beattie gained a further distinction by amassing 58.25.

Grade 5, age 9 to 11 saw distinctions go to Annabel Dando, 58.05: Temar Habtezhgi 58.00 and Brooke Wright 57.50. Passes were achieved by Emily Wood 57.05 and Daisy Prall 56.15.

The seven girls with distinctions will now be going forward to the regional final which will be held in Ipswich in April.

The school are delighted with all their gymnasts who, along with their coaches, have worked extremely hard to achieve these excellent results.