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2019 has been another busy and successful year for Hartford School of Gymnastics.

 

In February we kicked things off with the Women’s Artistic County and Regional Club Grades competition in Wigan. Everyone passed and Rhea Carless picked up the bronze medal for County Club Grade 1. Megan Palmer (National Judge) and Alex Fielding (Regional Judge) also represented the club on the judging panels.

 

Next, it was time for the Display Team to showcase their new routine ‘The Greatest Showman’. They wowed the crowds at the North West GymFusion event in Liverpool receiving many compliments from members of the audience, family and friends.

 

March soon arrived and the Medal Ceremonies Team joined together for their first event of the year, the Women’s and Men’s Artistic British Championships at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool. 4 days of watching and presenting medals to the best gymnasts in the country, the event has now been part of the Hartford events calendar for 8 years.

 

Following this the team presented medals at the very prestigious World Cup event held in Birmingham.

 

In April, Nicola Ma passed her level 1 coaching exam and her son Edward Ma competed at the North West Challenge.

 

The Display Team smashed Gymfest, Scotland in some serious style in May. Gymfest is a 3 day event held in Scotland and attracts over 50 teams from all over the country. The team were lucky enough to perform on all 3 days of the event, as only certain teams are now being offered a slot to perform in the Friday night Gala Performance. The team hit 3/3 performances. A video of their routine is available on YouTube - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SKu3RNlPDhQ

 

Following the excitement of Gymfest Michelle Oakes and Emma Frith were invited to Radio Northwich to talk about the event and all things gymnastics! Summer was finally here and in June we welcomed back Carla Absalom who lead Zumba sessions for our 4 Piece Artistic Squad to help with their dancing, performance skills, artistry and confidence .

 

As part of Volunteers Week Charlotte Wheeler was British Gymnastics’ Volunteer in the spotlight for her contributions to our club and the sport. Read the full article here - https://www.british-gymnastics.org/…/8337-hartford-voluntee…

 

The Display Team were back in action performing at the Bolton Festival (without a proper warm up after getting stuck on a closed motorway).

 

The Boy’s Squad competed at the Regional Assessment Plan in Wigan.

 

The whole club joined in on International Handstand Day and the Display Team performed The Greatest Showman and their balance and vaulting routine in soaring temperatures to a packed audience at Comberbach Fete.

 

In July it was over to our boys again as they competed at the North West 2 Piece in Wigan. Oscar Ellison took gold overall, Daniel Cannon, Charlie Kennedy and George Avraam overall silver, Tyler Burroughs bronze on vault and Thomas Cannon bronze overall. Thanks to our Men’s Artistic Regional Judge Andrew Cannon.

 

We held a Girls 2 Piece Competition at the club. This competition was designed as a stepping stone from Hartford Sets to County Level 2 and 4 piece events. The girls performed 2 vaults and a floor routine to music. Bronze medals were awarded to Isla Chu, Molly Ashton and Alex Mercer. Emma Reese-Wood, Zara Billington, Polly Burns, Lily Thomas, Kaitlyn McGarr were awarded silver medals and gold medals went to Cadi Pears and Millie Harding. Then it was the time for our development squad gymnasts to take centre stage at our Hartford Sets Summer Competition. It was great to see who many of our gymnasts showing their friends and family what they can do.

 

Here at Hartford, we look to support the community where we can and we were thrilled to partner up with React and Restore Physiotherapy this year. Sian and Mark are based in Kingsmead and at The Grange Sports Centre and members of the club can enjoy a discount on physio appointments and sports massage sessions.

 

At the end of July the Medal Team were back in action at the Championship Series at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool. The 4 day marathon includes the British Championships for Acrobatic, Aerobic, Rhythmic and TeamGym Gymnastics. A lot of competitions and a lot of presentations!

 

August quickly came around and it was time for another British Championships, but this time for our adult gymnasts. The Adult Gymnastics British Championships was held at the home of British Gymnastics, the Lilleshall National Sports Centre, Shropshire. This year we had more gymnasts taking part than ever before. Over 30 Novice Trampoline Janine Siddall finished 3rd overall and in the Over 18 Men’s Artistic, Alex Arshamian also finished 3rd overall. In the Over 18 Women’s Artistic Newbie Competition Rhiannon Hay came 2nd overall and in the Over 45 Women’s Artistic Intermediate Dawn Rozzell-Howens also finished 2nd overall. In the Intermediate Over 18s Women’s Artistic Competition Emma Frith was crowned British Champion and in the Over 30s Women’s Artistic Newbie Competition Sian Hagger was also crowned British Champion. September soon came around and it was back to work after the summer break. It was great to see the gym buzzing with excitement as everyone was getting stuck into their new challenges. William Robertson and Edward Ma competed at the Club Grades Competition, Michelle and Emma were invited back onto the radio, Phillipa Meachin was the cover gymnast for the Regional Age Group Championships and the Medal Team were in action at the Trampolining, Tumbling and DMT Championships in Birmingham.

 

In October Charlie Welsh competed in the British Gymnastics Disabilities Competition. Charlie worked extremely hard to overcome difficulties he experienced during his training. This was his first competition at this level and as winning the Junior All Around Title, he also won Pommel, Rings, Vault, and High Bar, plus silver medals on Parallel Bars and Floor.

 

The good news didn’t stop there! Thomas Cannon passed his Club Judge qualification and the Women’s Artistic 4 Piece Squad had plenty to smile about at the Cheshire and Merseyside 4 Piece Championships. Katie Ridge became County Champion at Level 5 age 13+ and also won 2 apparatus medals (3rd Bars and 2nd Beam). Individual apparatus medal were also won by Isla Chu, (3rd Vault) Emily Fish (3rd Beam), Abbie Walker (2nd Beam) and Taylor Jackson (2nd Bars and 2nd Floor). Thanks again to our National Judge Megan Palmer and our Regional Judge Alex Fielding.

 

The Display Team were on tour again, this time in Brentwood at the London Festival of Gymnastics. The team smashed both performances, but particularly their second performance on the Sunday.

 

In November our Women’s Artistic 4 Piece girls were on the competition arena again at the North West 4 Piece Championships. It was great to see the girls showcasing their hard work once more. The Display Team took to the floor for the final time at the British Ministrada in Liverpool. This was the last ever performance of their Greatest Showman routine. Keep your eyes peeled in 2020 for opportunities to watch their new routine ABBA!

 

Hartford Sets Winter Competition was a huge success! Again, it was great to see so many of our development squad gymnasts showing their friends and family their floor and vault routines. It was also great to share the competition with our friends from other clubs.

 

Before we knows it December was upon us, but we weren’t finished yet! Our boys competed in the Regional 2 Piece and Jenny Unsworth became a Level 1 Coach.

 

It’s been another great year for the club and we would like to thank everyone for their continued support. Thank you to our coaches and volunteers for all the work they do in the gym and supporting our gymnasts at competitions and thank you to our judges as without them we wouldn’t be able to take part in or hold competitions. We look forward to seeing you all in 2020!

 

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Events in detail

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10th November

Outstanding performances from the Display Team at the British Ministrada in Liverpool this weekend! This was the last ever performance of their Greatest Showman routine. This routine has included many firsts for the club with the incorporation of Makaton sign language and light up props and has been incredibly well received at events up and down the country throughout the year. Congratulations to the team for a spectacular year! We will see you in 2020 with our new routine ABBA!

 Gymfest Showman link

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SKu3RNlPDhQ

  

13th October

Cheshire and Merseyside Womens Artistic 4 piece Championships.

 What we thought was going to be a competition for experience turned into a little bit more than we expected!

Another great weekend of competing for our club, this time with some of our Women’s Artistic Squad Gymnasts at the County  Championships in Wigan.

Katie Ridge is County Champion at Level 5 age 13+ and won 2 apparatus medals also!

Kaitlyn McGarr, Isla Chu & Lily Thomas were all competing at 4 piece gymnastics for the very first time and performed brilliantly.

Eleanor Ma & Abbie Walker were competing at a new level for the first time and showed that they were very capable of their new level.

Mia Haywood, Amy Buckley, Taylor Jackson & Emily Fish were all showcasing new skills which they had been working on to enable them to have higher difficulty scores in their routines.

The girls performed with confidence and we are really proud of them for their hard work and determination to succeed.

 Individual apparatus medal were won by…

Level 6 aged 9 Isla Chu 3rd Vault

Level 5 aged 12 Emily Fish 3rd Beam & 5th Overall

Level 5 aged 12 Abbie Walker 2nd Beam & 4th Overall

Level 5 aged 13+ Katie Ridge County Champion 3rd Bars 2nd Beam 4th Floor & 1st Overall

Taylor Jackson 2nd Bars 2nd Floor & 5th Overall

A huge thank you to our National Judge Megan Palmer and our Regional Judge Alex Fielding, to our amazing Hartford gym family of supporters and friends who cheered the girls on throughout the weekend and to our fantastic coaching team, for making sure the girls have the ability to compete at this level.

 

13th October

Another Qualified Judge for our club....!

Big Congratulations to Thomas Cannon for passing his Men's Artistic Club Judge award.   Well done Tom, we are really proud of you

 

6th October

WOW, WOW, WOW.... CHARLIE WELSH IS  BRITISH CHAMPION!

Charlie Welsh has just been crowned Men’s Artistic British Disabilities Junior Champion in the BG Championships held in Leicester.

As well as winning the All Around title by over 6 clear points, he also won Gold on Pommel, Rings, Vault, & High Bar, plus Silver medals on Parallel Bars & Floor.

Charlie has been working extremely hard to overcome difficulties he experiences during his training in the gym. This is his first competition at this level, and he has proved how determined he is to succeed.

A MASSIVE WELL DONE CHARLIE, we are all very proud of you for such a great achievement.

  

30th September

Philippa Meachin has had the honour of being the cover gymnast for the Regional Age Group Championships this weekend.

This is a fantastic shot of Philippa performing a Change Leg Leap in her floor routine at the Regional Grades comp in February.

Well Done Philippa!

 

26th September

Radio Northwich interview. Emma and Michelle talk to presenter Kim Smith about the club’s summer, all of our achievements and what’s coming up next!

 

September 22nd

Another successful day for our gymnasts and coaches.

Edward & William were our first ever gymnasts to compete in the Men’s Artistic Grades, They gained a lot of experience and William achieved the 3rd highest vault score in his category.

Steph Bunn gained her final qualification, British Gymnastics Time to Listen, which enables her to become our 4th club Welfare Officer.

Jenny Unsworth took her first step on the British Gymnastics official Coaching Ladder, by completing day 1 of her Level 1 Coaching course. Thank you to our team of young gymnasts for helping Jenny with the practical sessions.  A huge WELL DONE to you all for a mammoth day of achievements for team Hartford.

 

Adult British Championships

WOW, WHAT AN AMAZING WEEKEND!

2 British Champions!

2 Silver medalists!

2 Bronze medalists!

Brilliant performances from all of our Adult gymnasts and amazing volunteering from our BG ceremonies team.

All of this at the Adult British Championships held at Lilleshall National Sports Centre, The home of British Gymnastics.  We are so proud of everyone for all they have achieved in working towards this competition.

RESULTS

Over 18 Women's Artistic Intermediate

Emma Frith British Champion

Over 30 Women's Artistic Newbie

Sian Hagger British Champion

Over 18 Women's Artistic Newbie

Rhiannon Hay 2nd overall

Over 45 Women's Artistic Intermediate

Dawn Rozzell-Howens 2nd overall

Over 30 Novice Trampoline

Janine Siddall 3rd overall

Over 18 Men's Artistic

Alex Arshamian 3rd overall

Cameron McMillan - Competed on all 6 pieces and was highlighted by BG for having the best dance moves of the weekend during his floor routine!  First gymnastics competition for Carol Roberts who overcame her fear of heights to perform on all 4 pieces A very neat bars routine from Davina Ramsdale in her first competition A new category challenge and improved confidence on beam for Lucy Holroyd Ewa Labeda guested in her first gymnastics competition and gained the 4th highest overall score. Julia Jeffries competed a very neat & confident trampoline routine in a large, experienced group. Thank you to our Hartford gym family for all of their support through.

 

BG Ceremonies Team

4 Disciplines, 4 days, over 800 medals and 50 trophies presented!

This is the challenge taken on by our BG Ceremonies Team when they were asked to volunteer at the 2019 British Gymnastics Championship Series held at the M & S Bank Arena in Liverpool. With new team members learning the ropes

and tricky back to back ceremonies in different areas of the Arena, our team took it all in their stride and showed their professionalism throughout this marathon event.

Straight on the back of that marathon, the team were volunteering again at Lilleshall National Sports centre at the Adult British Gymnastics Championships

Well done everyone, you really are great ambassadors for our club!

 

New club links

We are delighted to announce our partnership with React and Restore Physiotherapy, Northwich.  React and Restore Physiotherapy has recently been formed by Matt Del Brocco and Sian French and is based in Kingsmead, Northwich. Sian, an international hockey player for Wales has been practising physiotherapy both privately and within the NHS for the past 6 years. Sian specialises in muscularskeletal and sports injuries and also has a keen interest in sports specific rehabilitation. Matt, also has a keen interest in sports injuries from his work with Crewe Alexandra FC and Manchester City FC Academy and has also practised both privately and within the NHS and is 4 years qualified.  We are excited to partner with Mark and Sian and hope everyone can utilise their services and also help spread the word about this fantastic company through our local community and beyond.

  

Development Squads

One of the best ways to spend a Sunday morning, is with our amazing Development Squad Gymnasts watching them perform to their family and friends at our Hartford Sets Club Competition.

Fantastic performances from everyone, WELL DONE to you all, we are very proud of you. 

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Womens Artistic Squad 

We held a great new competition at our gym this evening, our girls 2 piece levels comp. This competition was designed as a stepping stone from our Hartford Sets comp to County 2 & 4 piece events and also gave the gymnasts a chance to showcase some of their skills to their families.  The girls performed 2 vaults and a floor  routine to music. The results were...

Bronze medals - Isla Chu, Molly Ashton, Alex Mercer

Silver medals - Emma Reese-Wood, Zara Billington, Polly Burns, Lily Thomas, Kaitlyn McGarr

Gold medals - Cadi Pears, Millie Harding

Well Done everyone, you performed so well and we are all very proud of you.

 

Mens Artistic Squad

Wow!! A massive CONGRATULATIONS to 6 of our Boys Development Squad gymnasts who competed in the North West Regional 2 piece competition at Wigan today.

Oscar Ellison Gold overall, Daniel Cannon, Charlie Kennedy & George Avraam overall Silver, Tyler Burroughs Bronze on Vault and Thomas Cannon Bronze overall.  We are so proud of our boys team who have worked so hard for this event. It's wonderful to see our home grown gymnasts working their way through the levels and being rewarded for their commitment and determination.  A big THANK YOU to our Men's Artistic Regional Judge Andrew Cannon, our Coaching team and our gym family of supporters.

 

Mens Artistic Squad

Some of our Boys Developments Squad went to Wigan to compete in the British Gymnastics Regional Assessment Plan.  This is a program which tests the boys skill ability, flexibility & strength with a variety of set routines and skills.

Our boys performed brilliantly and we are really proud of their individual results. Well done boys

  

Volunteers Week

One of our amazing Coaches, Charlotte Wheeler, was selected by British

Gymnastics to give an in depth interview on volunteering and how it has helped to give her confidence and lead to many opportunities to help the club and BG.  See British Gymnastics web page or our Facebook page for the full article and see many pictures of our wonderful team of volunteers who not only help at our club but volunteer at BG events too.

 

Radio Interview

We had a great time talking all things gymnastics yesterday on Radio Northwich withKim! Thank you so much for having us, we are looking forward to coming back!

  

Men's Artistic Gymnastics

Congratulations to Edward Ma, a young gymnasts who has worked really hard to compete in the North West Challenge Trophy.  He is the first gymnasts from our club to compete at this level. We are very proud of his achievements.

 

Coaching

Congratulations Nicola Ma on passing your Coaching exam.  We are all really proud of you.

 

Ceremonies Team

Our BG Ceremonies team spent a busy 4 days at the M & S Bank arena in Liverpool, volunteering at the Artistic British Championships.  They were lucky to see some amazing gymnastics from the best in our country, alongside presenting medals and priceless trophies.  We are really proud to be asked to do this role for British Gymnastics for the 8th year and are looking forward to a busy calendar of events throughout 2019.

 

Girls Artistic 4 piece Squads

Wow!!  What a great weekend our gymnasts have had at the Women's Regional Grades Championships at Wigan.  The girls hard work certainly paid off and rewarded them with great routines, fantastic skills performed and qualifying certificates for them all.

A fantastic individual result for Rhea Carless -

Grade 1, who was also awarded a Bronze County Medal.

Thank you to our amazing National judge Megan Palmer & Regional judge Alex Fielding and to our fantastic coaching team for all of their help and hard work.  We are very proud of all of our gymnasts, well done girls!

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