Women’s Artistic Section Update
Here is a review of the competitions attended by Diamonds Women’s Artistic gymnasts over the last few months.
September saw the first competition. The Yorkshire Open, Level 4 (In-Age) and Level 3 (In-Age) competition was held at Diamonds. In the Level 4 competition, Delilah Lowe (9) finished 7th overall. In the Level 3 competition, Jemma North (10) finished 6th overall. In the Junior Yorkshire Open (11 to 15 year olds), Laura Walker (14) came 2nd on vault, 3rd on bars and 4th on beam and floor. She also finished in 4th overall. Victoria Harris (14) only competed on floor where she came 3rd. Georgina Harris (11) came 1st on vault and bars and 2nd on floor. She won the overall competition to be crowned Yorkshire Junior Champion.
October saw the first of the Yorkshire Team competitions. The Level 4 (11/12 year olds) team finished in 2nd place. Well done to Eleanor Holmes, Erin Sorton, Rio Alexis and Laura-May Bland. The Level 3 team of Jemma North, Chloe Davey, Natasha Plumpton and Dariella Boswell finished in 4th place. In the FIG competition, Diamonds became the Yorkshire Champions. Well done to Laura Wadsworth, Kim Ward, Nicola Wilson, Victoria Harris and Laura Walker.
Also in October, Diamonds entered a team into the British Bill Slater Team Championships. The team of Laura Walker, Victoria Harris, Georgina Harris, Kim Ward, Nicola Wilson and Natasha Plumpton finished in 15th place. For all these gymnasts this was a first outing at a British team competition. Unfortunately injuries during the competition affected the final placings. However, Georgina finished in 21st position out of 94 competitors.
In November, Georgina ended up travelling many miles. First up was the British Voluntary Level 2 competition. A nervy performance saw Georgie finish in 26th position overall. Combined with the Compulsory 2 score, this gave Georgina a 21st place in the overall British Championship for 11 year olds.
Following this a couple of weeks later was another attempt at the Compulsory 2 competition. Georgina competed well and qualified to the 2010 British Espoir Championships.
During November, Diamonds gymnasts Laura Walker and Laura Wadsworth were due to compete at the British Challenge Cup competition in Aldershot. Unfortunately, Laura Walker had to withdraw at the last minute due to illness. Laura Wadsworth performed well on beam (no falls!) and floor but her performance on vault and bars left her down the field.
The final competition of the year saw a party of gymnasts, coaches and parents brave the Irish Sea on a trip to the Isle of Man Invitational. In Competition 2 Rio Alexis, Chloe Davey, Abigail Lampkin and Victoria Harris finished in 5th place. In Competition 3 Laura Walker, Natasha Plumpton, Kim Ward and Georgina Harris finished in 3rd place. Georgina also finished in 1st place on beam, 2nd place on vault and bars and in 2nd place overall. Well done girls!
A quiet period followed until the traditionally busy months of February and March arrived with three separate days of Grades competitions.
In Regional Grade 12 (11 years old) Amber Stott, Georgina Taylor, Holly Wickham and Jessica Woods all achieved a pass. Alex Waterhouse achieved a Distinction in this grade and finished in overall 5th place.
In Regional Grade 11 (11/12 years old) Rio Alexis achieved a pass and finished in overall 6th position. In the 13+ section of this grade, Mica Ainscough also achieved a pass and finished in overall 6th position.
In National Grade 8 Dariella Boswell and Laura-May Bland both achieved a pass.
In National Grade 7 Jemma North and Chloe Davey achieved a pass. Abigail Lampkin achieved a Distinction and was selected to represent Yorkshire at the National Finals in Birmingham in April.
In Regional Grade 14 (9 years old) Cameron Drake achieved a pass. Hannah Charlesworth, Katy Wood, Charlotte Wood and Holly Broadbent all achieved Distinctions. Holly also finished in overall 4th place.
In Regional Grade 14 (10 years old) Anna Bailey achieved a pass, as did Holly Johnston in the Regional Grade 13 (10 years old) and Lucy Scott in the Regional Grade 13 (11+).
Well done to all the Diamonds Gymnasts – we had a 100% pass rate at the Grades.
Next up at the end of March was Georgina Harris who was selected to represent Yorkshire at the British Schools Championships. This FIG level competition attracts the best gymnasts in the country. Georgina warmed up very nervously but settled to perform all her routines. Beam and bar routines both had several new skills in them. Georgina finished in overall 11th place.
Diamonds’ Well Travelled Gymnasts!
Gymnasts from Diamonds Gymnastics Club have spent the last two months travelling the country representing the Club and Yorkshire at various competitions.
(Picture 1 – Group) First up was a trip, in September, to Wiltshire with a team of 14 gymnasts to compete at the Alpha Factor UK Invitational. This was a first taste of national competition for Abigail Lampkin (8), Lavinia Raymund Jayadev (8), Jemma North (9), Leah Stansfield (10), Eleanor Holmes (10) and Natasha Plumpton (11). Also representing Diamonds was Natasha Raymund Jayadev (10), Danielle o’Sullivan (12), Chloe Davey (13), Victoria Harris (13), Laura Walker (13), Laura Wadsworth (13), Kim Ward (14) and Nicola Wilson (16). The highlights of the weekend were Nicola’s silver medal on Vault and 5th place on Bars, together with Laura Walker’s 4th place on Bars and Victoria’s 5th place on Floor. The weekend also marked a return to competition for Kim Ward after a year out with a serious injury.
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(Picture 2 – Threesome) The following week was the Yorkshire Championships for 9 and 10 year olds. Lavinia, Abigail and Jemma performed well in the Level 4 competition finishing in 8th, 9th and 13th position overall respectively. Abigail also took gold on Floor and silver on Beam and Lavinia bronze on Vault. (Picture 3 – Twosome)In the Level 3 competition Georgina and Natasha Raymund Jayadev placed 2nd and 3rd overall respectively. Georgina also took gold on Vault and Floor, silver on Bars and bronze on Beam with Natasha taking the bronze on bars. Both girls were selected to the Yorkshire Team for the British Championships which were held in November.
Next up was another trip to Wiltshire where Katy Sellers (24) represented the club at the English Championships. After a year of reduced training due to her professional commitments as a physiotherapist with Leeds NHS Trust, Katy finished a respectable 14th overall.
Returning to Halifax, the gymnasts then competed at the Yorkshire Club Teams competition. (Picture 4) At Level 4, Abigail, Jemma, Lavinia and Natasha Plumpton took the bronze medal. (Picture 5) At FIG level, Laura, Laura, Nicola, Kim and Victoria took the silver medal. (Picture 6) However, the Level 3 team of Georgina, Natasha Raymund Jayadev, Danielle and Chloe went one better to take the gold medals. This is the second consecutive year that Diamonds has won this trophy.
With the competition season drawing to a close, Georgina and Natasha had another trip to Guildford for the British Championships. Both girls worked hard for the competition and had new skills to perform. In the big arena nerves got the better of Natasha leading to some costly mistakes. Georgina placed 32nd overall with some minor errors costing her nearly 20 places!
Well done to all the gymnasts, coaches and parents for their hard work at these competitions. Good luck to Laura Wadsworth and Nicola Wilson who have a trip to Aldershot in a few weeks for their British Championships.
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