Thirteen members of our boys’ squad travelled to Pegasus Gymnastics Club to compete in the South East Grades qualifier. With gymnast entered across nine different categories, it was a busy morning for our coaches but the gymnasts delivered with some good routines. Ben Porter was competing in the elite level 2 category and registered the highest AA total across all the age groups, his score of 65.467 ensured he took home the gold medal and was crowned regional champion. Four other gymnasts were also awarded the title of regional champion in their respective age categories; Oliver Porter (elite level 4), Thomas O’Connor (club level 5), Alex Donchev (elite level 5), and Sarp Orbay (club level 6). There were silver medals for Josh Porter (elite level 6), Joel Ireland (club level 6) and Jamaal Kashim (club level 4). All in all, Woking qualified thirteen gymnasts for the national finals in November, more than any other club in the region. Well done to all the boys who competed, the list of qualifiers is shown below.

Elite level 1- James Fricker

Elite level 2- Ben Porter, Max Veo-Creek, Jay Coote, Harrison Lamble

Elite level 4- Oliver Porter

Elite level 5- Alex Donchev

Elite level 6- Josh Porter

Club level 2- Hayden Blackmun

Club level 4- Jamaal Kashim

Club level 5- Thomas O’Connor

Club level 6- Sarp Orbay, Joel Ireland

Woking’s representation at this prestigious event began on the Saturday morning with five of our U14 gymnasts competing in the “Max Whitlock” competition. Josh Porter was the highest placed Woking athlete, despite a fall on H-bar he finished in a respectable 8th place AA (68.85). Sarp Orbay looked much improved and scored 65.10 to take the 19th spot. Woking gymnasts also occupied the 20th and 21st place spots; Alex Donchev (64.350) and Joel Ireland (64.300) showing some good routines. Tom O’Connor had a clean competition and finished in 26th (62.60).

The senior competition that followed, the Westminster cup, was to be the final trial for the upcoming world championships, as such the standard was high with the best gymnasts in the country vying for a spot on the plane to Stuttgart. Jamie Lewis picked himself up well after the disappointment of last weekend’s British Teams to finish in fifth place AA (80.35), he also won a bronze medal for his routine on the rings. Timothy McCarthy was competing on just three apparatus, he completed clean routines on Pommels and P-Bars but unfortunately fell on his new vault. Lorenzo Carrozzo was competing in Woking colours for the final time, an injury at last weekend’s British Teams meant he was just performing on the Pommels. It was not his best routine, we wish Lorenzo good luck and hope he has better fortune as he starts the next chapter of his life at university.

Sunday morning began with the U18 competition. Jasper Smith-Gordon again proved himself to be one of the best junior gymnasts in the world as he twice scored over 14 to take home gold medals on Floor (14.100) and the vault (14.500). Teammate Fraser Griffiths competed on four apparatus and picked up a bronze medal for his rings routine.

Woking had two gymnasts competing in the inaugural “Brewer Trophy” for U12 gymnasts. Oliver Porter performed some great routines but mistakes on Rings and P-bars knocked him just outside the top six. He finished in 7th place AA (67.350) and won a gold medal for his H-Bar routine. Jamaal Kashim did not have the best of days, he suffered a number of falls and ended the competition with an AA total of 54.850 (36th).

The final competition of the weekend was the “Trevor Low” competition for U16 gymnasts. Neither Christian Fuoco nor Rudi Moriano were competing on all six apparatus. Christian’s highest placing was 16th on floor whilst Rudi managed a 17th place finish on rings.
 

Congratulations to Woking's Jasper Smith-Gordon who has been selected to compete in the MAG Junior World Championships from 27th - 30th June 2019 in Gyor, Hungary. 

The Pipers Vale challenge is the biggest voluntary competition of the year for our young gymnasts. James Fricker was Woking’s sole competitor in the U9 category. James delivered six routines without falling and looked much neater than in previous competitions. His total of 63.20 put him in 41st place out of the 63 competitors. In the U10 competition Woking had Ben Porter, Harrison Lamble, Hayden Blackmun, Jay Coote and Max Veo-Creek. Despite falls on Vault and H-bar, Ben was Woking’s top finisher in 13th place with 70.10. Harrison was 23rd with 68.55, missing out on a floor medal by just 0.1. Hayden looked much improved from last year, going clean and scoring 67.85 (27th). Max and Jay also performed all six routines without major error to finish 31st (67.50) and 37th (66.75) respectively.

On Sunday James Miller, Christian Fuoco, Rudi Moriano, Charlie Rose and Sarp Orbay competed in the Pipers Vale Cup. In the U14 category Sarp competed on four apparatus, going through all his routines without falling to score 42.45. In the Junior competition James was the top scorer finishing in 11th with 64.9. Rudi competed his double back on floor for the first time but suffered falls on a few of the other apparatus resulting in a 14th place finish AA (60.40). Due to injury, Christian and Charlie competed on just four apparatus scoring 30.15 and 34.30 respectively.
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Well done to all the gymnasts who competed. 

Jasper Smith-Gordon competed in his first international for Great Britain in the 24th Junior Team Cup in Berlin Germany.

Great Britain sent a very young team to Germany, with Woking’s 16 year old Jasper competing in an under 18 age category.

Jasper performed some lovely routines, helping the team achieve a respectable 9th place finish out of 35 teams.  Jasper also was 1st reserve for floor and qualified for vault final.
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In the vault final Jasper performed 2 high level vaults, finishing a very respectable 3rd place.

​Our U14 team took part in the U14 team competition at New College, Leicester.
Competing against teams from across the country was the Woking team of Josh Porter, Joel Ireland, Alex Donchev, Tom O’Connor, Oliver Porter and Sarp Orbay. Unfortunately they did not have the best of days amounting a large number of errors between them. Sarp was competing in a Woking leotard for the first time and was pleased to get through his Pommel routine without falling. Despite the errors, the team pulled together for the final apparatus and all performed good floor routines to finish the competition. They amassed a team total of 255.652, enough for 6th place.

British Championships 2019
14th - 17th March
Liverpool

U12s
Jamaal Kashim - 58.250 (58th)
Oliver Porter - 67.000 (11th), Bronze medal on P-Bars
 
U14s
Joel Ireland - 59.700 (52nd)
Thomas O'Connor - 60.050 (50th)
Alex Donchev - 65.850 (24th)
Joshua Porter - 67.950 (13th)
 
U16s
Christian Fuoco - 56.850 (39th)
 
U18s
James Miller - 64.850 (26th)
Fraser Griffiths - 70.650 (13th)
Jasper Smith-Gordon - 72.850 (9th), Silver on vault
 
Senior
Lorenzo Carrozzo - 69.450 (21st)
Timothy McCarthy - 71.450 (15th)
Jamie Lewis - 80.950 (3rd)
 
Masters
Floor - Jamie 4th
Rings - Jamie 2nd
Vault - Jasper 4th

From 14th - 17th March, the 2019 British Championships took place at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. The competition started on Thursday with the U12 category. Woking’s Jamaal Kashim had an up and down day, making a few mistakes to finish with an All-Around (AA) total of 58.250. This was enough for 58th place and he will have gained valuable experience competing in the arena that will host the 2022 World Championships. Team mate Oliver Porter enjoyed a more successful day, he produced a number of high class routines, and battled through his pommel routine. There was a small error in his final routine on the rings meaning he finished just outside the top 10 with an AA score of 67.000 (11th). His standout routine of the day came on the P-Bars where he was rewarded with a 12.450 and a bronze medal.

The evening session saw the start of the U18 competition. In a tough field containing junior European medallists, the Woking trio of James Miller, Fraser Griffiths and Jasper Smith-Gordon held their own. James made a few mistakes throughout the competition and finished in 26th (64.850). Fraser, in his first competition back since injury looked good in places but his lack of fitness showed towards then end, falling on his final dismount and scoring 70.650 (13th). Jasper started with a big routine on floor, and safely made it through the subsequent apparatus without major error until he too struggled with his H-Bar dismount. Jasper was putting out his new vault for the first time and came away with a silver medal on vault, his score of 14.025 was enough to qualify for the Masters Final.  Jasper finished 9th with an AA score of 72.850.

The U14 competition took place on Friday. Joel Ireland enjoyed a good competition at his first British Championships just making a mistake on pommel horse scoring 59.700 AA and finishing 52nd. Teammate Thomas O’Connor was just ahead in 50th place with 60.050. Alex Donchev started the competition with a fall on H-Bar but picked himself up to perform five good routines, including an impressive straight yurchenco on vault, to finish in 24th (65.850). Josh Porter was the top Woking gymnast in this age group, catching his Tkatchev on H-Bar for the first time helped him to an AA total of 67.950 (13th).

Christian Fuoco was Woking’s sole competitor in the U16 age group. Mistakes on pommel and H-bar proved to be very costly as he finished in 39th place AA (56.850). 

There was a big crowd in attendance for the senior competition, with a star studded field containing World and Olympic medallists. Lorenzo Carrozzo, competing for the first time in this age group had a jittery afternoon making a few mistakes. He did however manage to catch his Kovacs on H-Bar for the first time in competition. He finished in 21st place (69.450). Team mate Tim McCarthy started with a stylish P-Bar routine, scoring 12.900. He suffered a fall from the pommel horse tarnishing an otherwise clean competition, he accrued an AA total of 71.450 enough for 15th place. Jamie Lewis was involved in a tightly fought battle for a podium position. Despite errors in his pommel routine, he finished strongly with a good rings routine to take home the Bronze medal AA (80.950). He added to this with a Bronze medal on floor where he beat the current Olympic champion.

The final competition of the weekend was the Masters Apparatus finals. This prestigious event allows the best U18 gymnasts to compete against their senior counterparts. Jamie first featured in the floor final, the current junior European champion on this apparatus he produced a clean routine scoring 13.550, this placed him fourth by way of a tiebreak. There was joy to be had on the rings, where Jamie executed his routine very well and earned himself a silver medal. Unfortunately Jamie injured his foot on his rings dismount and had to withdraw from the High bar Masters Final.  The last final of the day to feature a Woking gymnast was the master’s vault final. Jasper Smith-Gordon safely landed his two high tariff vaults scoring an impressive 14.100. Competing against gymnasts much older than him, he missed out on a medal by just 0.087. 

Congratulations to all the gymnasts and coaches Simon Elliott, Craig Woodhams, Grant Gardiner and Steve Elwood! 

English Championships 
1st – 3rd March 2019
Redbridge Sports and Leisure Centre

U14 Competition (70 competitors)

• Thomas O’Connor – 24th
• Alex Donchev – 26th
• Josh Porter – 31st, Bronze on P-Bars
• Joel Ireland 36th

U18s

• Jasper Smith-Gordon – 5th
• James Miller – 20th

Seniors

• Jamie Lewis – 2nd (bronze on pommel, silver on rings)
• Tim McCarthy – 6th (Louis Smith Pommel Award)
• Lorenzo Carrozzo – 12th

U12s (63 Competitors)

• Oliver Porter – 27th
• Jamaal Kashim – 31st

U16s

• Christian Fuoco – 20th
• Rudi Moriano – 27th
• Charlie Rose – 39th

 
The English Championships is the first major competition in the gymnastics calendar. Woking had a strong representation with 14 boys competing across five different age groups. Friday’s competition began with the U14s, all the boys were trying new routines and will have gained valuable experience. Thomas O’Connor was the top scoring Woking Gymnast finishing in 24th place, just ahead of team mate Alex Donchev (26th). Josh Porter made some costly errors on the H-bar resulting in a 31st place finish but he was delighted to win a Bronze medal on the parallel bars. Joel Ireland was competing in his first ever English championships finishing 36th out of 70 in a tough age group. 

With Saturday morning came the turn of the U18s. James Miller (20th) had a good competition but unfortunately fell on H-Bar and Floor. Jasper Smith-Gordon put in some consistent performances without major error to finish in a very creditable 5th place.

The senior competition featured World, European and Olympic medallists, despite a couple of large mistakes Jamie Lewis proved he is up there with the best of them, finishing in second place. He also took home the bronze medal on pommels and a silver on rings. Tim McCarthy had the competition of his life and finished in a very impressive 6th place. He was also presented with the Louis Smith Pommel Award, this trophy was given for the routine with the fewest deductions on the pommel horse. Team mate Lorenzo Carrozzo was disappointed with his 12th place finish.

Oliver Porter and Jamaal Kashim competed in the U12 category on Sunday, finishing 27th and 31st respectively. In the final session of a long weekend, Christian Fuoco, Rudi Moriano and Charlie Rose took part in the U16 category. Christian was especially pleased to put out his double back on floor for the first time and finished the competition in 20th AA. Rudi (27th) and Charlie (39th – No floor or vault due to injury) were both delighted to make it through their pommel routines without falling.

The boys will all be straight back in the gym this week preparing for the upcoming British Championships. 

On Sunday 23rd September Woking sent 14 boys to Pegasus GC to try and gain a place representing the South East at this year’s Grades Finals to be held in Birmingham.
In the morning session Woking’s younger boys took to the floor, in the U8 Pre Elite Level 1 age group James Fricker competed and scored 34.1 placing him 4th, as he is a pre level 1 James could not qualify for the finals but can now see what he needs to work on for next year.

The Elite Level 1 competition qualifies for 2 team, the top 6 will make the Elite team, and the next 6 will make the Cub team. 6 Woking boys competed in the biggest age group of the day, Jake Palmer finished 1st with 2 perfect 10s on the pommel and vault and scored 66.95 all round. In 2nd place with only a 0.25 difference in score was Ben Porter his score of 66.7 also included a perfect 10 on vault. Harrison Lamble finished 6th with a score of 60.7. Jake Ben and Harrison have all made the Elite level 1 team. Jay Coote finished 11th with 57.6 and secured his place in the Club team. Hayden Blackmun and Max Veo-Creek 13th and 15th with their scores of 55.2 and 52.35 but unfortunately these were not high enough to make either team.
 
In the afternoon Woking had boys represented in 4 different categories. Oliver Porter and Jamaal Kashim were in Elite level 3 and both took a place in the team, Oliver finished 1st with 62.95 and Jamaal 3rd with 52.75. Oliver and Jamaal will go to finals and try to help their team win gold for the 3rd year running.

The Elite Level 4 is a Woking only Team with Alex Donchev taking 1st place with 55.665, Tom O’Connor was 2nd with 53.283 and Santo Fuoco scored 49.7 and finished 3rd, all 3 boys will be working hard to increase their scores for the finals especially on Pommel Horse.

Joshua Porter gained his place in the Elite Level 5 Team for the finals, He came 1st with a score of 55.325. Josh has been working hard and will hope to carry this on towards the finals.
Joel Ireland came 1st in the Club Level 5 category and took his spot in the finals with a score of 59. Joel showed significant improvements in this competition and will be hoping to show even more improvements by the finals.

With a Total of 11 boys making the Grades Finals, Woking was the most successful club in the Region. This contributed to Woking GC winning the Presidents Trophy! The scores from this competition and the Regional Voluntaries from earlier in the year combined make up the final score for the Presidents Trophy, Woking finished with a score of 849.63 nearly 200 points above 2nd place.
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Well done to all the boys and coaches and good luck for the finals in November.

This historic and prestigious event served as a selection event for the upcoming World Championships and was attended by all the top clubs from across the country and international gymnasts from Finland and Australia. Woking had a strong entry of twenty four gymnasts across six age groups.

The competition started well with our Elite Level 1 gymnasts. Our team of Jake Palmer, Ben Porter, Hayden Blackmun, Harrison Lamble, Jay Coote and Max Veo-Creek, performed well in a very strong field. Max (45.200, 35th), Jay (47.000, 32nd), Harrison (48.400, 27th) and Hayden (48.700, 23rd) have improved greatly in the last twelve months and it will be a closely fought competition in the upcoming grades qualifier. There was a one-two for Woking; Jake Palmer took the AA title with 55.700, just ahead of team mate Ben Porter (55.050). Ben looked classy and stylish as he took home the gold medal on Floor, Vault and P-Bars, along with a bronze medal on H-Bar. While Jake scored a perfect 10 on Pommels and won a bronze medal on the rings.

There was more success in the Elite Level 3 Competition, where Oliver Porter produced some stunning performances, to win gold on the Rings and P-Bars, he added a bronze on H-Bar and despite falling on Pommels, scored well enough to take home the AA title with a score of 53.601. Jamaal Kashim held his own to finish 9th (44.443), with a little more confidence he will surely prove to be an important team player in the national finals.

The Elite Level 4 competition was full of ups and downs. Santo Fuoco didn’t have his best day but did score well enough to take home a silver medal on Floor, his all-around total of 38.268 put him in 7th. Thomas O’Connor won Gold on H-bar and Bronze on P-bars, he counted a few falls but still finished 5th AA (44.943).

The main event of the weekend was the Westminster Cup. In a field of Olympic, World and European medallists, Woking has two competitors. Tim McCarthy suffered a small injury in podium training and was only able to compete on four apparatus. His top score was 12.750 on P-Bars. Jamie Lewis was competing in his first senior competition since winning five medals at the Junior European Championships. He competed on the pommel horse, putting out an upgraded routine but did not get his dismount credited. He finished 6th with 13.250.

Sunday morning saw Christian Fuoco, Charlie Rose, Rudi Moriano, Laurence Butler, Josh Porter and Joel Ireland compete in the Max Whitlock Competition. Despite falling three times Josh was the highest placed Woking gymnast (64.600, 21st), Laurence was 26th (63.550) just ahead of Joel who went 6 for 6. Rudi scored 62.067 (32nd) with Christian in 34th (60.000). Charlie competed just five apparatus scoring 47.634.

The final competition was the Peter Moore Competition. Lorenzo Carrozzo and Jasper Smith-Gordon were competing on their 18th and 16th birthdays respectively. Lorenzo was disappointed to miss his Kovacs on H-Bar, but still managed to finish 5th AA (73.350), impressing the judges and picking up a bronze medal on Rings and a silver on Pommels. Jasper was 8th AA (72.400), the highlight of his competition was undoubtedly his new Vault which he stuck to score a world-class 14.750. Fraser Griffiths was 19th AA (69.700), with James Miller in 26th (66.300).
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It was a great weekend for the Boys Squad, demonstrating our strength across the age ranges. Well done to all the Gymnasts and Coaches.