​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. 

The British junior men’s team of Pavel Karnejenko (Notts), Jamie Lewis (Woking), Adam Tobin (Falcons), Jake Jarman (Huntingdon) and Donell Osbourne (City of Birmingham) have taken silver at the 2018 Junior European Championships in Glasgow, narrowly missing out on gold to Russia. 

Jamie Lewis also produced a brilliant all-around performance to take silver, being knocked off top spot with the last routine of the day by Nicola Mozzato of Italy. 

With four gymnasts competing on each apparatus and the top three of those scores counting, the team started on floor with four clean routines. Jamie (13.733) and Pavel (13.500) both impressed, qualifying for the apparatus final in first and sixth respectively.

Moving on to pommel horse, Jamie was again in inspired form, showcasing all of his skill on that apparatus to score 13.833 to qualify in top spot.

Jamie scored 13.533 on rings to finish in fourth, making three apparatus finals in total.

Jamie Lewis said after: "I am really pleased with the results today. We’ve had our ups and downs but we did what we could and we have still come away silver medallists. We’ve been training together for many years and I couldn’t ask for better teammates. Personally I am now turning into a senior level gymnast so I need use this experience to get back into the gym and work hard on upgrading my skills. It will be tough but I am looking forward to the challenge."

Two days later in the apparatus finals, Jamie Lewis won three individual apparatus medals, becoming champion on floor, winning silver on pommel and bronze on rings. 

Having won team and all-around silver on Friday, Jamie returned to compete on pommel first, showcasing his ability as an accomplished pommel worker to score 13.733. That put him in first place, but he was pipped to the title with the last routine of the final by Italy’s Edoardo De Rosa with a score of 14.066.

It was straight over to floor next for Jamie where he completed a clean routine, sticking nearly all of his landings for a score of 13.833. That was enough to see him top the podium.

Jamie was again in action on the next piece having qualified for the rings final. Against tough competition, he took bronze with 13.700 to complete the set during a brilliant morning for himself and GB.

Speaking after, Jamie said: "My landings (on floor) were really nice, and I'm so happy to win gold. I had a nice clean routine on pommel. I was a little shaky but managed to get through it. Rings, I wasn't really expecting too much because the competition was so strong so I was delighted to win bronze. I've got to start pushing my elements up now, and i'll be going away from here working really hard to improve my skills ready for turning senior, because I know it won't be easy."

Well done to Jamie on an extremely successful European Championships and we wish him the best of luck as he transitions to seniors! Also, a big congratulations to Simon Elliott, the Junior Team GB coach and Jamie's personal coach here at Woking. A final congratulations to Craig Woodhams who was selected as a judge at this years event! It was great to see three members of Woking Gymnastics Club representing Great Britain! 

On Sunday 14th July Woking sent a team of 5 boys to compete in the U14 British Teams. Rudi Moriano, Joel Ireland, Charlie Rose, Laurence Butler and Josh Porter.  The boys started their competition on Rings and hit 5 clean routines, they followed that up with a good round of Vaults. Unfortunately P bars was not so successful, Rudi and Joel hit clean routines but there were mistakes throughout the rest of the team, High bar followed in a similar pattern and with falls through the team the boys struggled to put a decent score together. Floor was a lot better with all the boys making their routines. Then it came to Pommel Horse some of the boys completed routines, but the team had to count a number of falls towards their score. The team finished 10th with a score of 250.1. 

On the weekend of 16 & 17th of June Woking GC sent 12 boys to Maidstone for this year’s Pegasus Open. The first Woking boys to compete were our U14 boys, Josh Porter, Laurence Butler, Joel Ireland, Rudi Moriano and Charlie Rose. Josh finished 10th all around with only a mistake on the pommel, he scored 66.4 and also took home a bronze medal on the high bar with a very clean routine. In 16th was Laurence, scoring 64.1. Joel had a clean competition for the second weekend in a row and with a score of 63.65 finished 17th in the all around. Rudi was not far behind but a few mistakes on pommel and vault put him 19th with a score of 62.9, Charlie was only competing on 4 apparatus and with 4 clean routines it was a nice confidence booster going forwards, he scored 41.9 and finished 33rd.

The next morning saw the turn of the U8s, James Fricker was Wokings sole competitor, James had a good competition finishing 6th all around with a score of 64.55 and also produced his best floor routine so far to take home the gold medal.
 
Sunday afternoon saw the U9s take centre stage, 6 boys from Woking were competing, Jake Palmer, Ben Porter, Harrison Lamble, Jay Coote, Hayden Blackman and Max Veo-Creek. In the all around competition there was a Woking 1,2, with Jake taking gold and Ben taking silver, Jake also took home gold on Pommel, P-bars and High bar with silver on Floor and Rings, Ben took gold on Floor, silver on Pommel and High bar, and a bronze on Rings. Harrison had a clean consistent competition and finished 8th with a score of 68.55, right behind him was Jay. He finished 9th with a score of 68.05 and also took home the gold medal for Vault. Hayden had a mixed competition, with a few mistakes he finished 14th with a score of 66.233, but he did go home with a bronze medal on the floor. Max had a steady competition and finished 22nd with a score of 66.883.

Well done to all gymnasts and coaches for a successful weekend.

On Sunday 10th June, our Boys squad travelled to Pegasus GC for the South East Regional Championships. A total of 22 Woking gymnasts competed across seven different categories.

In the U8 Competition, James Fricker performed his six routines without any falls to finish 4th All-Around. He was delighted to pick up a silver medal on the floor and bronze on vault and H-Bar.

The U9 Competition was a closely fought contest between Ben Porter and Jake Palmer, Jake just edged the All-Around competition, 0.45 ahead of his team mate. Jake picked up three further gold medals on Floor, Pommel, and P-Bars, as well as silver on rings and H-Bars. Ben was top scorer on Vault and H-bar, and won the silver medal on floor, pommel and P-Bars. He completed his haul with a bronze medal on the rings. Harrison Lamble and Hayden Blackmun can be pleased with their performances, demonstrating that their hard work in training is starting to pay off and finishing 5th and 6th respectively. Jay Coot and Max Veo-Creek competed well but had a couple of mistakes and scruffed through some of their routines to finish 9th and 10th. Max performed especially well on the vault where he picked up a silver medal.

James Nott was Woking’s sole representative in the U10 competition. He put in some consistent performances to finish 8th.

The second round of the competition saw our older gymnasts competing their voluntary routines. In the U12 category Woking’s Tom O’Connor, despite falling on P-Bars, finished second all-around, picking up a silver medal on pommels and winning H-Bar. Jamaal Kashim has grown in confidence in recent weeks, and his result was testament to the hard work he has been putting in to his training. Jamaal placed 4th AA and picked up a bronze medal for his P-Bar. Santo Fuoco, made mistakes on pommel and H-bar, but picked up bronze on floor and vault. His score of 63.1 was enough for 6th AA. Oliver Porter was close behind in 7th, winning Rings and placing second on Floor. Alex Donchev didn’t have the best of days, but a gold medal on the floor will have made up for his 9th place finish.

The standard was high in the U14 competition. Laurence Butler was the top Woking gymnast, finishing 4th and winning a silver on P-bars. Joel Ireland put in some steady performances to place 7th, and won a surprise bronze medal on H-Bar. Rudi Moriano had a few mistakes and finished 8th AA, narrowly missing out on medals on Vault and H-bar. Neither Charlie Rose or Joshua Porter competed all apparatus, both were trying some new skills and while the results may not have been desirable, hopefully they can learn from this experience.

Jasper Smith-Gordon competed on just three apparatus in the U16 competition, he performed his 3.5 twist for the first time on floor, and added a difficult flop sequence into his pommel routine. Jasper was rewarded with Gold medals for both these apparatus and added to his tally with a Gold on the vault. Team mate Fraser Griffiths also competed on just three apparatus, he finished second on Pommel, first on rings and despite missing his new release skill, he still won the competition on H-bar.
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Finally in the U18 competition James Miller won the AA competition, picking up a further 2 golds and 4 silvers along the way. Lorenzo Carrozzo was competing just four apparatus and trying out new skills on each of these pieces. He was rewarded with a bronze medal on Vault, a silver on H-Bar, and gold for his Pommel and P-bar Routines.
 
Well done to all the gymnasts who competed; hopefully everyone has gained useful experience for future events. 

On the weekend of 11th-13th of May Woking took 14 boys along to the Pipersvale Challenge in Ipswich.
 
The weekend started with our youngest competitor James Fricker, this was James’s first competition for Woking and he competed his routines with confidence to finish 27th in the U8 age group with a score of 59.00
 
Next up was the U9 age group with 50+ competitors, 6 boys took part in this competition, Jake Palmer, Ben Porter, Harrison Lamble, Jay Coote, Hayden Blackman and Max Veo-Creak. Jake had an excellent competition highlighted by a Pommel routine with only 0.1 in deductions. He took home the all-around gold medal with a score of 74.45 along with 3 other gold medals on the Floor, Pommel and High bar. Ben had a good comp but a few costly mistakes on the Floor and High bar saw him just miss out on an all-around medal finishing 4th with a score of 72.13, there was a silver lining to his competition by finishing 2nd on the Vault. Harrison had a clean competition, his Pbar routine was his standout routines of his competition, he finished 21st with 66.09. Jay finished 27th with a score of 64.38 his standout routine was his Vault where he finished 4th. Hayden was 35th and scored 61.78, his floor routine was the best routine he performed on the day. Max scored 60.5 and finished 38 with his best routine coming on the High bar.
 
After the U9s came the turn of Woking’s single U10 gymnast James Nott, James finished 42nd out of 60+ boys, he had a good competition performing 5 routines out of the 6 well and finished with a score of 64.82.

On the final morning of the competition it was the turn of James Miller in the U18 age group. James started with 2 falls on the High bar but picked himself up to perform 5 excellent routines and finished 4th with a score of 67.4.

The last competition of the weekend was for our U14 boys, there were 5 boys from Woking competing, Christian Fuoco, Rudi Moriano, Joel Ireland, Laurence Butler and Charlie Rose. Christian had a strong competition finishing 13th with a score of 64.9, Rudi finished 16th and scored 64.5 his Vault was the pick of routines as he stuck it. Joel was competing in his first competition for Woking since moving from the States, he had a bit of ring rust but produced 4 excellent routines to finish 17th with a score of 64.1. Alongside him with the exact same score was Laurence, he had a mixed competition with a few falls through the competition. Charlie finished 22nd with a score of 59.5, he showed some much improved routines, but a mistake on the Pommel cost him dearly.

Well done to all the boys that competed over the weekend.