South East regional floor and vault advanced competition

The annual regional advanced competition took place on Sunday 30th September at Guildford spectrum. 140 gymnasts from across the South East came to compete on floor and vault, all aiming to become regional champion and achieve the qualifying score of 16.00 to move into the bronze level category.

In round one Woking had 11 gymnasts entered. In the Boys 2008 category we had 2 gymnasts competing, Jack Dadswell began with two very powerful vaults achieving a score of 6.95 and after some minor errors with his floor routine he placed a respectable 5th. Charles Dadswell performed well on vault and after some hesitations produced a stylish floor routine to put him slightly ahead of his brother and into 4th place.

In the Girls 2006 competition Esme Finch started the competition off with two handsprings on vault, on floor she did very well to complete the full routine and finish a credible 13th. Team mate Arabella Wilson performed two beautiful vaults to achieve a score of 7.35 and with minimal practice of her floor routine finished in 10th. Laura Kersley had a very strong competition, she displayed excellent vaults to achieve 7.50 which was the highest vault score of the group, with a very tidy floor routine to finish she picked up the bronze medal placing 3rd.

Our final group for round one were the Girls 2008, we had 6 gymnasts entered. Amani Ali had some problems on vault but quickly put these behind her to perform a strong routine on floor and finish in 13th. Brogan Barrott did very well complete her competition after a recent injury and place in 12th.  Tegan Fookes showed massive improvement on her floor routine to achieve a score of 8.25, and after performing a handspring vault for the first time at competition placed 10th. Matilda Swift displayed her new floor routine to place in 6th, slightly ahead was Elenor Pearson who made her regional debut and placed in 4th position. To complete the group Olivia Kraus’ practice paid off as she showed a very elegant floor routine to place top of the group in 1st and become regional champion. Olivia also achieved a score of 16.10 to qualify for bronze level.
 
Woking had just 2 gymnasts competing in round two, both competing in the regional advanced competition for the first time. Poppy Davies and Eleanor Whitacker competed in the Girls 2007 category. With a tough time in warm up Poppy manged to compete two handspring vaults, she then performed her brand new floor routine with confidence to place in 11th. Elenor showed power on vault and after lots of nerves got through her floor routine to place in 13th. Both girls should be very proud of their performances and take the experience gained onto future competitions.
 
Although it may not have been our strongest competition, we will continue to use the experience and build on it for next time, all of the gymnasts who participated in the competition should be proud of themselves and their performances. Also a big thank you to the coaches and judges who assisted the gymnasts at the competition.