February 2010
Following an extremely busy 2nd half of 2009 it has been impossible to up date the news page until now.
Southport Aerobic Gymnastics new home
Banks leisure centre
Due to a fire at Swimschool in October last year the club were forced to find a new training venue. It took some getting used to but everyone now admits this is the best training venue we have ever had so we will be staying.
The training timetable had to change slightly but everyone is settled now and working hard
December 2009
Christmas display at the Southport Arts centre
The annual display is a great opportunity for all our gymnasts to show family and friends what they do all year and this year’s display was a fantastic example of the progress of our club from gymnasts to coaches.
Keshia, now a level 2 coach, opened the show and introduced Rea who coaches the Novice children . The novice class is where our future talent lies and we aim to identify those with potential and fast track them to the development squad.
The development squad was introduced by Kelsie who is also now a level 2 coach and spends a huge amount of time working with the youngest members of our team.
Leanne, who is this year an International brevet judge, had the honour of bringing on the FIG squad and detailing their many achievements over the year .
The finale routine ‘Thriller’ was choreographed by Keshia and Kelsie and can be viewed on you tube under southportaerobicgym.
As is customary we present awards to those gymnasts who have excelled in a particular area and the awards were as follows.
· Most promising newcomer- Lydia Browne
· Most Improved – Charlotte Yarwood
· Head girl 2010- Hannah Branwood
· Gymnasts gymnast of the year chosen by the squad- Charlotte Yarwood
· Outstanding Individual- Katy Longden
There were also awards for Austria, France and Las Vegas to those gymnasts who travelled to compete.
Myself and Leanne were delighted to received photo album books from the club with a selection of photos for this year from each gymnast. This is a wonderful present to receive and something to treasure.
Nikolay Hadzhiev December 2009
We were lucky to host another training camp with Nik before we finished for Christmas. During his 4 day stay Nik was able to help choreograph a new group 2 6 team and a few individuals.
Austrian open 2009
Katy Longden- G1 6 team Silver
This years Aerobic gymnastics competition was held in the beautiful town of Kufstein in the Tyrol. As always the mix of gymnasts from all over Europe gives the competition a special buzz and the atmosphere was electric.
Although the competition was on a smaller scale then last year the quality was huge. Some of the best gymnasts from Russia, Bulgaria and Cez republic set the standard of the event.
This year Southport were the only GB team to attend and the girls who already have great friends in the Austrian squad continued to make friends with gymnasts and coaches.
 
Newly qualified brevet judges Sara Shotton and Leanne Markey were able to judge all 3 days of the event working alongside judges from Russian, America, Cez republic, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Israel.
They were Supported by 3 coaches Rea Mackarell and newly qualified level 2 coaches Keshia Santos and Kelsie Buck who gained their qualification at Weston in October
  
All categories had to qualify for finals and Southport had 7 gymnasts through to Saturday’s final –the final results as follows
In the foundation Category Cerys Mellor Finished 4th overall
In National development Skye Shotton and Naomi Parkinson both qualified finishing 5th and 4th respectively in the finals
 
Group 1 saw Shannon Rigby and Keimoy St Hill finish 5th and 7th in the finals
And in group 2 Chloe Molyneaux did a great job to finish 6th in the final.
 
The Southport Group 1 6 team of Charlotte Yarwood, Rebecca Wall, Rachael Briscoe, Keimoy St Hill , Shannon Rigby and Christie Pomford had a great competition finishing 2nd overall with a score of 15.155
   
The big story of the event was Katy Longden, who up against Austria’s Melanie Dusch fought hard and improved her score to gain 2nd place 17.225
Katy has also retained her place in the GB squad for 2010.
British 2009
Sara Shotton
Coach of the year
At the British Championships in October Sara very tearfully accepted the award for ‘Coach of the year’. This was totally unexpected and those in the club who knew kept it very quiet indeed!! After 10 years of maintaining the club and developing the sport in the Northwest Sara was delighted to have been acknowledged for all her hard work.
The club has made so much progress over the last 10 years. The one area I am really proud of is the way we have kept our gymnasts and those who leave for Work , university always want to come back and help out.
I am always in awe of our coaches who give up so much time for nothing but the satisfaction of seeing the gymnast’s progress. Without passionate people like them we wouldn’t have a sport!
Charlotte Yarwood Gold Group 1 NAC
The team did a fantastic job at the competition with some of the best scores of the year and a haul of medals. Charlotte Yarwood performed her heart out to win the group 1 female NAC individual and will move up to Group 2 FIG next year. The group 2 trio continues with their progress by gaining their best score and a bronze. Silver also to Olivia Parkinson
And gold to the group 1 pair Hannah Branwood and Rebecca Wall
Two Brevets in Southport!
In August Sara travelled to Rome to take her Brevet qualification which she passes as a level 4 .
‘It was really hard work and the airline lost my luggage but at least I got to meet some locals on the last day!!’ |
