Garioch gymnastics club will be well represented at the British Finals in Guilford with four gymnasts qualifying for the competition.
Their qualification comes after a successful outing at The Classic Challenge in Perth which acts as a regional qualifier.
Leah Douglas and Casey Reid competed in the bronze category for 12 and 13 year olds, finishing second and third respectively.
Thea Klopper finished fifth overall in the same age group and will travel to Guildford as a team reserve.
Islay Grant represented Garioch in the 14+ age group for the first time and achieved an impressive first place finish to secure her qualification.
All four Garioch gymnasts started the competition on beam before moving on to the floor and bars events.
The Classic Challenge was the first competition that the gymnasts had the opportunity to compete in since the Covid-19 pandemic started.
Club manager Janine Robertson is proud of how the young gymnasts performed in their first competition in almost two years.
She said: “We really had no idea what to expect, we didn’t know what was going to happen.
“We took the stance that there’s no expectations, there’s no pressure and let’s just go out and compete again and have some fun.
“Of course, we wanted to compete with confidence and that’s what the girls did.
“They’re feeling good about themselves and that’s what we wanted to achieve. From the competition, they have come away thinking ‘I’m still really good at this, I can still do this’.”
The British Finals which will take place later in the year and will be the first time that some of the Garioch gymnasts will represent their country in a competition.
Adapting
The club moved to their own gym facility just before the March lockdown which helped control their own training environment amidst Covid rules and regulations.
Garioch helped support their athletes throughout Covid-19 lockdowns with Zoom sessions and outdoor training when restrictions allowed.
The Classic Challenge in Perth was not only the gymnasts first competition back, but also their first opportunity to showcase their improved skills despite adapted training regimes.
The club manager explained: “These girls are training five days a week, it’s 20 plus hours. If you’ve gone from doing not as much in lockdown to suddenly going back to 20 hours, we would just get injured.
“We have had to be very careful how we phase them back in and reduce different kinds of training, no hard impact so everything was on soft landings.
“It’s been weird for everyone. We haven’t always been allowed to handle or do any support so they have had to teach themselves to do certain skills again in safe ways rather than us being there to physically support them.”
