Celebrating Young People in the Central Region

Anna RobertsonCentral-Wellington, e-News

Over the past 12 months, there have been a number of successes in the Central region, especially from our young people. Here is just a snapshot of some of the great things both athletes and youth coaches have accomplished.

International Tours

Sarah Jennings from Twisters Gymnastics Club (Tawa, Wellington) was a member of the Gymnastics NZ team who recently travelled to Singapore for the Prime Gymnastics Competition. Sarah achieved outstanding results – 1st on bar, 2nd on vault, 2nd all around and 1st in the team competition. Congratulations to Sarah and her coach Cat Diamond for their hard work preparing for this event, it definitely paid off.

Valeri Liukin Gymnastics competition

Congratulations to Thomas Dew (Pictured)(Omni Gymnastics Club), Aaron Van Eijck (Kapiti GymSports) and Mathieu Clatin (Capital Gymsports) for being selected as part of the Gymnastics NZ Team travelling to Texas in December to compete in the Valeri Liukin Competition.

National Title Holder

Danielle McLean (Panda’s Gymnastics Club) – STEPs Gymnast of the year for Women’s Artistic Gymnastics
STEP 5 & 6 Team – Wellington province with the highest aggregate score – Women’s Artistic Gymnastics
STEP 5 & 6 Team – Wellington best conducted province- Women’s Artistic Gymnastics
Keira Rolston-Larking (Capital GymSports) – STEP 6 Under Champion
Theo Barraud (Capital GymSports) – Level 4 Champion

Alanah Goldingham – Hutt Valley Gymnastics Club

Ollerup Scholarship Winner

The winner of the Gymnastics NZ Ollerup Scholarship was recently announced as Alanah Goldingham (Hutt Valley Gymnastic Club). Congratulations to Alanah on this wonderful opportunity. All your hard work and dedication to the sport has opened some exciting new doors for you.

XTND Students 2017

Clubs in the Central region choose to invest in their youth coaches resulting in a large group of current XTND students. From 2017:

  • 30 year 1 XTND students will move through to year 2 in 2018
  • 30 year 2 students are completing final stages before graduating in early 2018

Congratulations to all 60 students for starting your coaching pathway with Gymnastics NZ training.

A special mention should also go to our local presenters and mentors who support the growth and development of these students throughout the year.

Grasping a Programme with both hands

It is exciting to see many of our young people in Clubs taking on new challenges. With support from their Clubs, there is no limit to the great things young people can achieve.  Here are two examples from 2017:

Lia Horsley (Omni Gymnastics Club) has a passion and willingness to compete in Rhythmic Gymnastics despite this not being a code usually represented at her Club. Coach Ann-Marie didn’t let a lack of experience in coaching Rhythmic stand in the way and took on the challenge. Using the RG manual and watching lots of youtube helped out and Lia has now been competing in Rhythmic Gymnastics for a couple of years. 2017 has been a special year for Lia where she took away 2 apparatus placings and 3rd overall in Level 6 at the National Championships. Congratulations Lia and Ann-Marie.

A group of athletes from Rimutaka decided they wanted to give TeamGym a go. They formed the Rimutaka Senior Team Gym team and the students worked together, reading the code, choreographing a routine, creating costumes and I’m sure having a few laughs along the way. With support from coaches Monique and Sarah they created a great team and competed at Waikanae Gymnastics Club, placing 2nd at their first ever competition. All team members are ex-competitive athletes or coaches at the club.

Gavin and Josh – Kapiti GymSports

MAG 360 Testing Day

The following athletes from the Central Region were invited to the MAG 360 testing held at Tri Star in Auckland over the weekend of the 18 – 19 November. See also the Squad 360 announcement to see who was selected into the Squads.

Level 4

  • Theo Barraud – Capital GymSports
  • Daniel Follet – Hutt Valley Gymnastics Club

Level 5

  • Alex Sims – Hutt Valley Gymnastics Club
  • Josh Teitelbaum- Kapiti GymSports

Pascha, Alex, Daniel and Logan – Hutt Valley Gymsports

Level 6

  • Logan Curtis – Hutt Valley Gymnastics Club

Level 7

  • Xavier Le Lievre – Omni Gymnastics Centre

Level 8

  • Mathieu Clatin – Capital GymSports
  • Zayne Coffey – Omni Gymnastics Centre
  • Thomas Drew – Omni Gymnastics Centre

 

WAG Junior and Senior Performance Squads

The following athletes from the Central region have been selected to attend either the Junior or Senior clinic/camp to be held at Christchurch School of Gymnastics in January 2018:

WAG Junior Performance Squads

  • Phaedra Chin – Twisters Tawa Gymnastics Club
  • Sarah Jennings – Twisters Tawa Gymnastics Club
  • Emmilyn Stevens – Capital GymSports
  • Fiona Mendoza – Hutt Valley Gymnastics Club
  • Ava Baddeley – Capital GymSports
  • Keira Rolston – Larking – Capital GymSports

WAG Senior Performance Squads

  • Monique Sears – Hutt Valley Gymnastics Club