Breda Open Acrobatics Cup (BOAC) 2015, HOLLAND

Land of the Orange...

It was a competition we thought about attending last year, but decided to miss out. This year, there would be absolutely no FOMO at all (Fear Of Missing Out). Flights booking. Accommodation ready. Lets get going.. BREDA, HOLLAND HERE WE COME!!

We descended on London City Airport with 14 tired heads, and 3 sprightly shepherds. Smooth flight. The gymnasts couldn't get over the fact we received free snacks on the 45min flight. Thanks BA. Much appreciated. Some thought it necessary to somehow have time for 2 rounds of snacks. Yunus. We arrived in Rotterdam and were whisked off to Breda, just under an hour from the airport. No real hiccups.

Arriving at our accommodation, it was everything you'd expect for the amazing price of £65 for the weekend (...you're welcome). Was clean and basic - just what you need for a competition.

Podium training on the Friday went relatively well. You never want an amazing podium session... Doesn't bode well for the following day! Sara (bless her little clean white cotton socks) was doing as much as she could without causing herself too much pain. Poor thing rolled her ankle 4 days prior. Good thing I strapped her up like it was a game of 'pass the parcel' and I wasn't running out of strapping aaaaaaany time soon :-)

Later that evening we had a meal at the Hotel restaurant - plain and simple. Kieran had much to say about the chocolate moose desert which appeared like something out of a survival TV show. But I digress. The gymnasts were well behaved and off to sleep. A couple of instances of locking themselves out of their rooms (including me!!!), but hey, all part of the fun!

Saturday morning saw the routines performed of our 2 MxPs of Sam&Romilly and Mika&Natalie and also our 2 WPs of Clara&Annabel and Ashira&Sara.

What a successful morning it was!!! Clara&Annabel finished 4th which could have easily been 3rd if it wasn't for a small technical rule. Sam&Romilly clinched the BRONZE medal with a very cute and well executed routine. Ashira&Sara pulled off an exciting performance and even with an injured Sara, still came away with the SILVER MEDAL which was only 0.1 off first place. Mika&Natalie once again touched the audience and the judges with their emotional sequence, and came away comfortably with the GOLD MEDAL! All partnerships were competing recently acquired moves, so well done to all.

The afternoon saw our MxP of Yunus&Tara compete. They competed 2 routines and at the BOAC, they allow medals for individual routines as well as overall for the more advanced category. Well, what can we say... These 2 gymnasts destroyed their competition... Smashed them into little molecules!... 3 GOLD MEDALS... (I don't even think they were nervous! I'm pretty sure Tara was reading the Evening Standard half way through her balance routine...)

After the Saturday competition, we attended the dinner party which involved throwing children around. Literally. If you haven't seen the videos, check them out, they loved it!!

Sunday morning arrived to see our FIG level gymnasts of Layla&Mercedes and also Kieran&Sofia perform. The MxP routine was shakey and nervous, and unfortunately received a lower score than hoped for, due to various time faults. A similar situation arose for the WP, and unfortunately without the time faults they would have at least been 2nd! Nevertheless the routines most definitely stood out from the crowd, and they performed well!

Massive congrats to all the gymnasts and parents and coaches. A VERY successful weekend for Hendon Acro Squad :-)

Leicester Invitational Acro 2015

At time of writing this, they are top of the Premier League. This can't have happened before...!

Leicester, Leicester, Leicester... we love a bit of Leicester! Our very first Acro competition ever back in 2013... we're back again for the 3rd time... this time with the whole squad!!

It was a great day... some of our gymnasts were competing for the first time ever, so anything could happen! It was nice to see the tumblers getting back on track too :) In the end, we completed smashed both Tumbling and Acro medals, taking away 12 medals in all, many of them GOLD medals!

Big up to the supporting parents... the loudest we've ever had... was great to hear them shouting from the stands :)

South Tyneside Invitational 2015

"Wrap up son, we're going up north..."

South Tyneside is traditionally a very good competition in that it is at the start of the season, and you generally compete against the best in the country. It is renowned for its prestige, and organisation.

This year we only took 3 partnerships on the 4hour train journey up North. We arrived Friday early evening, and after some technical issues with the hotel, we managed to get sorted and head to the podium training that evening (something we shall be doing a lot more of, at competitions!). This allowed the gymnasts to train on the equipment they'll be competing on that weekend. This was their 2nd training session of the day :)

Saturday morning came, and after (quite a few) hash brown's for breakfast, we headed to the competition venue where our G5 MxP of Yunus & Tara were competing their Balance routine later in the afternoon. Time passed, and their time to shine was upon us. The routine wasn't without its errors, although performed cleanly for the most part, putting them in 2nd place with a score of 26.44... not bad!

The day finished relatively early for a competition, and so we headed back to the hotel to spruce up, and then headed for a 'night on the town'... which consisted of leading the gymnasts to a bowling alley! (They had no idea..). This was the highlight of the weekend. After 10 attacks on the life of the bowling pins, somehow, someway, Coach Peter managed to fend off the likes of Gymnast Mum Goga, beating her by 1 measly point, 119-118!! Literally, the most competitive game of bowling ever witnessed in the history of everything, ever. Gymnasts? Who?

Sunday morning arrived rather suddenly at 6am, as all partnerships were competing on the last day, with our G4 WP of Ashira & Sara up first. They produced a great routine, and finished 5th out of 15 with a score of 26.43, with an execution score of only 0.1 behind bronze! Next up was our recognisable G4 MxP pair of Mika & Natalie, who produced a newly adapted routine, to win the GOLD medal!!! What a great way to start the season. Lastly, Yunus&Tara were back on the floor to compete their final Dynamic routine. Even though they placed first in the dynamic standings with a score of 26.71, they still remained in 2nd place to take home the SILVER medal!! Great weekend. 

Turin International Acro Cup 2015

“Achievement = talent + preparation”

Time to adopt the Italian lifestyle. We practiced cupping our hands with all fingers and thumb pressed together, rocking the whole hand back and forward whilst frowning and talking simultaneously. We practiced taking 15 coffee breaks every 45seconds during working hours. We practiced extrememly loving greetings with complete strangers. What we didn't practice, was how to cope with the insane heatwave Europe was going through! 30*C at night!!!!

Getting back to the point at hand. We were ready. This was our 2nd time at the Turin International Acro Cup, however this time we had 2yrs experience on our side. Last time, we took 3 partnerships, and we had 1 make the finals. No medals. We wanted to beat that. Was this our time?

Before dawn, 18 grumpy people descended upon Stansted airport. Most importantly 10 grumpy gymnasts slumped through check-in and security and plonked themselves on the plane. Then they woke up. Maybe it was the fuel. Maybe it was the novelty of planes. I don't know what it was. They wouldn't shut up.

We landed in Turin around 10am local time, after a smooth flight, no issues. We stepped off the plane into heat which the UK manages to muster up for about 7 days annually. *This is why we're here*. We knew that we'd be travelling straight from the plane to the Gym, and so we jumped on a lovely bus with AC (thank the lord), and arrived around 30mins later to the familiar competition venue. The first day was Podium Training day (podium training is simply training on the competition equipment, the day before the competition starts). The training went smoothly, no falls or major hiccups. The girls were throwing some nice pitches and somersaults in their purple crop tops looking "profesh" as they say these days. Yunus busting out the guns in his matching sports vest.. it made him smile (slightly... the boy NEVER smiles). Having a good 2.5hrs training, we were ready to eat.

The food was much better than last time, although the food last time didn't exactly set the bar very high. Nevertheless, we munched away and headed back to our Hotel. The rooms were nice, nothing to complain about, although nothing to shout and rave about either.

******AIR RAID!!!!!******

Did you just drop to the floor in a heap? If not, you're now "Air Raid Master". (one of the many hilarious games we adopted throughout the trip!)

It was the First Day of the competition. Our 11-16 trio of Alix, Cassie, and Sofia were up with their dynamic routine. The training went well in the warm up room. They completed their routine with no falls or major errors, but there were some deductions to be taken. They dealt with the nerves well, and produced some nice artistry. They finished 6th out of 18 partnerships after the first day. A good start!

The Second Day of the competition saw the full squad competing, with the 11-16 trio's balance routine, and our MxP, WP and WG combined routines too. It was a successful day for the squad. Our WP and MxP produced great and sturdy routines both qualifying in 2nd place... especially amazing for the WP of Layla & Mercedes as they were in a category of 23 partnerships! Our WG just missed out on qualifying as they received 0.6 technical deductions. Although their Execution score was 3rd highest in the whole category!! Lastly, our 11-16 trio managed to pull off a great new balance routine, which overall made sure they qualified to the finals on the last day. 3 out of 4 partnerships qualified - we've already beat our score last time!!

The Last day of competition was the FINALS! Those doing combined routines had to repeat their routine, and our 11-16 trio repeated their dynamic routine. They were up first. They competed a much cleaner routine than 2days before, but unfortunately competed an 'entry' into a move which was not declared on the tariff (difficulty) sheet, and received a technical deduction for this, resulting in a rank 10 out of 12, which would have been 6 or 7th place without the deductions. Our WP were up next, and given the success of the day before, we were all hoping for a happy ending here. It was close... up until the very last routine of their category, they were in bronze medal position, and then... they were knocked down to 4th!!!! Worst possible way to go out :-( ..... it was hard to deal with that emotionally, for all involved. Nevertheless, they performed amazingly, considering they've only been together for around 6months.

Last but not least, it was our MXP of Yunus and Tara to compete their Finals routine. It was slightly shaky compared to the day before, but my god... YUNUS WAS SMILING!!!! That in itself was enough to say we had a great comp! However, the scores then came up... they won BRONZE!!! Not only that, they were only 0.1 off the Gold medal!!! Our first International Medal!!! What an achievement :)

We ended the trip on a high - we visited the extreeeeeeemely packed out water park, and finished the night off with the Farewell party, which was well deserved by all.

WE DID IT!!! WELL DONE TEAM :)

RESULTS HERE

Saltney Invitational 2015

Layla & Mercedes GOLD!

We hadn't done this one before! But we did know there'd be some fierce competition. We sent 3 partnerships down to compete at what could be called the "season closer" as it is right at the end of the competition season!

Our Grade 3 WP of Erin & Chloe performed a very nice and clean routine, and received a very good score of 26.9!! As we said, there was some fierce competition, so even with that blistering score, they placed in 7th, out of a large category. That their seasons PB score, so well done!

We also sent our Grade 2 MxP of Sam & Romilly who have been competing well throughout the season, and did so again this comp. Although there may have been some underwear on show, they did well to secure a SILVER medal with a great score of 27.07!! Well done you guys!

The last routine of ours on the second day of competition was our Grade 4 WP of Layla & Mercedes. They produced an almost faultless routine to muster up a score of 27.17, which landed them smack-bang in GOLD position! Their first medal as a pair!! So very proud of the WP, they will continue to do great things :)

National FINALS, Stoke-On-Trent, May 2015

Mika & Natalie NATIONAL MEDALLISTS!

"Fortune favours the brave."

We were in unknown territory. The first time we've ever reached national finals!! We had a beautiful mixed pair of Mika & Natalie in G3.

After a last minute decision to drive down the night before the comp, at 9pm, arriving at midnight, we got some sleep (and a bit more after revisiting the hotel after registration). It was well needed.

It was the biggest category they had ever competed in: 10 pairs. Nevertheless they trained well in the warm up room, and came out all guns blazing... So to speak!

They performed an absolutely wonderful routine to score 27.79 which was the 4th highest score in the entire national finals..... Earning them the title of NATIONAL SILVER MEDALLISTS!!! 2nd best in the ENTIRE country... They should be so very very proud. (And only 0.04 off the top spot!!)

Another fantastic weekend :-)

RESULTS ON BG HERE

National Inter-Regionals, Southampton May 2015

ACS Trio Inter Regional Champions!

"Never Quit. Ever."

We were back in Southampton for the National Inter-Regional finals for the 3rd year running! This time, with more partnerships than before who all qualified 2nd at regionals to get here.

Thus we were competing amongst some of the best in the country. We were representing the London Region which was an achievement in itself. It was a full weekend!!

Saturday saw our G5 womens trio of Alix Cassy, and Sofia competing their 2 routines. The morning saw an uncharacteristically dodgy balance routine regain their composure to finish in 5th place out of 8. It was a tall order to create a place from such a position, but we were determined.

After some hearty words and drilled determination, the afternoon dynamic routines came around. What a difference from the morning! They placed 1st in the dynamic portion of the day. Towards the end of the day we didn't know whether the total marks got them 3rd or 4th place. Tense. Very tense. Well, it turned out our maths was utterly terrible because their stunning 2nd routine propelled them to the top spot, crowning them NATIONAL INTER REGIONAL G5 CHAMPIONS!!!! Well done!

Sunday saw our 2 mixed pairs competing in G2 and G4. There was tough competition to say the least. Sam&Romilly pulled of a lovely clean routine which earned them the bronze medal!! Whilst Yunus&Tara pulled off their best routine to date earning them the Silver medal in their category behind a pair who had the highest score in the entire comp! Well done to our pairs

What a great weekend!!!!!

RESULTS HERE