Heathrow Invitational, Feb 2016

Layla & Mercedes 11-16 GOLD

"BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE WHTE VANS!" (If you know, you know!)

We love Heathrow for 2 reasons. You're either going to catch a plane somewhere warm, or you're going to go get some medals. This weekend was the latter :)

A very exciting competition for all, as this was a comp where our lower grades were gaining more experience, and performing more, and it was also a chance for our new elite group to perform dual routines in a comp for the first time.

It was a LONG LONG day - we were up at 5am - ready for the coach to leave past 6am - crazy times, but that's what you get for doing gymnastics. Suck it up and stop complaining. Life lessons. It doesn't get easier when you get older!

The morning saw our G3's compete, including our Women's Pair of Clara & Annabel whom received a very unusual scoring which was out of character, but their artistry score was way up there at 8.3! Watch out for them in the future! Our MxP gained their highest score to date with 26.85 which was amazing, achieving the GOLD medal - Well done Sam & Romilly.

Also in the morning, we had our G5 and 11-16's all compete their balance routines. Our G5 MxP really performed, to finish in 1st place after their first routine. Our 11-16 WG of Alix, Leah, and Hannah performed their first balance routine since the beginning of their partnership. Only due to being in a very strong category (where all partnerships scored over 27.0) and suffering from a time fault, the girls were placed last after their routine. Our MxP had an unfortunate start to their routine where they didn't complete their first move. They didn't let this phase them, as they went on to finish their routine, with an Artistry score of 8.00 which is astonishing considering they had an incomplete routine! Well done Kieran & Sofia :) Our WP of Layla and Mercedes performed a clean routine, but finished after their music to gain 0.4 of technical deductions, resulting in a score of 26.6, which is also a great achievement in the elite F.I.G. levels!

The afternoon saw these partnerships compete again for their Dynamic routines. Our G5 MxP hung onto 1st place easily, with a very good 2nd routine, and gained the GOLD medal!! They are on a serious roll!! Our WP had a precarious afternoon as Mercedes had never competed a tucked back somersault in a routine before (which is a requirement in the elite levels)... so we were all hoping for the best! And she overcame the odds to perform it - well done her! After their 2nd routine, they remained in 1st place to take the GOLD! Our MxP performed a shaky routine, but nevertheless showed good promise with their choreography. They finished with the BRONZE. Our WG outshone the rest of the competition with their dynamic routine - they finished with a smashing score of 26.85 which is superb for their first time! They finished with the BRONZE also.

The afternoon was time for the G2 and G4 MxP's to compete! Our G2's did really well, as BOTH partnerships made the podium. Evan & Mati performed a great routine to clinch the BRONZE and Tom & Darya managed the first 27-score of the day, with 27.19!! Cracking score, with the GOLD medal. Our last but not least G4 MxP of Mika & Natalie were performing the VERY last routine of the ENTIRE competition... (poor things - they had waited 13hours for this...). They did not disappoint. With an emotional performance, they cracked up a score of 27.20 to take the GOLD medal!

Galactic competition - very proud!!

Regional Tumbling Championships Feb 2016

Back to one of our favourite comps! Tumble Champs!

We made our way down to Richmond with 6 budding tumblers, ranging from National Grade 2 all the way up to National Grade 5, involving combinations of flicks, whips an somersaults through all levels.

Needless to say, we did really well! All 6 tumblers won medals, and ALL of them qualified to National Semi Finals in Coventry later this year!

Go Hendon!!!

King Edmund NDP Jan 2016

Happy Birthday Sam!

We do like a good "trac'er" we do! (That's west-country speak for 'Tractor'... they are known for their farming!)

We headed to Bristol in the west for King Edmunds annual NDP competition, with 5 partnerships, including 4 Mixed Pairs and a Women's Pair. Set over 2 days due to sheer number of gymnasts entering the competition, it was always going to be a tough challenge!

The first day saw our G2, G3 MxP's and our G3 WP competing. All partnerships competed well, although our G2 MxP's had some out-of-character moments during their routine which received usual deductions, but still ploughed through, with our Tom & Darya securing the BRONZE medal, and our Sam & Romilly Securing the SILVER medal for G3 (amazing present for Sam on his birthday!) Our G3 WP of Clara and Annabel were in a category of 43 partnerships, and placed 10th - putting them in the top quarter of their category - amazing achievement!

Day 2 saw our infamous G4 MxP of Mika & Natalie compete, and they achieved the GOLD medal, but it was incredibly close - the silver medalists were 0.1 behind them!

Great competition by all.

Cartwheel-A-Thon!

What the deuce is a Cartwheel-A-Thon?? Well... Its an 'a-thon' of cartwheels obviously, stupid.

The premise was simple. Gymnastics is expensive. Competitive gymnastics is even more expensive. Competitive Acrobatic Gymnastics is down right daylight robbery sometimes. Imagine a £50 note. Imagine a lighter. Put them together. Bam. You got the picture.

What do we do about this? Ask the gymnasts to do as many cartwheels as possible, aiming for a total 5000 within an hour, and collect sponsorship for this, to pay for the leotards, and subsidise choreography tuition, accommodation, travel (including flights, as we are regularly attending international comps now!) and the list goes on!

We completed this in STYLE. How many cartwheels you ask??

12,600.

Read that again.

I'll rewrite it because I know some of you are getting on a bit.

12,600!!!! (And we might have even missed a few).

Well done to ALL involved. We had parents and coaches contribute over 150 cartwheels to the total too!!

THANK YOU TO ALL YOU SPONSORS!!!

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.