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

Acro Regionals 2015

Mika & Natalie NATIONAL FINALISTS

And now.. the hard part.

Hmph. Acro regionals. Not an easy one for us. "you've got no fans, you've got no ground.... YOU WANT SOME??"

HENDON ACRO'LL GIVE IT YA!!

Yes, normally, we don't have any fans, and normally we don't have any ground to win medals or success at the acro regionals. BUT THIS HAD TO STOP.

We quite literally FORCED a bunch of unwilling parents and siblings to join our 13hour spell of gymnastics frolicks and shenanigans!!!! We even invited a random extra coach to join us.

The journey there was pleasant, and quiet, after a few shouts of "STOP TALKING" and "GO TO SLEEP OR YOU'LL BE SORRY" echoed throughout the hendon acro tour bus (why can't we call it that???). But then we arrived bright eyed and bushey tailed. Parents were sent to the stands and gymnasts claimed a section of the warm up room to themselves. Crafty.

We first had our Grades 1, 2, and 3's competing in the morning. Some partnerships competing for the first time! Special shoutout to Sam & Romilly for achieving a 26.67 score in their first comp!! All other partnerships produced routines with some shakes and wobbles. However, once again our Mika & Natalie stole the show winning their GOLD medal, qualifying through to NATIONAL FINALS!!! Well done!

The afternoon saw Grades 4, 5 and 6s competing. Big shoutout to Layla & Mercedes for producing a routine with 8.933 artistry!!! Also Yunus & Tara performed cleanly to take a SILVER medal, qualifying them through to the Inter Regional National comp in southampton! Also going through were our new Grade 5 trio of Alix, Cassie and Sofia!!! (Not to mention Sofia had to learn a back somersault in 2 days... what a very special gymnast she is!) Very well done to all!!!

MORNING RESULTS HERE

AFTERNOON RESULTS HERE

Tumbling Regionals 2015

Sophie's GOLD

Tumbling Tumbling Tumbling. What goes up....

Hendon + Tumbling = medals. An extremely obnoxious equation that would be... if we wrote it ourselves. But we didn't. Fate did. We are not complaining one bit. Not at all. Not a sausage.

We took 11 tumblers to Richmond to compete in their most important tumbling competition of the year - The Regionals. Rules? Well, if you're 1st or 2nd, you qualify through to the National Semi Finals - a bit of a big deal.

11 tumblers. 5 qualified. TUMBLING MADNESS, MADNESS I TELL YOU!!! What a great day for Hendon Acro & Tumbling Squad. Above all, we know Miss Sophie Boehler has been waiting a long time after some rocky and unlucky years in tumbling, to qualify through, and she did it in STYLE, with a GOLD! Well done to her and the rest of the tumblers. 

King Edmund Acro Comp 2015

"Bad dreams in the night.
They told me I was going to lose the fight,
Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering
Wuthering Heights."

We do like the acro competition at King Edmund's club in Bristol. We seem to do well each time we attend! We like to put it down to the expert and well varied Judges on the panel. This time was no different :)

5 pairs from Hendon Acro were competing at the weekend, including 2 WPs, 2 MxP's and a MP. We travelled across to Bristol the night before with our WP's, and arrived in style, thanks to Cherry (Clara's mum) getting us an upgrade to First Class for next to nothing! In return, the sushi destined for her daughter was taxed. Heavily.

We awoke to arrive at the venue for 8:00am, and the WP's were the first to compete. Both pairs received an uncannily close score to one another - Clara & Tara 26.36 and Layla & Mercedes 26.39! They placed 7th and 8th respectively, out of a massive group of 20 pairs... well done!

In the afternoon, we were joined by our 2 MxP's and MP. The boys were first up, and produced a decent routine, falling just short of the medals in 4th place. The G4 MxP of Yunus and Sofia were up next, and with a brand new routine had to live up to some expectations! They did well achieving the BRONZE  medal! Well done both!

The LAST routine of the entire competition was performed by our G3 MxP of Mika & Natalie. Quite some pressure knowing you're the last to go, considering everyone is just about ready to go home! They performed a nearly faultless routine to achieve a score in the wuthering heights of 27.74, claiming another GOLD medal!! One of the top 3 scores of the entire comp! What a good end to the day.

RESULTS HERE

Heathrow Acro Invitational 2015

Mika & Natalie Silver

Sam & Ivan Bronze

Back to Heathrow we go! The most successful gymnastics club in the UK, and the most successful Acrobatic club in the world last year! They put on a great competition which is arguably harder than any regional qualifier - many of the partnerships competing were likely to reappear at national championships later in the year.

It was a long day. 7:15am - 8:40pm to be exact. Well done to the coaches for sticking it out! First up was our G3's and 11-16 WG. We saw a clean routine from the 11-16 trio of Alix, Cassy, and Olivia. A low score relative to others as there were many deductions for landings. They performed the newly edited routine well. Our G3 MP were in a small category of 4, but managed to achieve a great BRONZE medal - well done to Sam and Ivan for whom this was there first time competing, great achievement! However, busting through the 27.00 mark barrier AGAIN with a final score of 27.25 was our G3 MxP of Mika and Natalie. They won the SILVER medal behind an extremely experienced and talented pair - well done!

The afternoon saw our G4s and 11-16 balance routines. Our G4 MxP of Yunus and Sofia performed a clean routine but unfortunately the judges didn't see much to wow them. Our G4 WPs saw their first comp in their new partnerships go relatively well, considering their category was the LARGEST of the competition with 28 pairs (yes, 28). Layla & Mercedes finished 14th, and Clara & Tara 11th. To get an idea of how hard their category was; if L&M did not receive their 0.1 CJP deduction, they would have finished 9th!!!

Our 11-16s finished with their balance routine which showed massive improvement in artistry with a mark of 8.55 which rivalled the big guns, Well done all!!!

RESULTS HERE

Leicester Acro & Tumble Comp Nov 2014

Medals Galore!

Deja Vu (noun) - a feeling of having already experienced the present situation.

We've definitely been here before... the annual dual-discipline invitational in Leicester, East Midlands. The last time we were here was the first real Acro competition we ever attended! The surroundings were familiar to us, and it was a competition we hoped to achieve some good results.
For the first time.. it was a 12pm start to the day instead of the normal 8am!!! That was nice on the eyes... not having to wake up at 5:23am in the morning as per most competitions.

As soon as we got to the venue it was down to business. We used this competition as the starter block for some gymnasts as they have never competed before. First up was our Grade 3 WG of Saya, Jemma and the tiny Sara! They performed a very simple and clean floor routine with good execution which was good to see - clean routines are the most important thing!

Not too long after the WG competed, we had our MxP's competing - Mika & Natalie and the new pair of Yunus & Sofia. Our G4 pair did well since they had not competed together before, and we had completed their routine the day before! Still, there were no major errors, just needs some polish :) Our G3 MxP proved they are becoming veterans in this - they performed a stunning routine to claim another GOLD medal! Not only that, they achieved the HIGHEST ARTISTRY, EXECUTION AND TOTAL SCORE OF THE ENTIRE COMPETITION! Thats 3 golds in 4 competitions!!! Well done guys.

Next on the floor was our last partnership of the acro competition - our G4 WP of Layla & Tara. All I can say is... FINALLY!!!!! They have always performed a great routine regardless of major errors in previous competitions... but today was their day... they conducted an almost faultless routine winning the GOLD medal. Behind Mika & Natalie, they achieved the 2nd HIGHEST ARTISTRY score of the competition! ... As I said... FINALLY!! Very proud of those two!

On the other side of the room we had our gymnasts fly down the tumble track rebounding and flipping left, right, and centre. We have always done well in tumbling, and today was no different... well done to Layla, Alix, Sadie (GOLDs) Ashira, Jemma, (SILVERs) and Sophie (BRONZE)for all coming away with their medals. Alix especially pulled it out of the bag with her last 2 tumbles as we were scared her first tumble was to be dismissed!! Well done her. Special recognition to Sophie who had also had a week off gym due to back injury, and still decided to compete - well done Soph :)

RESULTS HERE