Little 8 year old Phobe Copestake was the first gymnast to compete in Portsmouth and she did herself proud as she ended up in the top 20 gymnasts in the region coming 17 out of 35. Up against some fine gymnasts from all over Southern England she would have been in the top ten had she not slipped on landing from the beam.
The next round saw three gymnasts battle against 37 and Becky Matcham came 2nd overall and was mightily unlucky to not be crowned champion as missed out by a mere 00.2
Becky however was the first to show the pedigree of the Arabian gymnasts on Balance beam where they are fast getting a name for being fearless and precise.
Becky took Gold medal on beam. She also won Bronze on bars and came 7th on bars tying with team mate Millie Barnes who came 3rd overall hot on Becky’s tail with only 0.150 difference. Millie Took individual Bronze for her lovely beam routine and was unlucky to come 4th on vault but even she would not mind as it was team mate Tamzin Hill who took the Bronze on vault and her 7th on beam and 9th on bars gave her a top 6 finish. Excellent results for the girls.
Becky 2nd , Millie 3rd and Tamzin 6th
In the last round which was running 90 minutes over time the poor gymnasts of Molly and Katie had a huge wait to get on with proceedings. But when they did they started on beam and were so fast to get on with it they had competed and were done before the audience had even noticed.
Katie took individual Bronze medal on the beam with Molly taking Silver medal in what has been a great beam day for the club with all gymnasts having clean routines and all demonstrating the best acrobatic dismounts.
Katie hit her handstands on bars to assist her to 6th overall but poor Molly who never stopped smiling and laughing even when it went soooo wrong on bars. Her upstart on low bar crashed to the floor after her hand guard spun off her hand.
Then as she piked on the high bar to dismount she over rotated and fell over the top.
Molly epitomised the club spirit by smiling and taking the bar disaster in her stride, as one of the things. It cost her a top 6 finish mind you and dropped back to 16th.
Head coach Alan was over the moon with the girls display
" I always say to the girls that if they attack beam and stick it then they always stand a chance of getting a medal, today proved this as accurate. Kirsty, Annie and myself are so pleased with their happy smiling faces and their strong attitude to competing.
The sport is so much more enjoyable when they enjoy it.
It was a delight to watch them especially their beams. We can’t ask for anymore than that, I think the ethos on how we coach the girls and how we approach competitions seems to work well. Sunday is the older girls ….lets hope they can be as good!”
