Date: Saturday 11th April 2015 at Ricoh Arena, Coventry
Entries close: TBC
Entry ages: 4 years +
A small contingent of Cangaroos and parents braved an early start to travel to Coventry for the first Spring Event Series competition of the British national qualifying events.
For this first event, Luis Pires taking part for his 5th year at this level and Zach Goggin, the Eastern Regions sole qualifier to the national events for 2 years were the two Cangaroos entries, accompanied by Head Coach, Tony Fagelman. Meanwhile Andrew Aistrup was representing the club as one of our National Judges.
Zach was up first, his goal was simple for this first competition, complete both routines to the best of his abilities. Competing in a group of 10 gymnasts from all over the UK, Zach had some good warm-up routines, but small amounts of travel during his first routine compromised his 1st routine. After round 1, he was lying in 7th position. A reasonable voluntary took Zach up one place to 6th place. A fantastic return for his 1st ever National competition and setting the stage for future events.
Luis had been struggling to complete his new higher difficulty voluntary routine ahead of the competition and although he managed it in training the evening before, things weren’t going right on the day. Following the 1st round, he competed well and was in 8th position, having achieved the necessary qualifying score, but it lacked his usual polish. This wasn’t helped this season by the decision to not use the Time of Flight scoring system, as Luis bounces considerably higher than most of his competitors and would therefore score much higher. A fault on his 2nd move in his 2nd routine resulted in a zero score and his eventual 13th position.
Cangaroos left the event with some measure of success, with Zach’s first competition navigated through safely and Luis proving he can achieve qualification to National Finals if he can complete the new voluntary routine. We look forward now to June and SES 2 at Sheffield. In the meantime, the club will be taking part in our first National League event in May in Sussex.