Date: Sunday 11th October 2015 at
Entries close: 2015-09-29
Entry ages: 4 years +
On a fresh Autumn morning the Cangaroos team descended on Hatfield University Sports Campus to compete in the Eastern Regional Trampoline and DMT Championships. Supporting our eight entries were coaches, Tony and Franky, IT gurus Neil and Ali, Judges Olga and Natasha and our marshall (and sweet provider) Sine.
The Regional Championships is only open to clubs in the Eastern Region and is a competition to win grade titles (highest form score in each grade for boys and girls) and an overall club regional title for both Trampoline and DMT. Also for the under 9s is the opportunity to compete in the Steve Locke trophy for the highest form score in the younger bouncers. Last year the region felt a great loss when Steve passed away and we still miss him today.
The competition kicked off with Ella Searle in Band 1 Under 9 girls - she performed well finishing 5th in her group and got us off to a solid start. After a short wait Lexi and Scarlett were competing in the Band 2 Under 13 girls. Their nerves held well as they finished 10th and 13th respectively in a large tough group.
Our last bouncer of the morning was the ever bubbly Lizzie Chamberlain competing in the Band 2 Under 11 Girls where she scored well to finish 9th.
As the morning rolled on to midday, and Hi-Tension's Clive Salmon's stomach rumbled at the prospect of a long wait for judges lunch, the Cangaroos had a small gap to relax before the next competitor. Ali and Neil managing IT and sorting results out for the presentations were ever busy with a frequent stream of changes and reminding spectators to turn the flashes off on their cameras. Despite multiple 'polite' requests one parent did find the request difficult to understand - kudos to Stuart for stepping in and reminding them the world did not in-fact revolve around them.
After lunch was the one and only Energiser Bunny himself - Toby Chapman. Despite a few questionable routines in practice the days before, Toby shone on the day, not only winning his group (Band 3 Under 13 boys) but also taking home the Boys Regional Title for Band 3.
Following him was Aaliyah and Sydney in the Band 5 Under 15 girls. Aaliyah strung her routine together well and despite making use of most of the trampoline in the warm ups finished a very respectable 7th. Sydney fared even better and despite a little worry about her crash dive came through in 3rd.
Next up was the ever 'voisterous' Ashlea in Band 5 Under 17 girls. She scored well finishing 3rd under the watchful eye of Tony. Simultaneously Macy was competing in Band 3 Under 11 girls and came 8th - the hard practice she is putting into her routines is slowly coming through. Right after her was Anya in Band 3 Under 13 girls. Her good scores saw her claim 6th in her group.
After a short gap Mila was competing in the Band 6 Under 17 girls - she strung together two good routines to claim 3rd and keep the points rolling in for the team. Anya's sister Yasmin followed her scoring well to finish 4th in Band 3 Under 15 girls.
Next up was Meghan and Rhyannon in the Band 4 Under 13 girls. They narrowly missed out on the podium finishing 4th and 5th respectively.
To round off the day was the majority of our boys (and one slightly older boy). Harry, Abhi and Gabe were up competing in Band 5 mens. Harry winning his group with a really tidy routine, Abhi coming 5th in his group and Gabe coming home 2nd - well done lads!
The last groups was our guys in Band 6. Matt and Zach went first in the Under 17s with some incredibly harsh scoring came out 1st and 4th respectively. Last up was Ali competing in the 'generously named' under 19s. Despite having to coat himself in Deep Heat due to back problems he pulled out two reasonable routines to finish 2nd.
That brought a close to the competition and with all the clubs around the podium our superb team had managed to claim 4th place overall. Massive congratulations to all our bouncers and a huge thanks to our coaches, judges, helpers and parents.