Date: Saturday 5th September 2015 - Sunday 6th September 2015 at Sports Wales Centre, Cardiff
Entries close: TBC
Entry ages: 4 years +
On Friday 4th September, a team of 8 competitors, 3 coaches, officials and parents made the long journey from Cambridge to Cardiff to compete in the League 3 event held at the Welsh National Institute of Sport at Sofia Gardens.
This competition was the biggest trampoline and DMT competition ever held in the UK with over 800 trampoline gymnasts from all over the country taking part over two days of competition. With such a large entry we knew our 8 Cangaroo competitors would be challenged to come away with ranking points let alone any finalists or even medallists. But as ever our intrepid youngsters pulled out the stops and produced some excellent results across the board.
For some of our competitors, this was there 1st competition for a while, due to various injury issues. For others it was a chance to test themselves against the country’s best in their groups and for all it was a chance to secure vital ranking points in an effort to qualify for the League Finals at the Copper Box in November, a chance to compete at the Olympic venue being a prize in itself.
First up was Gabriel Strydom-Green at the unearthly competition hour of 8.30am in the 11-12 Boys League 3 competition. Gabe had already had two good results in the previous competition, and he was looking to consolidate his points and secure his qualification to the League Finals. Both preliminary routines went well and with scores of 35.180 for his set and 40.655 for his vol, he secured 3rd place going into the day’s finals, but more importantly he also achieved 50 ranking points and guaranteed qualification to the League Finals. All finals were zero based, so Gabe had to pull out a top quality routine to win a medal, he did a better routine than in round 2, scoring 40.745. Unfortunately his fellow competitors also improved and he was beaten by 0.4 marks finishing in 4th place.
Next to compete was Aaliyah Kinnley, competing in her 2nd League event in the 13-14 Girls League 3 competition, the biggest group of the day with 77 entries. Two steady routines of 33.725 for her set and 38.405 for her vol were completed and now she had to wait while 3 more flights took place before she knew her final position. After all the results were in, Aaliyah managed a hugely credible 36th place and she should be very proud of that result.
On a different panel at the same time as Aaliyah, Ashlea Bucke was competing in the 15-16 Girls League 3 event. This was also Ashlea’s 2nd League event and this was the 2nd biggest group of the day with 66 competitors. Ashlea produced two very good routines scoring 36.150 in her set and 40.760 in her vol and after all the flights were completed managed a very credible 25h place and just missed out on scoring ranking points. (The top 24 score ranking points from 100-1)
Sydney Kelly was up next in the 13-14 Girls League 3 and she produced one of her best set scores at this level, scoring 37.180, followed up with a good vol routine, scoring 39.490. Lying in 10th after the first 3 flights she knew she hadn’t made the days final, but we were all keen to see how she fared overall for her ranking points. After all the competitors had completed, Sydney came a fantastic 13th and secured 14 Ranking Points.
Last up in the mornings competition (by this time it was 1.30pm), was Trinity Kelly also in the 13-14 Girls League 3. Trinity had already managed one 1st place this season and was looking to secure high ranking points to secure her qualification. Two excellent routines followed, with a set score of 37.855 and a vol score of 42.000 to go into the finals in 1st place and 100 ranking points to ensure guaranteed qualification to the League Finals. An excellent final routine with a score of 42.625 took 2nd place and her 2nd medal of the season.
A short break followed, while the competitors and officials took a breather and Luis changed into his smart suit to take over as a judge for the afternoon’s competitions.
After the break, Harry Mallows and Matthew Burson took to the competition floor. Both of them were returning to competition after injury. This was Harry’s 1st time competing for two years and for Matt it was his 1st time since the end of last season when he won the League National title.
Harry was competing in the 15-16 Boys League 3 and executed an excellent set routine and was lying in medal contention with a score of 36.640, but an error on his 9th move cost him marks and with a vol score of 32.720 he slipped to 11th place. He did however, score 18 vital ranking points and we look forward to the final League event to secure his qualification to the finals. If he had repeated his first round score he would have been in 1st place, so we are hopeful of a good result at the next competition.
Meanwhile Matthew Burson was on another panel competing in the 15-16 Boys League 2 competition and he secured the highest set scores of the day for a male competitor with 41.935, along with the highest Time of Flight scores. He followed this with another high quality vol routine scoring an impressive 46.750 score to lead the field by 3 whole marks at the end of the preliminary rounds and securing 100 ranking points. After an equally impressive final, Matthew took 1st place by 1.5 marks and the gold medal with a final score of 47.330.
Last up and in the final competition of the day was Zach Goggin competing in the 13-14 Boys League 2 competition. Zach was looking to secure his finals ranking after two previous good competitions and he did just that with an excellent set routine scoring 38.075 and a stable vol routine scoring 42.905. This combined score put him in 1st place going into the finals and earned him 100 ranking points to secure his League Finals qualification. A somewhat shakier final routine meant he dropped to 3rd place with a score of 42.205, but he ended up with a well-deserved bronze medal.
The competition finally concluded at 7.30pm and the last Cangaroos left the Cardiff Institute of Sport to compete with all the traffic and happy welsh rugby fans coming from the Millennium stadium.
With guaranteed League finals qualifications for Gabe, Trinity and Zach and with good results that bode well for qualification for Matt, Sydney and Harry, we go into the final League event in October in South Shields seeking those results, along with high hopes for Abhi and Mila, both seeking to qualify to the Copper Box in November.