Here is a link to BG's results sheet for the full competition. Sarah & Emily won by a considerable margin!
Scores (opens in a new window)
Tuesday 22 May 2007
Sunday 20 May 2007
Trouble at Top and A Star is Born
in the space of a week.
It started when Abbie, the mid-section of the Grade 4 Trio injured her foot and was unable to compete in the Club Competition last week. Everybody thought she might have broken it (though she wasn't sure how, which is odd): it was really painful and swollen. Euh.
We assumed that this would rule the Trio out of the Nationals (yesterday), so everyone was down in the mouth, like. A bit of relief was provided by Lauren Baines and Emily Kolk (the survivors) presenting spectacular pair routine at the Club Comp that they'd cooked up the evening before.
On top of this, Daisy Dailly, top half of the Grade 4 Women's Pair became unwell. They did the Club Competition, but looked a bit shaky and neither she nor Sarah were very happy about tackling the Nationals.
Then somebody suggested that Emily could replace Daisy as Sarah's Top. It seemed a long shot, but at Lilleshall after the Club Comp (it was a really long day!) they set to work and Daisy taught Emily her routines. In the space of five days and an evening, she had to learn two Grade 4 routines with all the balances and acrobatic moves - normally a six-month job.
During the week, Abbie recovered, and was sore but more or less functional by the Saturday morning.
Saturday, 19th May: NDP National Finals.
Preliminary Report
Three groups represented Stafford Acrobatic Gynmnastics Club: Grade 2 Women's Pair, Jenny Wilson and Daisy Stanier; Grade 4 Women's Pair, Sarah Mander-James and Emily Kolk (for Daisy Dailly), and Grade 4 Women's Group, Lauren Baines, Abbie Callow and Emily Kolk.
The competition throughout was tough and the standard very high. Jenny and Daisy presented an excellent routine and although they didn't manage a medal this time, they can be satisfied with a job well-done. They finished (we think) in about the middle of the competition.
The Trio, with Abbie not fully recovered from her injury, performed brilliantly. Their Static routine was pretty much flawless and looked polished and accomplished, though the dymanic routine suffered with a couple of tentative moments. Unfortunately that was enough to take them well out of the medals.
Sarah and Emily won their competition - a truly awesome achievement! To go from scratch to winning a National Final at Grade 4 in less than a week is something I've never heard of before. It's also worth mentioning that it's the first year that Emily has worked at this level (last year - you may remember - she won a Bronze at Grade 2 with Jen and Chelsie; so that's four national finals in two years, with top three positions in two of them).
Unfortunately, British Gymnastics in their unimpeachable wisdom didn't see it that way. At lower Grades, you are allowed to compete in more than one event - it's quite common - at at Grade 4 you can only do one. So because Emily was on the card to compete in the Women's Group event, they didn't recognise the Pair, though they allowed them to compete as 'guests'.
While it's true that we knew this before they arrived, I don't think anybody seriously thought that they would be competitive. As it turned out, BG's ruling is unfair at so many levels. It doesn't recognise Emily's astonishing achievement, or Sarah's (who has put in months of hard work). And the Pair who came second and were awarded Gold must feel pretty choked too.
Soon (a couple of weeks, I guess) we should have some pictures, maybe some video and some actual scores.
Steve
It started when Abbie, the mid-section of the Grade 4 Trio injured her foot and was unable to compete in the Club Competition last week. Everybody thought she might have broken it (though she wasn't sure how, which is odd): it was really painful and swollen. Euh.
We assumed that this would rule the Trio out of the Nationals (yesterday), so everyone was down in the mouth, like. A bit of relief was provided by Lauren Baines and Emily Kolk (the survivors) presenting spectacular pair routine at the Club Comp that they'd cooked up the evening before.
On top of this, Daisy Dailly, top half of the Grade 4 Women's Pair became unwell. They did the Club Competition, but looked a bit shaky and neither she nor Sarah were very happy about tackling the Nationals.
Then somebody suggested that Emily could replace Daisy as Sarah's Top. It seemed a long shot, but at Lilleshall after the Club Comp (it was a really long day!) they set to work and Daisy taught Emily her routines. In the space of five days and an evening, she had to learn two Grade 4 routines with all the balances and acrobatic moves - normally a six-month job.
During the week, Abbie recovered, and was sore but more or less functional by the Saturday morning.
Saturday, 19th May: NDP National Finals.
Preliminary Report
Three groups represented Stafford Acrobatic Gynmnastics Club: Grade 2 Women's Pair, Jenny Wilson and Daisy Stanier; Grade 4 Women's Pair, Sarah Mander-James and Emily Kolk (for Daisy Dailly), and Grade 4 Women's Group, Lauren Baines, Abbie Callow and Emily Kolk.
The competition throughout was tough and the standard very high. Jenny and Daisy presented an excellent routine and although they didn't manage a medal this time, they can be satisfied with a job well-done. They finished (we think) in about the middle of the competition.
The Trio, with Abbie not fully recovered from her injury, performed brilliantly. Their Static routine was pretty much flawless and looked polished and accomplished, though the dymanic routine suffered with a couple of tentative moments. Unfortunately that was enough to take them well out of the medals.
Sarah and Emily won their competition - a truly awesome achievement! To go from scratch to winning a National Final at Grade 4 in less than a week is something I've never heard of before. It's also worth mentioning that it's the first year that Emily has worked at this level (last year - you may remember - she won a Bronze at Grade 2 with Jen and Chelsie; so that's four national finals in two years, with top three positions in two of them).
Unfortunately, British Gymnastics in their unimpeachable wisdom didn't see it that way. At lower Grades, you are allowed to compete in more than one event - it's quite common - at at Grade 4 you can only do one. So because Emily was on the card to compete in the Women's Group event, they didn't recognise the Pair, though they allowed them to compete as 'guests'.
While it's true that we knew this before they arrived, I don't think anybody seriously thought that they would be competitive. As it turned out, BG's ruling is unfair at so many levels. It doesn't recognise Emily's astonishing achievement, or Sarah's (who has put in months of hard work). And the Pair who came second and were awarded Gold must feel pretty choked too.
Soon (a couple of weeks, I guess) we should have some pictures, maybe some video and some actual scores.
Steve
Monday 7 May 2007
Happy in that we are not over-happy.
Things are going rather well at the moment, which is upsetting. It's always comforting to have something to whinge about.
Two groups are competing at Grade 4. Abbie Callow, Lauren Baines and Emily Kolk make a wonderful trio, and quite a lot of space has been given on the Acro Gallery page to chart their progress this year. This will be Emily's second outing to the Nationals in 2 years. Last year she competed in a Grade 1 Pair with Chelsie Cook and won a Bronze against stiff competition with Chelsie and Jen Dailly in Grade 2 WG.
Finally, Sarah Mander-James will be partnered by Daisy Dailly. This is a relatively short
partnership, so far. Daisy had been working with Dean when he retired from competition earlier in the year, and Sarah's partnership with Rosie had also just ended, so it was natural for them to work together. All this happened in February, so they've had to work hard to learn the high-level moves needed and put two routines together - but they've made it. The only picture I've got of them is a snap-shot grabbed in training a few weeks ago.
A couple of other friends who will also be at the Nationals, from South Staffs Gym Club: Rosie Robinson, Sarah M-J's former partner will make half of a Grade 1 WP - they did extremely well to qualify in the Regionals with little time to prepare; also Jess Perry will partner Carly Robinson (Rosie's sister, I believe) and Jessica Burlton at Grade 4 - which will put them in competition with Abbie, Lauren & Em (so that will have to be a Silver, then). If you know of any I've missed, please add a Comment.
Things are looking so damn chipper that I think I'm going to start blogging something else. Hopefully we'll see you at one or both of these events.
The new timetable for training seems to be working well: the Squad sessions are sharper and less crowded, and everyone seems to be working purposefully and quite hard. And those who are unfortunate enough not to have a partner at the moment (a perennial problem in Acro, which depends upon stable and long-lasting partnerships) are being gainfully employed and taught new skills. I think that just about all of the issues that we faced last year have been sorted, or at least addessed. So that's good.
We have the Club Competition coming up next Sunday. This is a major event for us (Emma H. reckons that there are more partnerships competing than in the Regionals) and the coordination is a major logistical exercise. Parents and non-competing gymnasts (including some of the above) are being put on the judging panels, I think with the hope that, down the line, some of them will become qualified as judges. That's really good!
A photographer has also been arranged, who will take 'proper' pictures of the gymnasts and their routines; proofs of these will be displayed on the day so that pictures can be ordered there and then for a reasonable price. Excellent!
And the following weekend, there are the NDP Nationals at Fenton. Three partnerships from Stafford GC are competing there. In Grade 2 Women's Pairs, we have Jenny Wilson and Daisy Stanier. They have a wonderful sparkle on the floor and obviously enjoy every moment of what they're doing.
Two groups are competing at Grade 4. Abbie Callow, Lauren Baines and Emily Kolk make a wonderful trio, and quite a lot of space has been given on the Acro Gallery page to chart their progress this year. This will be Emily's second outing to the Nationals in 2 years. Last year she competed in a Grade 1 Pair with Chelsie Cook and won a Bronze against stiff competition with Chelsie and Jen Dailly in Grade 2 WG. Finally, Sarah Mander-James will be partnered by Daisy Dailly. This is a relatively short
partnership, so far. Daisy had been working with Dean when he retired from competition earlier in the year, and Sarah's partnership with Rosie had also just ended, so it was natural for them to work together. All this happened in February, so they've had to work hard to learn the high-level moves needed and put two routines together - but they've made it. The only picture I've got of them is a snap-shot grabbed in training a few weeks ago. A couple of other friends who will also be at the Nationals, from South Staffs Gym Club: Rosie Robinson, Sarah M-J's former partner will make half of a Grade 1 WP - they did extremely well to qualify in the Regionals with little time to prepare; also Jess Perry will partner Carly Robinson (Rosie's sister, I believe) and Jessica Burlton at Grade 4 - which will put them in competition with Abbie, Lauren & Em (so that will have to be a Silver, then). If you know of any I've missed, please add a Comment.
Things are looking so damn chipper that I think I'm going to start blogging something else. Hopefully we'll see you at one or both of these events.
S.
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