British Team Championships

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marie83

Coach
Judge
The British Team Championships are this weekend.
It's one of the best competitions of the year to attend as a spectator as all of Britain's top clubs attend, some taking an A and B team.

This year it is going to be a close battle between a lot of clubs -
Liverpool (Beth Tweddle and Hannah Whelan's club) has been hard hit with a number of gymnasts retiring since olympic trials last year and Beth only training Bars and Floor
Notts (Becky Downie's club) has been hit by injury, but should still be able to put out a pretty strong team. Last year their B team, made up of 11/12 yr olds was amazing and beat quite a lot of the older A teams.
Heathrow (Becky Wing's club) has a lot of 2012 talent lined up, so should be able to put out a really good team provided everyone is injury free.

After that any number of clubs could do really well. I'm really excited to be going to the competition this year as I think it is one of the most 'open' battles we'll have had for a while. It's also become a competition where gymnasts will try out new skills before the British Championships in July. Oh and of course almost every club brings out a new leotard for this competition so there is always a 'best leotard' competition going on too.

If I can I'll post updates on Saturday and Sunday if anyone is interested!
Are any other Brits going?

Marie :D
 
I'm in the US so I won't be going, but I would definitely be interested in your updates and thoughts! I'm a big fan of British gym and love getting all the info I can on them. Have a blast!
 
Oh yes I would love to see updates and results - please post them
 
Not going :( but should be an awesome meet. British gym is doing so well right now, and we've got worlds, olympics and commonwealths all coming up!!

Who are the new seniors this year? They'll be just about ages for 2012, right?

Hoping Becky D takes AA again :)
 
The only new senior I can think of off hand is Jordan Lipton, but she has been injured so hasn't upgraded floor yet. Bars and beam have both been upgraded though.

Danusia and Nicole still have another year as Juniors. Nic rocked last year so I can't wait to see what she is doing now - she is so powerful!
 
I'm not going, but will be watching the live scores on gymdata as usual (I will persuade my mum to take me to the British Teams/champs one day!).
I think it will be the usual Liverpool, Notts and Heathrow on the podium, but I can never tell which order. Heathrow are using only 4 gymnasts on their 'A' team, Notts have many injuries and a lot of Liverpool's usual team have retired since last year. Huntingdon have lost 2 of their best- Kayleigh Cooke and Emma White. I think Cardiff could be near the top but have a relatively young team. The Academy don't have Imogen Cairns competing, but they are a very strong team to look out for in the future.
 
Now I've seen the teams I'm even less convinced about who will win!

Heathrow A looks very strong
Becky Wing
Danusia Francis
Nicole Hibbert
Laura Mitchell

Liverpool is the only team with 2 olympians on it - Beth and Hannah, and they have Jenny Pinches who has had a fair bit of experience now and if she hits has beautiful routines but then they also have 2 more less experienced gymnasts.

Argh, I just don't know!!! Will just have to wait and see!

Marie
 
Some thoughts on the first 2 rounds of competition:

Round 1 was made up of teams from:
Lasswade
City of Glasgow
Woking
Garstang

Of this round, Woking were definately the strongest team. Particulary enjoyed the performances of Lauren Smith and Megan Everett.
These 2 tiny gymnasts really pulled out some great gymnastics.

Amy Regen of City of Glasgow also impressed me - I'm sure she has springs in her feet! Great Vaulter and Tumbler. Her floor music actually stopped working during her routine, but she carried on like a pro and really sold the routine.

After Round 1 the standings were as follows:
Woking 143.95
Garstang 138.3
City of Glasgow 138.15
Lasswade 133.9

Amy Regen finished with the highest individual score in this round with 48.8

Round 2:
Vernon Park
Salto
Cardiff Central
The Academy

This round was all about Cardiff Central. They had a very young team but they are so so so polished! Team members were: Bethan Mercer, Lizzie Beddoe, Jessica Hogg, Venus Romaeo, Angel Romaeo.
So far I'd say they have the most artistic floor routines. Beautiful choreography.
Angel (youngest team member) was superb, and cute as a button too!
If you aren't familiar with these girls, check them out on youtube!

Nina Dearman of Vernan park is a veteran of this competition and performed confident and strong routines.

Sophie Jameson of the Academy is also one to watch for the future.

After Round 2, the top 3 places were:

Cardiff Central 154.00
The Academy 144.55
Woking 143.95

BIG difference between 1st and 2nd!

Individuals:
Angel Romaeo 50.75
Venus Romaeo 49.95
Amy Regen 48.8

Best Leotards so far have been Woking's and Cardiff Central's.
Woking wore a black leotard with silver and pink diamantés over the chest and arms. Simple, elegant and sparkly!
Cardiff's were a lovely greenish blue, but not turqouise, with silver diamantés all over. Hopefully some photos will start appearing soon!
 
I have to say I love Angel and Venus, but their parents seem to be so full on it is scary. Cardiff has certainly produced some fab gymnasts, I have watched Lizzie since she was tiny, a little star.

The Academy has a good reputation, who are their gymnasts now?

Did Jenny Pinches compete this weekend, she is also a girl who could go far.
 
GO GLASGOW!!! (I was a baby gymmie there!!) Imagine if we could have a Glasgow girl at Commonwealths!!! Oh I'm so excited!!!!

The Romaeos frighten me. Brilliant gymnasts though- I'm sure we will see at least one of them in London if they're age eligible.
 
The Academy has a good reputation, who are their gymnasts now?

Did Jenny Pinches compete this weekend, she is also a girl who could go far.

Imogen Cairns wasn't competing for the Academy, so their team was very young- Ruby Harrold (age 13/14), Sophie Jameson (age 12) she has lots of medals from age group champs), Lucy Brett (age 12), Jasmine Reed Yang (age 13 I think) and Poppy Wynn (13- also on the Welsh national squad).

Jenny Piches is in the final round tonight for Liverpool- there are live scores at www.gymdata.co.uk

I-heart-beam, how old is Amy Regan? She scored really well and would probably be in the running for the Scottish Commonwealth team for next year. Oh, Venus is a 96 girl so is age eligible for 2012, but Angel is a 97 girl so is too young.
 
I-heart-beam, how old is Amy Regan? She scored really well and would probably be in the running for the Scottish Commonwealth team for next year. Oh, Venus is a 96 girl so is age eligible for 2012, but Angel is a 97 girl so is too young.

I'm honestly not sure, but I'm pretty sure she's about 14, which would be too young, right? She's definitely on the national team anyway.

(I left COG a long time ago, so I don't know anyone there personally any more.)
 
I'm honestly not sure, but I'm pretty sure she's about 14, which would be too young, right? She's definitely on the national team anyway.

(I left COG a long time ago, so I don't know anyone there personally any more.)

The age limit for the CWG used to be 14 (Becky Downie competed in 2006, and she was born in 1992) so everyone who competed was eligible for the next Olympics , but I think the FIG were trying to raise the limit to make it 16, so I'm not sure.



ETA- I just did a quick search and found this interview with her http://www.british-gym.com/interview_regan.htm . The last question says that she wants to go to next years CWG's so she is probably old enough :)
 
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Liverpool won, Heathrow A were about a point behind, Notts A were 3rd, 7 marks behind 2nd. Cardiff got 4th so will be in the top seeded round next year. Hannah Whelan won the AA and Beth Tweddle got the highest score of the day with a 15.7 on bars (and 15.45 on floor!).
I just noticed that last year all clubs entered were from England, but this year there were teams from all 4 countries :)
 
woop! What a great competition.

Cardiff were in the lead until round 5.

Round 3:

Heathrow B, Park Wrekin, Tolworth. Horsham

Heathrow B were the top team this round. Lovely presentation and definately won the 'loudest team' competition. Loriah James looked lovely.

Nicole Watson was missing from the Park Wrekin team. Guessing she is injured. Georgina Hockenhull and Charlotte Rumsey are nice little ones to look out for.

Jocelyn Hunt of Horsham had a nightmare on bars, but looked lovely in warm ups.

Round 4:
Dynamo, Notts B, City of Newcastle, Bristol Hawkes.

Laura Edwards of Dynamo looked very nice. Went for flick to 1, flick to 2, straight back on beam but fell on the straight back. Laura was first AA after round 4, just ahead of Angel Romaeo.

Billie Mackenzie stood out from Notts B, along with Chenay Elson - a very powerful gymnast, super high double pike on floor.

Round 5
Liverpool, Notts A, Heathrow A and Huntingdon.

Heathrow really stood out during this round. Great Beam routines and gorgeous floor routines as usual. Becky Wing fell on her double arabian but I think that was their only fall on floor (might be wrong!)
Nicole Hibbert looked really solid on floor - she is so powerful. Great full twisting double tuck and super high double arabian.

Liverpool's trio of Beth, Hannah and Jenny were outstanding. Gorgeous Bar routines from all 3.

Becky Downie performed on vault, bars and beam and did lovely performances on all 3. Ruby Straw also stood out.

So...
Right up until the final routine of the day, Heathrow were in the lead. The final routine however, came from Beth on floor and with a score of 15.45. she secured Liverpool the title once again!

Scores
Liverpool 169.55
Heathrow A 168.6
Notts A 161.1

and in 4th place: Cardiff Central 154.00

Hannah Whelan scored the highest AA with 56.4

and Beth's Bars were the highest score of the day 15.7
 
Oh I forgot to say Laura Mitchell (Heathrow A) had a scary (but not too nasty) fall off bars during her routine. She held on too long for her double tuck dismount, bounced off her back on the high bar, which caused her to rebound onto the low bar. She hit her shoulders on the low bar and landed on the floor. Scary! She was fine afterwards, just a bit shaken.
 
Leotards
Heathrow A and B, Park Wrekin, Bristol Hawks and Huntingdon all wore the same as last year
Liverpool had a blue, orange and white number similar to this: YouTube - Becky Downie 2009 Glasgow Grand Prix AB Finals

Notts B went with a sleeveless White and turqouise leotard, very nice but I'm still in favour of long sleeves for competition.
Notts A had a black and Orange long sleeved leotard. Very sporty looking.
City of Newcastle wore black and red - Similar to this one Jagwear's Online Catalogue 2006/07 : JagwearLeos.com
Dynamo had really nice blue and white Adidas leotards again, very sporty looking.
Horsham wore red and white leotards. My favourite I think.
Tolworth's were my least favourite they were blue and white, but made the gymnasts look very broad shouldered.

I'm sure photos will start appearing soon, and probably some videos on youtube.
 

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