Over the bank holiday weekend, the Gymnastics Squad were in Stoke-on-Trent at the pinnacle of the School’s competition calendar, the National Finals. After not competing in this event since 2019 due to Covid, we were excited to get back into action and see how we fared against the country’s best schools. Over two full days of events, our girls were absolutely awesome; their performances, their team spirit and support for each other, their sportsmanship and their whole attitude and behaviour was exemplary throughout.
Leading up to the competition, the team had been working so incredibly hard, training in extra early morning sessions as well as alongside the Senior School Gymnastics Scholars. The improvement the whole team made in just this final week of training, let alone from the start of the season, is phenomenal. For most of the team, it was their national debut, and they held their own! I also wanted to mention how phenomenal the girls were at supporting the boys. For the boys, it was a big deal to come away with a teacher they don’t really know, as well as three girls. They had also never competed before this year. The girls reassured and cheered for the boys, as well as including them in all of their activities they got to do this weekend, such as going to the water park and eating plenty of sweets!
Pupils included:
Leo, Owen, Amber, Eva and Sofia
During the floor and vault competition, all of the team members did their absolute best. That’s all I could ask for. For the level of competition experience our team had, I was blown away with how everyone held themselves and performed.
Amber and Eva also competed in the acrobatic pair competition. They did their routine the best I have ever seen them do it. I will have to show you the video in School next week.
Although the Under 11s didn’t come away with any medals, overall this past weekend has been a huge learning experience. Of course the team were disappointed, but they quickly realised that they did their best and they enjoyed the experience, which for me means the world! They still finished 7th place in the whole of the UK, which is a huge achievement in itself! All of the team understood that learning is growing, and therefore will put them into a better position going into next year’s competition season.
I would also like to mention the Senior School girls have come away with fantastic results. The Under 19 group and Under 14 floor and vault team are Nationals champions, a few of whom were ex-Prep pupils from the gym squad. Past gym captain Emmie was awarded highest individual score of the whole competition. They also came away with a silver and a 4th in the under 14 and 19 pair competition.
Overall, it was a fantastic weekend for Team Surbiton! A huge congratulations to all of the pupils involved.
