8th March 22
Over the weekend of the 5th and 6th of March, the Under 9, 10 and 11 gymnasts from Maltman’s headed off to Tormead School to take part in the Independent Schools Gymnastics Association National Championships!
At this competition there are overall trophies awarded to the top 3 scoring schools after all 3 age groups scores have been added together. Out of 24 schools Maltman’s were in a fantastic position and finished in 2nd place scooping the runners up trophy! What a fantastic achievement!
Congratulations to all girls involved in these events, you have really done yourselves and your coaches proud.
A big thanks to Nicola Owen and Laura Timmins for supporting Maltman’s at these competitions as well as Layla J for supporting and helping our U9 team.
With Maltmans having a reputation for doing very well at this competition, the pressure was definitely on! The girls looked fantastic in their brand new Maltman’s leotards and tracksuits. Lots of shine and sparkles all round! We started with our U11 team on Saturday, consisting of Layla, Georgia, Amber, Evelyn, Jessica and Tallulah. First up was Set Vault with an extremely tough springboard! The girls didn’t let that phase them though and they gave it all they could topping the scoreboard with scores of 9.50 (6th) for Layla, 9.60 (4th) for Evelyn and Georgia, and a huge 10.00 out of 10.00 for Amber putting her in first place on this apparatus out of 59 competitors!
Our Set Floor Routines were very clean and tidy with scores ranging between 8.60 and 9.55 out of 10. Layla placed 4th and Gerogia 6th. Onto Voluntary Floor- our girls favourite apparatus! It was their time to shine with some perfectly executed routines. Layla topped our group coming 4th, Georgia 5th and Evelyn 8th.
Last up was Voluntary Vault, another favourite for some. Jessica, Evelyn and Georgia gave us some good sturdy Handspring Vaults coming in 7th, 11th and 14th. Whilst Amber and Layla performed their new Half on Half off Vaults scoring 9.40 and 9.30 putting them top of the 59 girls coming 1st for Amber and 2nd for Layla.
The girls came second in a dazzling and complex Group Sequence routine giving them an overall total of 178.80. This put them into 1st place and the girls were crowned U11 ISGA National Champions 2022!
Individually they also held the majority of the top spots – 2nd Layla, 4th Gerogia, 5th Amber and 6th Evelyn.
This particular group of girls have been competing together since they were very young, and have a fantastic team bond and supportive manner towards each other. Being in Year 6, this was their last ISGA championship together, and being crowned 2022 National Champions was definitely the icing on the cake!
Sunday saw our U10 team take to the floor – Katie, Elsie, Hannah, Gracie and Sidrah. A relatively new team and their first 5 piece National event! Despite the nerves the girls put in some great work with some fantastic Handsprings on their first apparatus. The judge even called our team over after he had marked them to congratulate them on how well they had done! Katie scooped 2nd place with 9.45 out of 9.50! Gracie finished in 6th and Elsie in 10th.
Some nice Set Floor and Voluntary Floor work put us in the running for a top 6 spot with positions of 3rd and 8th for Elsie of 60, and 5th for Hannah on Voluntary Floor. Last up was Set Vault and the girls were now raring to go and wanting to win medals! Katie, Gracie and Elsie flew over the box top and wowed the judge with their flight on and off. Katie scored a huge 9.80 out of 10.00 being the highest of the day and putting her in 1st place for this apparatus!
The girls moved to the Group Sequence hall and had a long practice to try and get themselves in time with each other as much as possible. When the music came on they showed the judges their routine with smiles throughout.
Their team finished in 2nd overall out of 12 teams, 3rd for their Group Sequence and individually Elsie placed 5th, Katie 6th, Gracie 10th, Hannah 32nd and Sidrah 39th.
Our team consisted of Aivalea, Alice C, Millie, Alice H and Luella. The girls were very nervous as this was their first 5 piece event and they each had two brand new routines to try and remember. We started on Voluntary Vault and the team performed some good work giving us a nice start. Aivalea performed a beautiful Straddle Over scoring 8.50 out of a possible 9.00 which was the third highest score of 50 competitors!
After a few wobbles on Set Floor, we were given our scores which were still fairly high. Millie and Alice C topped our group with scores of 8.70 (7th out of 50).
The girls managed to get to grips with their nerves ready for Voluntary Floor and put on a great show for the judges and their audience. There were smiles throughout and some lovely comments from the judges. Aivalea and Alice C gave very little away and both received scores of 9.05 (4th place) and 9.10 (2nd place) out of a maximum of 10.00!
Last up was the Group Sequence, which is a synchronised routine to music without any contact – a difficult task to complete even without the nerves! The girls did a fantastic job and got top marks for their patterns/pathways and won over the hearts of the audience for their “Hey Look Me Over Routine”.
The girls team total put them in 3rd place overall, winning the bronze medals. They also scooped the silver medals for their Group Routine!
Individually they placed extremely high: Aivalea 4th, Alice C 6th, Millie 9th, Alice H 17th and Luella 19th.
Fantastic results and lots of experience gained to use for future competitions. Special mention to Annie, who put in as much hard work as the rest of the girls in the lead up to this competition, but unfortunately was unable to attend on the day.
