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After
several years of teaching gymnastics at local leisure centres Denise decided
that there was an opportunity for some of the gymnasts to progress to a
higher standard that wouldn’t be possible with their present training.
Two one hour taster sessions were advertised at the old Sydney West leisure
centre to see what the response from the local area would be. From these
taster sessions there was enough gymnasts to start a one hour class and a two
hour class for those wanting to progress on to competitions. There was one
other additional coach at this time.
The first session started on 11th February 1995 at the Sydney West, our first
home. Several months of training followed before attempting to enter any
competitions, meanwhile class numbers were increasing and a waiting list
started.
It was a big day when we travelled to Hastings
for our first competiton, the Sussex Floor and Vault. It was a very tense day
with no-one knowing quite what to expect. Everyone performed well and from
then on competitions became second nature. Also at this time another one hour
class was started on a saturday to allow a boys group to start and clear some
of the waiting list.
Further coaches were encouraged to join and we then started a second session
on a Wednesday evening at Oakmeeds
School. This session
was specifically for the two hour gymnasts to increase their training to four
hours a week.
In 1999 the new Triangle Leisure Centre (Olympos) opened and we were able to
transfer all of our sessions there, our existing home.
Some of our older gymnasts took coaching courses and other coaches joined to
enable us to increase our membership and our training hours. A further Thursday
evening session was added meaning that our four hour gymnasts could train six
hours a week and we could offer some additional one hour classes.
We now host three Sussex
competitions as well as our own competitions.
From these beginnings the club has gone on to produce several Sussex Champions
at the two and four hour level, Regional Champions at tumbling and a runner
up at the National Tumbling Finals.
In 2005 we became the second club in Sussex to achieve the GymMark
accreditation, a national standard, showing that we teach gymnastics in a
safe, effective and child friendly environment. During this year the club
also celebrated it’s tenth birthday with a party.
We are currently teaching general gymnastics up to six hours a week and also
teaching boys up to four hours with a team of coaches including two general
senior club coaches, 3 team gym club coaches and the only sports aerobics
club coach in the county.
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