| |
Bon Accord Gymnastic Club have again been successful having had 6 of its elite gymnasts selected to the National Squad programme for 2007 after trials took place in Edinburgh over the weekend of 20th/21st January.
Ciorstaidh Nicol (11yrs) has been placed in the Scottish elite national junior squad, whilst Kirsty Cadger and Rachael Nicol (both 14yrs) consolidated their Regional Development Squad places for a third consecutive year. Francesca Christie (10yrs), Joanne McKinnon and Beth McCaw (both 9yrs) have been selected for the first time.
Joanne and Beth were two of ten girls chosen from the whole of Scotland to train with ex Olympic gymnast Daniella Nanova in last few months. Kirsty and Rachael were Scottish Junior finalists in 2006 and Ciorstaidh reached British finals last November where she finished top scoring Scottish gymnast at level 2.
Head coach Colin Middleton said “It’s good to say publicly how extremely proud that I am of these gymnasts who have been working hard towards these trials and deserved to make the selection. I am also grateful for the interminable efforts of the parents behind the scenes and the coaches who invest their time voluntarily to make it possible to reach our goals and so to them I would like to say a sincere thank you on behalf of the gymnasts and Bon Accord Gymnastic Club”.
Ciorstaidh Nicol and Francesca Christie, two Bon Accord Gymnasts were entered into the Broadwood Booster F.I.G. Training Grant competition held in Cumbernauld at the start of April. This is a prestigious competition for the under 13’s which has an international flavour as competitors travelled from as far afield as Belgium.
Head Coach, Colin Middleton said the following:
“This was another successful day for two elite gymnasts from Aberdeen’s Bon Accord Gymnastic Club. Firstly, Francesca Christie went to the competition with goals of performing a multiple twist on floor and a double back dismount off A-Bars for the first time, which she embraced and competed with confidence achieving both of her goals and attaining an 8th place overall. Ciorstaidh Nicol performed an excellent Piked Tsukahara vault scoring the top score of 12.20, her second high scoring vault this year showing that consistency is being achieved, this score on top of the others positioned Ciorstaidh in 3rd place overall and won her a bronze medal and a training grant cheque for £75.00. I would just like to say well done to both girls.”
Here is the Evening Express article which can be found:here
Two Aberdeen gymnasts have impressed in a national competition.
Bon Accord club's Francesca Christie and Ciorstaidh Nicol competed in the Broadwood Booster F.I.G. Training Grant competition in Cumbernauld.
The under-13s event drew competitors from as far afield as Belgium.
Ciorstaidh produced a strong performance in the vault to take the bronze medal. Francesca also did well to finish eighth overall.
Proud head coach Colin Middleton said: "Ciorstaidh performed an excellent Piked Tsukahara vault scoring the top score of 12.20.
"It was her second highest scoring vault this year.
"Francesca performed a multiple twist on floor and a double back dismount off A-Bars for the first time.''
This report in line with others I have done will not cover the actual competition as I leave that to others (all that fancy terminology “coach speak” it just confuses me) needless to say all three girls did very well and did the club proud in what was a big competition, and they all finished well up the score table.
No this report covers the gossip!!!
Tension was high as we sat in the departure lounge at Dyce awaiting our flight to Heathrow, Jasmine, Kristy and Rachael with family minders, along with Colin (coach) were up for a good weekend. A reason to be tense not at all they had all put in the many hours of training required, and all were fit and injury free (that makes a change).
The tension was caused by the fact that Nicky could not get a fag, and she did not like flying! Combine this with the fact that Gordon was not that keen on his feet leaving terra firma either, and to cap it all Jasmine had never flown before, result Tension.
It had all started so well believe this or believe this not, the Forsyth’s were first there, a first in the history of Bon Accord! The flight was a little shall we say bumpy and Gordon and Nicky were very quiet on the flight, but that was ok because every one on the plane knew when we broke cloud cover and the lights of London could be seen our virgin flyer was well impressed with this flying lark, and it was great to witness the innocence of youth even if it was a bit loud.
Landing was ok although Colin just missed his change for a call of nature before the seat belt sign went on so was very keen to get off sharpest, the problem was no space to park the plane so bad that after 20 minutes the pilot had spat the dummy out which was more than Colin could do as he sat cross legged in his seat, next followed what could only have been found in a comedy sketch Colin keen to get off and relive himself pushed to the front of the plane excuse me excuse me, then the crew announce we are leaving by the rear of the aircraft! So close Colin but so far, next we have to board buses, and for some reason the driver takes us to terminal 2 departures Colin’s off the bus like a whippet he can see the doors to the gent’s relief at last, STOP! no sorry sir the security guard insists he must return to the bus I thought Colin was going to pass out when we finally got to arrivals, we did not see Colin forsome time after that.
After Gordon & Keith re-negotiated the car hire deal, two louns from Aberdeen were out to get the best deal they could, Fit how much! To refuel was the cry nay chance! Finally we were off not after Keith had played with his new toy sat-nav he would have been quicker using Aileen-Nav it was suggested!.
The competition was held at Rushmore Gymnastic Academy Aldershot, how the other half live, two full size floors, and more beams, vaults and bars than you could shake a stick at. Jas competed on the Saturday and Kirsty and Rachael on the Sunday now in between the competitions there is not a lot to do in Aldershot suffice to say it rained all the time and it’s got all the appeal of Brechin on a Monday holiday (apologies if you live in Brechin) so we spent a lot of time doing what the girls like doing best eating! Guided by there coach in culinary delights Nicky speciality subject pudding!
I have never seen anything like it; they were served what can only be described as a bucket of molten chocolate with various marshmallows, fudge and the token fruits for the health freaks, to dunk in on long wooden skewers. It would have taken a brave man to put his hand anywhere near those girls while they got stuck into that calorie mountain
The cabaret that night was provided by Colin who bet the girls they could not balance 10 pound coins on their elbows and then catch them in one swing, well always up for a challenge 2 hours later Rachael did it, well it kept the other customers in the restaurant amused, and it made a change from the last trip away were they learnt how to pick padlocks! Not to be out done by this Nicky showed the girls how to drop coins into a glass from a certain part of her anatomy, I am too embarrassed to say which part. Ask her the next time you see her, and if you’re lucky she may even show you her trick it certainly gave the other punters in the restaurant a laugh.
The weekend passed quickly the company and the crack was good as it always is on away days with Bon accord and on the way back Colin remembered to go to the little boy’s room before take off!
The Spy in the Camp
March 2007
Bon Accord Gymnastic Club are celebrating their most successful year for many years in the North of Scotland. They now have five district Champions in the club, more than any other club in the North.
At the recent 2 piece competition in Alness where 250 gymnasts took part the club won the 8/9 year old beginner competition with Molly Forsyth and the 10/11 beginners competition with Lauren De Graw.
The club came away with medals in every age group they entered including Team medals in 8/9 beginners, 10/11 beginners, 10/11 intermediate and 12 plus intermediate.
The club was also awarded three 4 piece Champions trophies based on Scottish competitions in 2006. Erin Runcie became the Level 4 champion, Ciorstaidh Nicol the level 2 champion and Kirsty Cadger the senior champion.
Two of these gymnasts have also recently been selected to represent Scotland in British competitions as part of the Scottish team. Erin Runcie will be taking part in the National Club Grades Championships and Ciorstaidh Nicol, member of the Scottish Performance Squad, has just returned from Newcastle where she took part in the British Schools Championships where she was the highest scoring member of the Scottish Junior team
|
