July 2012

Our first independent Gala is fast approaching, and it's looking very exciting. We are receiving lots of support from parents and coaches and the gymnasts are working hard at their individual and mass routines to make the show go with a bang.

The performance is on Sunday 1st July at 2.30pm (doors open at 2.00pm) in the main hall at Testwood Sports College. Tickets cost £5 and are limited to 200 so it's first come first served so don't be late!

We have invited other groups to take part and we now have displays from a ballet group, two dance groups and the exciting Shaolin kung fu as well as our own gymnasts.

Tickets can be obtained in two ways. You can call in whilst we are training in the old gymnasium at Testwood Sports College on Tuesday evenings and Saturdays mornings (see Home page of our website for directions) and collect them in person.

Or send us an email - click the Contact us button on the Home page of our Website.

We are excited about this show - do come and see it.

Sponsoring our Gala this year are -

August 2011
There has been a lot happening this month with Testwood Gymnastics Club. We have broken our links with Southampton Gym Club and become independent.

This means that we will not be taking part in the SAGC annual gala at Christmas any more, but as part of our plans for our new club, we plan to hold our own Gala in early July each year. This will obviously be a smaller affair, but we plan to use this occasion to showcase the achievements of some of the competitive gymnasts from the previous twelve months along with some fun items.

It's early days yet, but we are already looking forward to it!

Gala 2010
This has to be the BEST gala ever for us. With Nikita (and a bit of Kayleigh) taking up the choreography roles, we were a little uncertain when they suggested four separate sections of the routine with completely differing styles of music and dance in each. But we should have known better - the Saturday Night Fever group in the typical John Travolta outfit of white waistcoats over black tee shirts and jeans started with a very casual strolling style and got everybody in the mood, then the Mambo Italiano guys all in blue showed some very complicated footwork in their segment. Then things suddenly changed as the Tango group arrived, performing to the Moulin Rouge film version of Roxanne. In striking red and black oufits their spot-on dance was dramatic and completely in keeping with the film.

Then into the finale with the Saturay Night Fever group taking the lead again, but what's this, on the second verse, the Mambo guys joined in as row two, then, surprise, surprise, the Tango group became row three ! So not only had they learnt their own section of dance, but two of the groups had learnt another one as well.

Very well done everybody who took part and a big thank you to Nikita and Kayleigh for designing it all. I suppose Donna should get a mention too because as usual she put her five eggs in everywhere she could (!) Seriously she did take groups to one side to work on one dance while Nikita worked on another. Well done Donna too !

Gala 2009
Just when we thought that Gala themes had been decided for years to come (the 1970's in 2007, the 80's last year and the 90's this year) someone noticed that this would be the 40th Gala held by Southampton Gym Club, so a celebration of that was decided. Hence the theme became 1969 - good for us 'older' coaches (!), but more difficult to find music that gymnasts had heard of. But our clever Sara somehow discovered that Sesame Street and Scooby Doo both started in 1969 (can you believe that!) so our Juniors were sorted for music with a nice mix of the two theme songs.

But what to do for the Seniors? Another event happened in the summer that linked together for us. We sadly lost the King of Pop, Michael Jackson earlier in the year and we were surprised when we looked back and saw that his first hit with his brothers was, you've guessed it, in 1969!!!!!

And what an intricate routine Sara choreographed for it, complete with afro wigs for the lead five gymnasts!!!

So, two excellent routines displayed well in both performances, and....................

So many messages of appreciation and congratulations from parents, other coaches and officials at the Guildhall, our email inbox was overflowing!!!

We nominated Heather for Gymnast of the Year for the way she has adapted to the rapid climb through the levels over the last year and has already competed at Grade 2 with a Grade 3 trio hoping to happen in the summer. Unfortunately she didn't win the trophy, but bear in mind that we do not nomiate someone every year - we expect our gymnasts to be special, so they have to be VERY special to get nominated by us. Well done Hev!

And well done boys and girls (and coaches) for making us the best yet again.

A DVD is already available exclusively for Testwood gymnasts at £3, let us know if you want one. I also saw Nicky taking pictures during the day, so hopefully we will be getting some still pictures through before too long. They will be on the website as soon as I get them.

And, at last, the pictures are here! There is quite a collection - as well as the Juniors and Seniors, there are some of Testwood Sports College in the School's Gala (see if you can spot Katy & Hannah).

Just to prove that while gymnasts may retire from the sport they still have what it takes, there are some pictures of Donna strutting her stuff in the Ex-Centre of Excellence routine!!

Click here for the pix.

Gala 2008
Not surprisingly after last year, the theme this year was the 1980s (I wonder what next years will be!).

Unlike last year when injuries piled up (most not related to gymnastics fortunately), this year was considerably calmer and quiet in comparison!

We nominated Elizabeth for Gymnast of the Year, but unlike Samantha the year before, she was pipped at the post by Holly Manning, one of the stars of the disability group, NJoys.

Whilst some of our Juniors were a little nervous to say the least (some are only 5 and 6 years old), they all 'Walked on Sunshine' with a fantastic performance that got a great round of applause at the end.

Wham and Wake Me up Before you Go Go was the Senior's choice of music - a piece of music that I used to like! Now that I've heard it many times over on every training session between September and December I don't really want to hear it ever again!!!!

But it is a good piece to interpret and with the ever-present Sara and Donna at the helm and the other coaches putting their five eggs in every so often, we battered it into shape (or was that the gymnasts we battered - no surely not!)

Anyway, the week before Gala, we are usually wishing we had another month to perfect our performance - not so this year, but was this misplaced confidence?

Fortunately NO! With their fluorescent pink leggings adapted to become bolero tops and matching leg-warmers, the Seniors made an impressive entrance and wowwed the audience with probably their best routine ever.

Well done to you all for 'doing the business' again! And thank you Sara and Donna for the untold hours of behind the scenes work on choreography, design, costumes and make-up and etc.., etc..

Here's some pictures. You will need the free Flash viewer to see them.

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Click here to see the pictures (which will open in a new window)


Gala 2007
With the theme of the 1970s, this year's Gala was spot on for the 'older' Coaches!

But what a run-up to the performance we had. First with a month to go, Amy landed badly from a trio pitch and came back from hospital with her foot in plaster! The week after that, Kayleigh, another trio top, was trying her first flics after recovering from a torn ligament in her wrist and she lands awkwardly and comes back from hospital with a broken arm!

So now two of the four front line trios were out.

Then Sara (choreographer-in-chief) tears a shoulder muscle (and that puts the third trio in doubt).

Following on from that there were four other injuries (all school-related) which threw an even bigger spanner in the works every time the phone ran!

But we soldiered on, changing it week on week until we were certain that nobody knew what they were supposed to be doing (and that included us!)

But, come the day, our fantastic gymnasts proved to us that they really did know what they were doing after all and produced a smooth and professional display that was possibly the best routine of the day (even if I am a bit biased!)

As usual, we received loads of favourable comments, not just from parents, but also from knowledgeable officials and senior gymnasts of SAGC. So once again you gymnasts have done us proud. WELL DONE!

And to top it all, Sammi wins Gymnast of the Year - an award that was really deserved. As I've said before, we expect all of our gymnasts to perform above and beyond the norm anyway, so we have only nominated someone for this trophy on seven occasions in the 16 years we have been running, and we've won it on five of them!!).

As usual, we did video-record 'selected highlights' from both performances onto Digital Video (which includes a selection of several Centres and nearly all of the Acro Squad routines) and it runs for about an hour, so if you would like a copy, speak to Linda, or email us, and for just a few pounds we will produce them for you. (this is only available to current members of our Club).

to read the Echo article.

for the pictures.

Gala 2004

WOW, WOW, WOW!!!

Did you see Gala? Wasn't it wonderful? It just shows what a tremendous amount of gymnastic talent there is in Southampton! As usual, we received loads of favourable comments, not just from parents, but also from knowledgeable officials and senior gymnasts of SAGC. So once again you gymnasts have done us proud. WELL DONE!

And with Sara winning Gymnast of the Year as well, that rounded off a long, long day perfectly. (We expect all of our gymnasts to perform above and beyond the norm anyway, so we have only nominated someone for this trophy on six occasions in the 13 years we have been running, and we've won it on four of them!!).

We did video-record 'selected highlights' from both performances onto Digital Video (which includes a selection of several Centres and nearly all of the Acro Squad routines plus the Acromaniacs) and it runs for over an hour, so if you would like a copy, speak to Linda, or email us, and for just a few pounds we will produce them for you. (Sorry, but this is only available to current members of our Club).

Some schools start back on Tuesday January 4th 2005, but not all do, so therefore, we will not start training until the following week - Tuesday 11th January for Seniors and Wednesday 12th for Juniors, when, unfortunately, fees will be due again.

Final date for entries to be in for the Prelims competition in March is Tuesday 1st February.

Sara - Gymnast of the Year