Gymnastics Article for Olympic Feature

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GYMNASTICS is an artistic and creative sport that is held in high regard through each and every Olympic year.  It has a range of disciplines, all of which require the competitor to have acquired and perfected skills, have immense strength, and to have an energy that can help them perform at an impeccably high level.

The level that gymnasts need to reach to compete is of an unbelievably high standard. It is imperative that young gymnasts get the opportunities within the sport to enable them to learn.

Kingston Gymnastics Club of Hull has been providing this outlet for young gymnasts since 1988. Focusing on women’s artistic, and both boys and girls general, it is a grassroots route into gymnastics, to help provide the basics to start in the sport.  

Michele Hewson, who runs the club today, has been involved within the same institution for over thirty years.

“I first started coaching when I was fourteen, as an assistant coach for women’s artistic” she said.

Michele has a vast experience in coaching children of all ages and abilities, and from a variety of different backgrounds. She is one of very few pre-school qualified coaches in the city, as well having a Special Needs Gymnastics coach qualification.

“It’s important that everyone gets a chance at having a go. We’re socially inclusive, and it’s nice to have a mixture of kids from different backgrounds” she said.

Some children travel long distances to be a part of Kingston Gymnastics Club. Poppy and her younger brother travel from Grimsby to take part every week.

“Poppy is five years old. She came to the club when she was just three” said Michele.

“She’s got the potential to go a long way should she wish. She’s got a great motivation to learn the complex moves. She watches the older girls, and practises until she gets it right” she added.

Many gymnasts have come through the doors at Kingston Gym Club, and some have stayed for a long period of time.

Rosie Johnston, 18, has been coming to this same club since she was nine years old.

“My friend started coming to gymnastics, so I joined afterwards. She left, but I kept on coming.”

Gymnastics is more than just learning how to do acrobatic moves for Rosie; other aspects are an important reason as to why she enjoys the sport so much.

“Gymnastics keeps you fit, it’s fun, and it’s a really friendly small group. I also enjoy doing competitions.”

After nine and a half years of coming to the same club, Rosie will be leaving this year to study away from the area. She highlighted some of the things that will be missed the most from coming to Kingston Gymnastics Club.

“I’ll miss the support, the community feeling that the club has. We all support each other in competitions. I’ll also miss doing the coaching too.”

Rosie is one of many gymnasts that have had the opportunity through gymnastics of learning how to coach the sport too.

“I’ve been coaching since I was fifteen, as an assistant coach.”

The opportunity of learning new skills, making friends, taking part in competitions, and gaining new qualifications, are just some of the reasons why Rosie would recommend to anyone to get involved in gymnastics.

“Give it a try, there’s a variety and always something for somebody. Each person will have their favourite equipment; you’ll find something you like.”

The level of commitment that gymnasts show to the sport of gymnastics is clearly visible. The social and achievement aspect through participating in the sport plays a huge part of the success for Michele and Kingston Gymnastics Club.

“The gymnast’s that come here all want to do well. They can say that they’ve achieved something, whether it’s a move they’ve learned, or a medal at a competition. Everyone just wants to have fun.”

Michele (Head Coach), and Emmie

Kingston Gymnastics Club

Flying over, Rosie, 17

Rosie, 17

Michele with Poppy, 5

Hanging around on the bars

 

HISTORY OF THE SPORT

As a sport, gymnastics is noted to have been around for over 2000 years. Its profile as a competitive sport however, is a little over 100 years old. In the 1800’s, schools and athletic clubs brought a mass of popularity and attention to the sport by carrying out exhibitions.

In 1881, the International Gymnastics Federation was formed, and this made gymnastics open for international competition.

Germany was the first country to dominate gymnastics in the Olympics. This event took place in Athens 1896, and was the first major competition of Olympic gymnasts, which consisted of five different countries. Only men’s gymnastics was established at this point, and the apparatus and events were; pommel horse, rings, horizontal bar, parallel bar, and the vault.

The 1924 Olympic Games in Paris formed the basis of both team and individual competition for athletes in gymnastics. Shortly after this, in 1928, women’s gymnastics was first introduced, and a team event was won by the Netherlands.

The Women’s Artistic has since formed into a regular, and one of the most anticipated events in the Olympic diary. It is a mixture of strength, flexibility, endurance, and poise, as they must perform a routine of vigorous and acrobatic manoeuvres to impress the judging panel.

The scoring system works based on two things; the difficulty of the routine, and the execution of the moves within it. The difficulty point’s starts at 0.0, then increases as the moves are rated more complex to perform. The execution however, begins at 10.0, and is decreased for each error that a gymnast would make. These two scores are then combined to give the gymnast a final total score for their routine.

FACT FILE – KINGSTON GYMNASTICS CLUB

Kingston Gymnastics is run by Head Coach Michele Hewson, and is a voluntary organisation.

The club is open on Thursday evenings 5.30 - 8pm, Friday evenings 5 - 8pm, and Saturday mornings 10am until 12 midday.

All sessions run for beginner’s level up to advanced, and anyone is welcome from the age of three upwards.

Sessions run at £3 an hour, alternatively, an option to pay by term is available.

“Come have some fun, and give it a go,” added Michele.

Kingston Gymnastics Club is located at St Victors Hall, Walker Street, Anlaby Road, Hull, HU3 2HB. Telephone (01482) 508117 or 07787311947.