2007 News

CSG Senior Gymnasts Videos on YouTube

click here to view Mike's Amazing YouTube Video Extravaganza! 

Australian Clubs Competition December 2007, Canberra

Great news from Canberra. CSG level 7 team coming 2nd behind MLC. They lead the  Bars and are 2nd in vault. 2nd round is on Saturday. 

Level 4 team are in the final which will be held on Sunday. Izzy Hughes placed 1st on vault with a 14.3 score. Waverley placed 10th in the strong level 4 competition.

Level 5 also made the finals, with Olivia Rule leading the team after an excellent 15.95 on floor to be 2nd. 

 CSG 2008 Summer Clinic - January 14th to 18th

Jozsi Ferencz and his team have arranged an intensive gymnastics clinic in mid January. This is an excellent way to get the season off to a great start. The registration form can be found here
Earlybird registrations close 20th December. Places are filling fast, make sure you get yours in.
The clinic is open to CSG gymnasts as well this year, and a fun BBQ disco is planned for the Thursday night.
Brevet judges will be available to discuss composition and choice of skills during the week. MAG and WAG gymnasts from level 3 (2007) and up.

Year Book - CSG's first one, but it won't be the last.

Carmen Mathes was given the task to put together the 2007 CSG yearbook, and has done a fantastic job. This will be soon off to the printers and orders will shortly open. Please don't miss out, all of our competitive members feature in it, along with antecdotes and pictures of the years events and happenings. 

Beijing Olympics

Guess who has been appointed to the Beijing Olympics as a WAG Judge? 
Yes Avril Enslow has received notification of her appointment to Beijing. Congratulations. This will be her 4th Olympics!

Sports Awards - CSG members feature.

At the Sir Richard Hadlee Canterbury Sports Person of the Year awards on the 5th October 2 outstanding members of CSG were acknowledged. 

Jozsi Ferencz (Head Coach) was a finalist in the Canterbury Coach of the Year Award for his outstanding achievements with his gymnasts in the 2006 year.
Avril Enslow was a finalist in the Professional Sports Administrator of the Year, and went on to take the  award from Basketball and Soccer.

Next weekend will see more members acknowledged for their efforts at the Canterbury Sport Westland Winter Sports Awards.

Kathryn Lewis was nominated for Canterbury Gymnastics Junior Achiever, after a stunning year of achievements culiminating in winning the top level at the National Championships in September.

Jorden O'Connell-Inns, Kyleab Ellis and Chris Langridge along with Olympia's Billy Gordon were nominated in the Junior Sports Team Award for their amazing 1,2,3,4 finish at the Level 5 grade at the Nationals. 

It is fantastic to see our outstanding  gymnasts being acknowledged. Thank you to Canterbury Gymnastics who nominated them.

Artistic Nationals 2007

http://gymnasticscoaching.com/?p=2422
 

Wow CSG gymnasts had an amazing Nationals. Last year we achieved 4 prestigious individual all around titles this year our gymnast took 8 from the 12 we contested and were runners up in 3 more.

National Champions
WAG
Level 10    Kathryn Lewis
Level 9      Karla Singh
Level 8      Holly Moon
Level 6      Madison Lafituanai
Level 5      Justice Shaw-Cross

MAG
Level 7      Aaron Clutterbuck
Level 5      Jorden O'Connell-Inns
Level 4      MacKenzie Logan

Total medal haul was 74, last year it was 60.
More detailed results will be posted soon.

Saying a Heartfelt Farewell...(as a gymnast)

At the recent Canterbury Senior Championships on August 11th, 2007, Charlotte Dolden announced her retirement as a gymnast—we will never get to see her compete again.  

Charlotte performed her floor routine to a large number of appreciative gymnasts parents and officials. They came to help her celebrate her career as a competitive gymnast. Charlotte has been a competitor for over eleven years—some of those years have not been easy for her: injuries have kept her from competing at her best, but she has always continued to train and compete the apparatus that she could. Where many would have given up, Charlotte persevered. 

Charlotte must be commended for her commitment to the sport; she has represented CSG and Canterbury at over 40 competitions. Charlotte is a beautiful and talented gymnast, and a wonderful role model for gymnasts within CSG and Canterbury.  

Charlotte is in her second year of a Sports Management Degree at Lincoln University where she is an A student, she’s got the brains as well as the bronze when it comes to Sport. Charlotte is into her 2nd year of what will be a fabulous career as a gymnastics coach.  

CSG has watched Charlotte grow as an athlete and looks forward to now watching her excel as a coach, administrator, official and more. CSG will be there for her, and to help her achieve her next goals. Her grit and determination, her attention to detail, her commitment to excellence; Charlotte’s unique ability is unmatched. Charlotte challenges perfection, and is an example to us all. 

We wish you the best for the future, Charlotte.

Artistic Testing Day

72 hopefuls turned out to the annual testing day for the artistic testing squads. Unfortunately only 31 places were available and Jozsi Ferencz was very impressed with the calibre of children that wished to be gymnasts. It augers well for the sport that there are so many that wish to be part of our wonderful sport. The gymnasts hat were selected will be invited into a club welcome day in the October holidays and will start training for the 2008 competitive year from the 8th October.

"The turnout was amazing previous testing days saw numbers of around 30 so this was a huge surprise" said Kendra Wilkie, the clubs General Gymnastics Manager. We are the largest club in New Zealand and the demand seems never ending. We are obviously providing excellent programmes and what people want. The new extended facilities have made us more visible in the community and we are working hard to manage the demand on our programmes.

Canterbury Champs at CSG

Well done to everyone who competed last weekend at Canterbury Champs at CSG. This is the biggest, most important regional competition of the year, and in the intermediate and senior areas CSG represented themselves very admirably. The WAG girls took all 9 individual all around titles on offer. Well done gymnasts and coaches!

There were some great highlights over the weekend. 

If you watched the senior group vault on the first day you would have been surprised by the fact that although their first vaults were really great, only Michelle did her second vault. The coaches were confused, and so were the judges until one of them asked the competitors later why they all no vaulted on their 2^nd attempt? She was told that the judges were so fast they didn’t get a chance to have a well earned breather before the flag went up for the 2^nd attempt. Don’t worry girls, we will put slower judges on the panel at nationals, so you can show everyone your excellent vaults twice!

One of the biggest highlights was Charlotte Dolden showcasing her floor routine on Sunday in the last session. As she bows out of competitive gymnastics, she has made a huge contribution to the sport, as well as to the club. Well done Charlotte, we will certainly miss your beautiful artistic floors. You have leaps to die for. It was lovely to see so many juniors up there appreciating your last performance.

On the MAG side, It was great to see Anthony performing his best yet in the senior grade, and we look forward now to seeing what he will do in Auckland. Despite some great improvements there was very tough competition and Aaron (Level 7) was the only one to take a MAG title.  Aaron competed 3 new skills so it was a great day for him. The intermediate MAG gymnasts competed very well in trying circumstances in some instances as they had to rearrange their competition order due to the large amount of WAG gymnasts on the floor. Their competition was strung out over 3.5 hours – too long. Well done to all the boys who were able to focus and compete over such a long time.

There are too many highlights to mention them all but in Level 8, Holly Moon competed her double-back dismount off bars. In Level 6, Madison Lafituanai was first all around. In level 5, Georgia Catlow did her giants for the first time in competition, and Justice Shaw-Cross achieved a huge score on floor of 15.9!! Georgia Duncan did very well, despite her sore foot. In level 4 unders, Evie Lavery earned a gold ribbon on bar, and Waverley Gee earned a 7.0 “A” score on beam, which is the highest possible “A” score you can get.

Competitions can be quite stressful, especially for the coaches. On Sunday morning, Emma and Svetlana had four groups of girls competing. As they crossed paths in the middle of the floor, Svetlana looked at Emma and began to tell her something very, very important. Emma looked back at her with wide eyes, “I don’t understand, Svetlana! I don’t speak Russian!”

In Level 4 Overs, Natasha Cottam came first all-around. After two days of competition. Breanna Gledhill was fourth, and Rochelle is very proud of her result, and of the huge  accomplishments that Breanna has been making in training lately.

For the boys, Aaron competed three new skills, fulfilling some personal goals. Well done, Aaron! In Level 6, Jordan Russell came second all-around, and Avery Addei came third all-around. In level 5, Jorden O’Connell-Inns came second all around.

Emma Hunt Awarded Sports Studies Academic Scholarship!

Our very own Emma Hunt has been awarded a scholarship by CSG in order to pursue a certificate in sports studies at Otago. Emma will be studying through correspondence and audio-conferences in order to keep training her girls at the gym fulltime. Emma has taken on this incredible challenge with the intention of moving her coaching forward and increasing her expertise. We are all very proud of how intelligent and motivated Emma is!

CSG Classic WAG...

Annually, the CSG Classic is a huge, international event; this year, gymnasts from as far away as Perth attended! The Perth gymnasts looked so wonderful; their scarves and track suits were so perfect, and Avril asserts that they win the Best Hair Award, “not a French plait amongst them!” 

In the senior area, WAG International Elite saw Kathryn Lewis compete a powerful vault and an awesome floor exercise. Kathryn is a joy to watch, CSG is very proud of her!It is very exciting that Samantha Russell is competing L10 this year, and the CSG Classic saw her continuing to improve and gain confidence. Sam has a great vault and bar routine.

In L9, Karla Singh was first all-around, taking first-place on every individual apparatus as well. Karla scored highest on vault and floor. Second place went to Michelle Lewis, who also had a great vault, and stuck her beam!

In L8 Holly Moon placed first in All-Arounds on the first day of competition. Holly had great vault, bar and floor routines, she was super powerful in her run-up on vault, and looked really sharp on floor.

In the first day of competition, in the L7 All-Around, Lani Hohepa was second overall. Lani was also second individually on vault, bar and beam. Stacey Anderson placed third overall, and she owned the floor exercise, coming first all-around and doing the most amazing routine. Svetlana is very impressed with Stacey’s great tumbles.On the second day, the standings remained the same, with both Lani and Stacey maintaining their performances and not letting the pressure get to them. Lani’s bar routine was fantastic, excellent work, and Stacey's beam was a joy to watch packed with difficult and stuck.

In the intermediate area, Emma Hunt was very pleased with how all the girls went. Emma especially said it was “lovely to see Hannah Rawlin [who has had an injury] out supporting her teammates”. It shows dedication and great team spirit that Hannah came out for the day!           

It was also nice to see such good camaraderie between the CSG intermediates and their Australian counterparts. The girls had a dinner together, played some games and had a great time earlier in the week.       

In L6, Annie Stevenson came first overall. Annie’s beam was absolutely fantastic, she had poise and perfect grace; Annie had a great floor routine, as well. In third place, Larissa Edyvean was most successful on uneven bars, and had her competition for the year.           

In L5, Olivia Rule placed first all-around. Olivia had a beautiful floor exercise and a solid beam. In second place, Justice Shaw Cross came first on the uneven bars with a very high level set hat a level 6 would have been proud of, and her highlight of the day was “[her] bar score!!!”.           

In Level 4 Overs, Waverley Gee was second all-around and Ruth Platt was third and in the Level 4 Unders, Rebecca Morrison and Bronwyn Dibb came seventh and eighth, respectively. Waverley wrote that her favourite memory from the day was “seeing [her] score for floor—15.6!” and Izzy Hughes asserted that “doing floor was really cool because I landed my handspring-front and I didn’t do it in warm-up!”.              

In the junior area, the L3Bs had a great day, overall. Some highlights were Ellen Simpson’s award for “best start position” and her huge smile up on the podium! The girls competed in two groups, and Carmen and Sheena moved between both groups for the duration of the competition. Sheena’s best memory was of Georgia Collins’s “excellent backwalkover on floor” and of Laura Dickson’s “nice front tuck vaults”.            

Sophie Inwood came second all-around, and Lydia Johnson came third. Sophie owned the floor, where she had the most beautiful presentation; Sophie wrote that her favourite memory was “winning floor” and having her team come first. On the bar, Felicity Prendergast took an individual first place for her routine. The Australian judge was looking for body-tension and shapes in the swings, and Felicity delivered both of these things, well done!           

The L2Bs was won by Ari Graham who was also ranked first individually on floor and beam. Emma attested that Ari had a “magnificent prop in her vault, no one else’s was comparable!” In third place, Celine Evans did a fabulous bar routine. She beat the next highest score by more than half a point, which is a huge margin. Great work, girls!           

For the L2As,  Hannah Farquhar came first all-around in her last competition for CSG for 5 years (she is off to Singapore), and managed to be ranked first individually on vault, bar and beam as well. Analise Borkus was second overall, and first on the floor. In third place, Hannah Malloch did great on bar and beam. Awesome effort, ladies!

In the Challenge, the Novice L2C Bronze area was won by Miranda Hitchings, followed by Brian Winter and Sherelle King in second and third, respectively. In the 2C Silver portion, Laura McFaddon was first, Ayla Sneddon second, and Laura McKenzie third. Well done, ladies!

The L1As had a super-successful day, where CSG gymnasts took up the top six positions in a field of twenty-two competitors. The top spot went to Toshiko Davidson whose amazing beam routine (16.3!) made her tough to beat! In second place, Shontelle Hancox-Rogers had a lovely floor routine, where she was ranked first individually. Third all-around went to Bree Thomson who came first individually on the uneven bar. Great work to all the L1As, Charlotte is very proud! Well done Charlotte for her excellent preparation of these girls and their dominance of this event is a tribute to her fantastic coaching.

In L1B some great highlights were Annalis Johnson from Heather’s group, who made it through the whole competition, despite being sick. She even earned two red ribbons! Also from the 1Bs, Kezia Blacker got a gold ribbon for vault in her second competition, what a great effort! And no one could keep a straight face when, after her circle-up in her bar routine, the adorable Caitlyn Davidson did the biggest smile at her mom.

L1Bs were very successful this competition; first place went to Olivia Brett, second place was awarded to Kelly Baker and Aofie Hayland came third. Aofie did another stunning floor routine, with only 0.7 taken off in deductions! The girls came first, second and third in teams, as well. Heather said that Kristina, Tasha and Lexie all did beautiful routines, as usual. Well done, girls!

L1C saw Julia Sharp come second all-around, and Ella Adams achieve third. Julia had a great bar routine, she has a lovely dish-glide. The most adorable vault of the day was Lucy Johnson, who would forget to present to the judge, run at the beat-board, remember to present, stop, present, turn around, go back…and then do it all again on the next go. Lucy, you are a gem.

CSG Classic MAG...

In the CSG Classic Challenge, the Novice Boys was won by Alex Bull. Alex had a tremendous floor exercise, and also excelled on the pommels and vault. In second place, Bailey Lucas did great on p-bars, and in third place, Ben Yorston was amazing on floor. Well done, boys!

MAG L7 was won by Aaron Clutterbuck on both competition days. Aaron was incredibly successful on floor, highbar and rings, where he was first place on both days.

MAG L6 saw Jordan Russell come third all-around. Jordan’s best event was high bar, where he was ranked second. After the competition, Jordan asserted he was “fine”. (It seems the girls are a bit more verbose than the boys when it comes to memories…!).

MAG L5 had a great run, with Jorden O’Connell-Inns coming first all-around and first on pommels and rings. In third place, Kyleab Ellis came first on vault, with a tremendously powerful front layout (what was in that water) and had a very clean and polished floor routine.

MAG L4 was won by MacKenzie Logan who was one of only two competitors that had a 10 start value on floor. MacKenzie took first individually on rings and pommels, and third on floor and high bar. In second place, George Bright was first on p-bars. In third, Samuel Elstob came first on the floor exercise. Well done to all the level 4 boys!

MAG L3 was won by Matthew Howes. Matthew’s great upper body strength assured him high scores on pommel horse, rings and p-bars, and further, he also came first on vault. Way to go, Matthew! In third place, Sam Harris was exceptional p-bars and vault.

The cute and serious MAG L2 boys saw Zak Tait come second overall. Zak was first individually on rings and high bar. Third place went to Harrison Tait whose lovely floor routine earned him a first place medal.

In MAG L1 the highest placing was Jonte Britten, who came fourth. Jonte did a great vault, he ran really, really fast! Well done Jonte!

Nelson WAG Results Run-Down (MAG Soon To Be Released!)

Well done to everyone at Nelson. Everyone got there safe and sound, although the snow on the way up looked daunting! This was the first competition with the new senior WAG leotards, and they looked fantastic!

Seniors were out in full force. Kathryn Lewis looked amazing at her second outing in L10. She competed only the Saturday, and finished her competition by sticking a sky-high double back.

            Sam Russell in her first L10 competition landed a great pike tsuk on the second day. Sam had the highest all-around score on day two, after being second on day one, and therefore took the title! Way to go, Sam!

            In L9 apparatus, Karla Singh came first on vault and bar, and second on beam and floor. Inversely, Charlottle Dolden then came first on beam and floor exercise; gold placings on every event for CSG gymnasts.

            The previous day, Karla placed first all-around. Her best event was vault, where she had a score of 14.600. Great work, Karla! Charlotte placed second all-around, and had such a lovely floor routine. Michelle Lewis was third, allowing CSG to sweep the top three spots.

            In L8 Holly Moon achieved first place on bar, beam and floor, and third on vault. In all-around, Holly was second place with a score of 49.050 due to her amazing floor routine!

            The L7s were lead by Laura Carpinter in second place all-around and third in apparatus, and Ashleigh Wade in fourth all-around and first in apparatus. Well done to both of you!

            The Intermediates did an amazing job in Nelson. CSG’s L6s, Madison Lafituanai and Annie Stevenson, took second and third place, respectively. Madison had a great score on floor, and a very solid overall score of 58.000.

Further, the top FIVE places went to gymnasts in L5! Excellent work to Justice Shaw-Cross, Olivia Rule, Megan Caldwell, Georgia Duncan and Georgia Catlow, who came first, second, thirds, fourth, and fifth, respectively. Justice had a great day, coming first individually on bar, beam, and floor, and third on vault. Amazing!

            The L4 Overs had Natasha Cottam come first all-around and on the beam! Natasha was very successful on floor and bar as well, where she earned bronze medal standings.

            The L4 Unders took top places as well: Waverley Gee was first all-around with the huge score of 59.233. Her best event was floor. In second place, Ruth Platt was also very successful on floor, her routine looked clean and sharp. Well done to both of you, ladies!

In the Junior area, L3B saw Brönte Evans-Pollack make third place all-around, her best result this year! Brönte’s best event was vault, where she displayed front-tuck that she has been working very hard at in training.

            The L2Bs took first all-around in teams. In individual placings, Kimberley Gee was fisrt place all-around and achieved her best score on bar! Stacey Potter was second due to her solid performance on every event. Beth Melchers was third with a lovely bar routine.

            In L2A, Analise Borkus was first all-around, with the massive score of 60.750. Her best events were floor and vault, although she took first place on every event individually. Hanna Malloch was second, and Rosie Griffioen came third overall. Well done!

            Of the L1Bs, Kristina Sammut and Samantha Williams took first and second place all around. A great effort from all the girls, the 1Bs had a great day in Nelson!

            The L1As were fantastic as well. Toshiko Davidson was first all-around with a score of 64.500. That is a huge number! Shontell Rogers-Hancox was second all-around and Ngaire Platt was third. CSG gymnasts took the top seven placings, way to go!

Trampoline: Aussie Results Amazing!

Spearheading excellent results from all were phenomenal performances from our under 10 competitors, Hugh McConnell, Lisa Westerby and Annie Prout.

CSG Shines in Sunshine Capital: Marlborough Championships in Blenheim

Justice, what a lovely high wolf jump! (Point your toes, girl!)

Blenheim Comp Highlights...

Driving up the coast to Blenheim is always a nice way to start a sunny weekend. The golden hills and the turquoise water are a great backdrop to the smooth highway and sense of hopeful anticipation of the gymnasts getting ready to compete.            

 The weekend began on a high note with Emma Hunt’s and Amelia Walker’s Level 2Bs taking first, second and third all-around. Ari Graham was first all-around with a huge overall score of 58.55. It is not often that a gymnast is just as successful on Vault as on Beam; however, those were Ari’s two best events. The girl has power and finesse: the perfect mix for a gymnast. Second and third place were taken by Stacey Potter and Imogen Bradbury, respectively.            

The Level 3Bs took first and second overall: Sophie Inwood and Kelsi Lewis pulled it out. These girls were amazing! (And had a lucky toe and a koala teddy to help them out!) The Uneven Bar was the Level 3s’s best event, individually Olivia Ireland, Kelsi and Sophie came first, second and third. Shout-outs go to Jessica Gunn for her great floor routine and to Georgia Collins for staying on the beam! (Yes! Georgia! Yes! *fist pump*) Well done girls!           

The Level 4s and 5s had a great run: top placings were achieved by CSG gymnasts in both levels. Ruth Platt, Natasha Cottam and Hannah Rawlin came first, second and third, respectively in Level 4. Natasha’s beautiful tumbling and her stuck beam routine helped her achieve her fantastic overall placing; Natasha’s results reflect a huge personal best for her. Well done! In Level 5, Justice Shaw-Cross, Olivia Rule and Megan Caldwell came first, second and third overall. Justice’s awesome floor routine had flair and pizzazz, wow! Olivia should be very pleased with herself, her beam routine was amazing.            

The second day of competition was an early start; Heather Braybrook’s Level 1Bs did an amazing job. Olivia Brett was first all-around, followed by Lexie McNab and Aoife Hyland in second and third, respectively. The girls all did their best, and Heather was very pleased with the results.

Wellington Junior Campionships: CSG Goes the Distance!