Esprit Gymnasts show what they are made of
15 June 2007

Local gymnastics club Esprit, based in Stratton, continues to make the news this week, with yet more examples of its amazingly successful ‘GRASS ROOTS’ training programme. Esprit has in only 4 years created a club with around 600 members and in just the last 6 months has worked with more than 2,000 local children in various schools across the Borough, teaching the very basics of the sport to eager young people.

Evidence of the clubs impact on local health and fitness in the town, is shown by how the club has, in only a short period of time, developed many regional, national and even International champions, including a fully fledged British Champion.

The most recent of these being 3 of the clubs artistic gymnasts who made up part of the Wiltshire team in the South West Floor & Vault championships. Despite being 2 team members short, Daisy Rolt (12) and Emily Upshall (13) were part of the modified FIG section that claimed the overall team Bronze at the City of Bristol Gymnastics Academy. Both girls were an important part of a mixed age range and their performance more than justified their selection.

In the full FIG section, which is marked under Olympic rules, Courtney Hows (12) was part of the Silver medal winning team even though they were again one team member short. The result showing what a strong regional team Wiltshire has become.

The result for Courtney was just the start of an exciting 2 weeks and just the preparation required for her participation in the British ‘Espoir’ Championships, held in Gloucester on the 9th & 10th June. It was Courtney’s debut at the competition and the fact that she was the only gymnast there who wasn’t trained at a dedicated and properly located gymnastic facility was testament to her hard work, the fantastic work of Esprit’s coaches and the clubs excellent ‘GRASS ROOTS’ development plan.

Courtney has now confirmed her position as one of the nations most accomplished artistic gymnast’s, the future looks very bright for all the young people who train at the Esprit Academy.
Courtney’s excellent achievement however, comes at an uneasy time for the club, who are desperately trying to win the support of Swindon Borough Council to help them relocate to a more appropriate facility. Club Chairman Mark Hows said, we have proven Swindon wants what Esprit provides and we have been trying to talk with the Council for 6 years, all to no avail.

We have therefore launched an ‘online’ petition asking the Prime Minister himself to intervene and insist Swindon Borough Council help us continue our important work with a sport that is a fundamental part of the National Curriculum.