The Best in the West!

First published 18 May 2005

Sunday 15 May 2005 saw the best gymnasts in the South West of England competing in the Inter regional Floor & Vault Championships and Swindon gymnasts yet again proved to be the ‘Best in the West. Courtney Hows and Carla Williams, both 10 years old and members of Esprit Gymnastics at Stratton St Margaret, were members of the Wiltshire Team that travelled to Plymouth to compete in this prestigious annual competition.

Working as a team with three other girls from the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics in Melksham, Courtney and Carla competed in the floor and vault competition that saw Wiltshire take team ‘'Gold' against the very best gymnasts from clubs all over the South West of England. It was a close run competition, which saw all of the Wiltshire team performing routines to the very highest standard and it was the gymnast's quality, in depth, throughout the team that proved to be the key to winning gold.

Katy Smith, head of artistic gymnastics at Esprit said, “"this is the first time our gymnasts have trialled for the Wiltshire team and to make it into the first team is a feat in itself, but to go to Plymouth and be part of a gold winning team at the first attempt is fantastic, I couldn't be more proud of all the girls, but especially Carla and Courtney, they fitted into the squad extremely well and competed without showing their obvious nerves."

Katy, continued, “"Esprit has had phenomenal success over the last year, since we opened Swindon's first proper gymnastics facility and this result proves we have one of the best training philosophy's in the country, with every coach at Esprit working to bring out the very best in every child, no matter what their natural ability. In the last year we have already had children competing at National and International level, but it is always a bit special when you win in your own region and by working closely with the coaches from Melksham and other Wiltshire gym clubs we have achieved exactly what we set out to be - the very best in the West!"

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