Interview with Esprit Chairman, Mark Hows about Esprit and Jade & Laura’s selection to the British Squad.

January 2006

-What will selection mean for Laura and Jade?
In a nutshell a great deal of hard work and dedication. However this shouldn’t be a problem as this is their dream and they have been expertly prepared for the challenge ahead. Selection means they are now on their way to competing for their country and being a part of the British Squad means they could now be called upon to represent their country in International competition and in the fullness of time, maybe even major events such as the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and of course the Olympics. It’s still a very long way off but both Laura and Jade will be approaching their best in 2012 and now have a very real chance of being able to represent their country when London hosts the games.

-What does the success mean for the club?
It means we were right when we said Swindon had the talent, it just needed the very best coaches and a proper environment in which to train. Esprit is, after less than 2 years, now recognised as a major force in both Artistic and Rhythmic gymnastics with many Regional and National medal winners, in addition to Laura and Jade, training at the club. But this is just the beginning, we are working hard to build on this success and I am sure you will see many more success stories from Esprit Gymnasts in the coming years.

-How hard have they (and the club) worked to make it this far?
The girls in particular have worked extremely hard training up to 20 hours per week whilst still keeping up with all of their schoolwork. They travel to competitions and now, national training camps, throughout the country, which means their dedication is matched only by the support they receive from their parents and without this they wouldn’t be able to compete at this level.
The club itself has worked extremely hard to get this far so quickly and it is constantly battling to ensure it has enough money to keep the club open and fees low for its 650+ members. It has an active fundraising committee that has so far raised more than £10,000 to purchase a brand new specialist floor area and Esprit is now one of very few clubs in the whole country to have one. This means it is very likely Olympic teams from throughout the World will want to use the clubs facilities in the run up to the 2012 Olympics, which will mean the World’s very best gymnasts coming to Swindon as a result of Esprit’s hard work.

-Laura came second in recent Sports Person of the Year poll. Does this reflect a growing interest in gymnastics in Swindon?
Laura came second in the Sports Personality poll because she is an incredibly talented young lady who is dedicated to her chosen sport and works very hard at doing simple things perfectly and this in turn, means the more difficult moves are easier to perfect. What she has achieved is more than the majority of people will ever manage in a lifetime, and remember she is just NINE years old, her best years are still ahead and I personally would not be surprised if Laura or indeed one of her team mates even made it to BBC version in the not to distant future – watch this space.

Gymnastics however, is a ‘Field of Dreams’ we knew if we built it, they would come, and they did and they are still coming, every week we take more children onto our waiting list or into classes. We now have more than 400 gymnasts and 150 trampoline gymnasts in regular classes, as well as many adults, teenagers, baby’s and toddlers attending lessons from 10:00am through to 10:00pm every day. We know that if we had twice the space we would easily recruit more than double this amount. The research we have shows that if we could get just a small amount of support from Swindon Borough Council or indeed, local big business, we would be able to easily train over 1,500 young people every week, but unfortunately, we just don’t have the investment required.

-You suggested in May that there was not enough Council support for local gymnastics. Have you seen any changes, especially since the Olympics bid success?
Not just gymnastics, all high-level sport is neglected badly in Swindon and as expected, nothing at all has changed. There have been a couple of emails exchanged but nothing of any substance and to be honest after my efforts to discuss Esprit with Justin Tomlinson, Conservative member for Sport & Leisure, were ignored completely, we have all but given up on SBC and are concentrating on making the club so successful everyone will know us and we will become the biggest and best in the country anyway. At least then no one else will be able to claim credit for what the coaches and children have achieved.

Unfortunately our local authority seem to think they are providing an adequate service by having 20+ year old leisure centres and charging more than £11 for an hours trampoline, when what is required is long term sustained coaching in dedicated facilities provided by the very best coaches. As I said back in May, children don’t get to reach the pinnacle of sporting excellence, or even their own potential, by going down the flumes at the Oasis once a week. But perhaps this council are happy with adequate?

-You had problems finding a home for Esprit, but 18 months down the line, how have you settled in and what has the public response been like?
We settled in fine, considering we are in the middle of a working industrial estate and our neighbours in the adjacent units are exceptionally nice and have been very accommodating. However we have already outgrown all 8,000sqft and really do need a purpose built facility to accommodate everyone who wants to be involved at Esprit. As for the public response, whilst we knew the potential of gymnastics we didn’t quite realise how quickly everything would happen, within 6 months of opening we had nearly 1,500 people register an interest in classes from new born babies wanting pre-school gymnastics through to ex gymnasts and adults just wanting a new, different and effective way of staying fit. The response was so phenomenal we have had to stop advertising and now only recruit through word of mouth.
Like I said above, if Esprit had a purpose built facility not only would it fast become the biggest and best club in the country with many more sporting hero’s in training. But not only that, it would generate hundred’s of thousands of pounds in revenue that could be used to revitalise the many other deserving sports in the community. Unfortunately I really don’t think our local authority understands just how much the people of Swindon want what clubs like Esprit offer.

Jade and Laura won’t give up their quest to become the very best, perhaps those that have the power to make a difference in Swindon should ask these incredible young lady’s what it really takes to be successful?

 

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