First
published Wilts & Gloucester Standard 2 March 2006-03-02
Harriet
makes national gymnastics squad
A
TETBURY nine-year-old is so good at rhythmic gymnastics
that she has gone straight into the Welsh full national
squad in the sport, bypassing the preparation stage.
Harriet
Evans celebrated double-success because she also became
National Champion in the under-10 section of the National
Duets and Trio competition at Burton-on-Trent.
Rhythmic
gymnastics requires poise, flexibility and dancing ability
while throwing, catching and balancing equipment such
as hoops, ribbons, clubs and balls.
Harriet,
a St Mary's Church of England Primary School-pupil, trains
every evening and weekend at Swindon's Esprit Academy
of Gymnastics and Trampoline, a centre of excellence for
the sport in the South West.
She
was invited to Barry, Wales, to trial for Wales' rhythmic
gymnastics preparation squad, which saw her train with
some of the country's best gymnasts and coaches in readiness
for a subsequent trial with the full squad.
After
a day being tested on various routines and body skills,
such as strength and flexibility, Harriet and her coach
Deb Hows, Esprit Academy's head of rhythmic gymnastics,
were told she impressed the judges so much that she had
bypassed the preparation and development squads and gone
directly into the full squad.
Her
mother, Sue Evans, said: "Harriet was speechless,
she just couldn't stop smiling.
"To get into the preparation squad would have been
a feat in itself but to be asked to move straight into
the full National Squad is the stuff of dreams. Everyone
is so proud of her."
