Lady Barn House teams win top honours in National Gymnastics
Top of the tree at ISA’s 2018 National Gymnastics championships was Lady Barn House School from ISA North. They won two of the four major titles on offer and were team silver medallists in the other two. They also had success in the group sequences. Their achievements came very much from a great all-round team effort, as they were not reliant on just a handful of strong individuals scoring very high marks.
Their under 11 boys proved to be the strongest group on all four disciplines, both floor and vault, with two boys in the top six helping them to a clear lead over runners-up, St Winefrides, from Shrewsbury, who had the individual title winner and the sixth placed boy. Honours were shared amongst boys from several more schools too. Others with competitors in the top ten were Copthill, Castle House, Oakfield and St James.
Lady Barn also won the under 9 girls, by the very narrow margin of 0.15 ahead of Adcote, with St. Mary’s, Gerrards Cross, entering for the first time, less than half a mark behind. The individual champion was from Adcote. The Lady Barn House girls won more medals and a trophy for the group sequence competition in this age group, with St Mary’s close on their heels.In the under 11 group sequences, won by Adcote, LBH were second, with The Grove and Bowdon Prep scoring well too.
The under 11 girls’ title was retained by host school, Adcote, who were more than six points ahead of their nearest rivals, Lady Barn. Four of the Adcote girls, including the champion, were placed in the top six individuals, emphasising their dominance, with the other two places filled by sisters from St Winefrides. The Adcote girls won three of the four disciplines by clear margins. Their number one performer scored the highest individual marks of the day with all the judges. The Lady Barn House voluntary floors were particularly successful in this age group. St Winefrides’ under 9 boys proved to be well ahead of the rest, winning this category by nearly ten marks. Five members of their team, including the individual winner, finished in the first six places.
This was the fifteenth year of the championships, which have always been organised as team events. Gymnasts are brought as teams of six, with all their number playing a part in the team’s achievements on the day. New entrants, Argyle School, Sunderland, and Monmouth Prep in the south-west, with Oakfield and HawleyHurst from south of London, and St Nicholas School, Harlow, as well as schools like Arnold Lodge in the Midlands, helped to create a spread of competitors from across the whole country. All seven regions of ISA were represented, with more than thirty teams taking part. ISA National Sports Ambassador, Roger Brierly, and Headmistress of Adcote School, Diane Browne, spoke at the presentations and gave out trophies and medals. Special thanks are due to the team from Adcote, led by Deputy Head, Louise Hudson, for providing an excellent venue for the second year running, and for hosting and organising an excellent day of competitive sport, which all took place in a cheerful and mutually supportive atmosphere. RMW.
Results from the competition can be found here.
