CHRISTMAS TRAINING SCHEDULE! Please note the following arrangements for training over Christmas:
Saturday 21st December 2024, last session before Christmas, gymnasts attending this session will be joining in with the Annual Club Championships, please confirm your plans to attend so that we can ensure appropriate plans are in place. if you do not wish to compete, you can attend a different class earlier in the week (again please let us know)
Friday 27 December 5-8pm, competition squad only
Saturday 28 December 10-1, competition squad only
Friday 3 January 6-9pm, competition squad only
Saturday 4 January, 10-11am class as normal, 11-3 competition squad only
Tuesday 7 January, all classes return to normal schedules.
We wish everyone a happy festive time and an even happier new year xx
West Midlands Team Championships 2024 - 30 November and 1st December 2024, Cannock - Congratulations to our amazing Flames gymnasts who showed their grit and determination in the recent Team Championships. Our Bronze team (Ida, Celia, Kimii-Li, Grace and Izzy) came 6th overall, with Grace placing 4th and Ida 6th on vault, Izzy 10th on bars, and Ida 8th and Grace 9th on beam. In the copper team, we had 2 of our regular copper gymnasts (Saffy and Jess) joined by 3 gymnasts (Eliza, Charlotte and Kaelynn) who only recently competed in the Zinc regional competition and added in all their upgraded skills to help bring the copper team into 4th place overall. We were sorry that Yumi was not able to compete having become unwell a couple of days before the competition. In the copper competition, Jess came 2nd overall on vault, and Kaelynn and Saffy were joint 8th, on bars Jess was in 6th place and Eliza 9th, and on floor, Jess achieved 2nd place. A great job girls, and thank you to our coaches / helpers Ricky, Makayla and Stephen and judges Liz, Joanne and Rhoda. Pics as always on the photo page and scores on the scores page.
Classic Challenge Gold, Silver, Bronze, National Finals 2024 - 22-24 November 2024, Surrey Sports Centre, Guildford - We are so very proud of Flames Gymnasts Kitty and Makayla who both represented the West Midlands in last weekend's national finals for the Classic Challenge. The competitions had real highs and not-so-highs but as with all competitions, you never quite know what to expect. Kitty had an amazing competition in the Gold level, putting aside some demons and injuries that were hanging around since a nasty fall in her last competition and competed her full routines on beam and floor, and competed her vault as planned; with just bars still to work on ahead of the English Championships in 2025. For Makayla (and Coach Ricky) it was her final Final before hanging up her handguards in December to focus on school work and exams, but what a way to finish the year and her competition career, with a team Bronze medal and improvements in performance and scores on both vault and bars. The same is true for Ricky who is stepping down from coaching after 25 years with Flames. We will miss Ricky for everything he has done for the Club and for the commitment he has made to the club. Thank you! (More if this in December when both Ricky and Mak finish completely).
Well done to both our gymnasts, you are amazing, and a true role model for our younger gymnasts. Pics from the comps can be found on the photo page, and scores (only gold available at the moment) on the scores page.
Finally, parents are reminded, fees are due next week, so please look out for your reminder SMS or whatsapp message or email with all details.
West Midlands Regional Classic Challenge Copper, Zinc & Tin Championships 2024 - 26th and 27th October 2024, Chase Leisure Centre, Cannock - We have had a fabulous weekend in Cannock with gymnasts competing in the TZC Classic Challenge for 2024. On Saturday, Sophie and Mia had a great day performing their routines with style and pizzazz in the Tin 8-9 years competition, and Kaelynn performed beautiful routines in the Zinc 8-9 years competition. On Sunday, Eliza had a fantastic day in the Zinc 10-11 years competition, achieving 12th place on beam. Also on Sunday, Saffy and Yumi competed in the Copper 11-12 years, and both had a brilliant day having clean routines on every piece! Saffy achieved 6th on vault, 2nd on bars, and 9th overall, a massive achievement having lost several weeks training before the summer after an injury. Yumi came home 13th overall, definitely her best competition ever!! Also on Sunday, Jessica competed in the Copper 13-14 years, and came 4th on floor having worked so hard to ensure she had her best performances. We are proud of the achievements of all of our gymnasts, who continue to push forward learning new skills and growing in confidence in the gym.
We also thank our judges for the weekend, Rhoda, Joanne, and Liz, and coach Ricky assisted so well by Makayla, who keeps the girsl calm and focussed in the excitement of the event.
Finally, I send an enormous thank you to the amazing Flames parents and families who helped Flames to co-host the Sunday competition with our friends from Bham Gymnastics Academy. Thank you Shazia, Richard, Laura, Laiza, Rhoda, Tim, Stephen, your parent-power really did make a massive difference and raised over £200 to be split between the two clubs. Thank you too, to the gymnasts Sophie, Charlotte, Yumi, Ida, Eliza, Jessica, Makayla, Emelia and Saffy, who collected score slips so that they could all be entered into the competition overall scores, carried bags and water bottles, fetched and carried with a smile, and in some cases made endless teas and coffees for the judges, officials and the audience. You represented the club brilliantly. Thank you!!!
Scores from the weekend are on the results page and the pics on the pics page - enjoy.
West Midlands Regional Classic Challenge Gold, Silver, Bronze Championships 2024 - 6th October 2024, Chase Leisure Centre, Cannock - Congratulations to the amazing Flames gymnasts who competed yesterday in the West Midlands Championships. Our gymnasts really smashed it this time round and we are of course so very proud of all of our gymnasts, and following this weekend we celebrate:
Classic Challenge Gold - Kitty, 1st place overall 🏆 (and 1st place on beam and floor and 2nd place on vault and bars) - and a place to represent the West Midlands at National Finals
Classic Challenge Silver - Makayla, 3rd place overall - and a place to represent the West Midlands at National Finals
Classic Challenge Bronze (14+) - Merryn 5th place on beam and 12th overall, Ida 21st overall and Kimii-Li 23rd overall
Classic Challenge Bronze (12-13) - Grace 6th on bars and 8th on vault, and 16th overall, Celia 25th overall
Classic Challenge Bronze (11-12) - Izzy, 4th place overall (and 1st on beam)
So for Kitty and Mak its back into the gym to prepare for national finals, while the other half of our squad continue their preparation for the Copper, Zinc and Tin competition in 4 weeks time. After a period of recovery, our girls will be working towards other competitions in the Autumn as well as work for their NDP grades in Spring 2025.
Training Fees - please remember our fees have increased from 1 October to meet the increased cost of venue hire. We apologise for needing to do this, and hope you will still consider our fees represent good value for money!
Metropolitan County Championships 2024 - 22nd September 2024, Lilleshall National Sports Centre - Congratulations to the amazing Flames gymnasts who competed this weekend in the Metro Championships. 78 gymnasts were entered into this event and every one of our gymnasts came away with an award. We are so proud of all of our gymnasts, and following this weekend we celebrate:
Classic Challenge Gold - Kitty Day, 1st place overall 🏆 (and 1st on all pieces)
Classic Challenge Silver - Makayla Radbourne, 1st place 🏆 (and 1st place on beam)
Classic Challenge Bronze (14+) - Ida Kosol, 2nd place overall🥈(and 2nd on all pieces)
Classic Challenge Bronze (12-13) - Celia Ghazzawi, 2nd overall🥈(3rd on vault, beam and floor and 4th on bars)
Classic Challenge Bronze (11-12) - Izzy White, 2nd overall🥈(1st on vault, beam and floor and 3rd on bars)
Classic Challenge Zinc (8-9) - Kaelynn Dove, 6th overall ⭐️ (4th on beam and 6th on floor)
Classic Challenge Zinc (10-11) - Eliza Evans, 1st overall 🏆(and 1st on all pieces)
Classic Challenge Zinc (12+) - Charlotte Jones, 1st overall 🏆(and 1st on all pieces)
Classic Challenge Tin (8-9) - Mia Orgill, 2nd overall 🥈 (1st on floor, 2nd on vault and bars, and 4th on beam)
Classic Challenge Tin (8-9) - Sophie Jones, 4th overall(3rd on bars and beam, 4th on floor and 5th on vault)
Congratulations to every gymnast who competed and thank you to all coaches and judges who made the day a positive experience for everyone. Scores can be found on the comp results page and pics on the photos page.
🤗 Thank you to Ricky and Al, our Flames coaches, for your endless support and guidance and to our judges Liz, Lisa, Joanne and Al for your 7 hours of judging with nothing but water and biscuits / chocolate to keep you going! Thank you to all the parents who helped in running the competition - the parents on the door and the parents on the microphone/music and inputting scores; you are fantastic, thank you.👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Now our gymnasts prepare for their Regional Championships in October. Keep up all that hard work in the lead up to the competition, and enjoy your gymnastics, whatever the sport gives back to you.
6 September 2024 - A quick reminder that our fees are due to increase in October in order to keep being able to match the University's increased hire charges. We are sorry to have to increase our fees, and will only ever increase them sufficiently to meet the demands on our expenses. Our fees from October will be:
- Saturday kids gym ('baby gym'): £6 for the hour (a return to our previous fee level)
- 1.5 hrs per week, 8 week term: £76.40 (increased by 56p per week)
- 7+ hrs per week, 8 week term: £127.50 (increased by 94p per week)
- competition squad, 8 week term: £174 (increased by (£1.25 per week)
If you have any questions or concerns about training fees (or anything else gymnastics related), please do not hesitate to contact the Club.
11 August 2024 - This week we are thinking about the terrible widespread disorder and violent hate happening across the country. The racism and discrimination underpinning this and in comments around it in the news and on social media is something we know has affected many of us, our families and friends, and has made the past week very difficult, unsettling and deeply upsetting. We join British Gymnastics in stating that we will not tolerate racism or islamophobia, calling it out when it happens and playing our part in the battle against it; this week and every week. British Gymnastics has also helpfully shared some practical things we can do and resources to support us all during the unrest. Above all, it is important for us to prioritise the physical safety and wellbeing of all members. This is especially so for those who are being actively targeted by this threat: people who identify as immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, or as people of colour, and people of all faiths. We hope everyone at Flames and their families are okay and if we can do anything to support you at this time, please do let us know. BG have provided a list of support resources that are available that may be of help to Flames members:
August 2024 - We hope you are enjoying the amazing gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and particularly supporting Joe Fraser and Alice Kinsella who are both from Birmingham. The GB teams have done so well again this year, and we now look forward to the last few days of gymnastics with the Apparatus Finals over Saturday, Sunday and Monday, before moving on to rhythmic and trampoline gymnastics :)
*********************************
If you are looking for news pasted previously, please go to the 'Previous News' page where all old news is still available.
Example Text
