At 07:30 Sunday morning teams from the BSN, The British School of Brussels, Swan Bourne House, EJB Gymnastics and, Holmewood House, gathered at the JSL sports hall ready, eager and excited to kick off a four school gymnastic competition.
The U9’s and U10’s were the first to compete. The BSN gymnasts were faced against EJB gymnastics, a visiting club from the U.K. The gymnasts were exceptionally professional stepped up to meet the demands of the competition.
The next round was a see of colourful leotards as the BSN, EJB gymnastics, Holmewood house and Swanbourne House school all competed. The viewing balcony was jam packed with supporters from all schools with the crowd offering encouragement to the U10’s and U11s.
The next round consisted of two boys teams and the junior age groups from the British School of Brussels. It was fantastic to welcome a boys competition to run alongside the girls division, an excellent thought for the future for the BSN gymnastics programme.
The final round of the morning competition then took place, with five teams competing against one another. The very competitive and high skilled U13 line up provided an excellent challenge for the BSN U13 gymnasts, providing much needed experience for the fast approaching National Championships in March.
You could feel the tension in the air when it came to the midday medal ceremony. As the scorers finalised the results, the spectators were encouraged to support the Project Africa bake sale and childcare centre, a very professional service provided by the 2018 Project Africa team. It was excellent to welcome Angela Perry-Davies to say a few words and present the awards along with the support of Karren van Zoest and Paul Topping and Thomas Archer.
The results were announced and it was great to see a variety of leotards on the podium. All schools competing did exceptionally well. Highlights from the BSN individual finals included; Nour placing 2nd overall in the U9 category with Romy taking the champion cup. From the under 10 age group; Miruna placed 3rd overall and Julia took the U10 BSN champion cup. From the U11s, Emma took home the bronze overall with Sofia taking home the U11 champions cup. The final medals of the morning competition to be announced was the U13s with our very own Freya taking home the silver.
Regardless of the results, all the gymnasts involved showed inspiring levels of support for one another, determination and resilience.
And just like that, the first competition was over in a flash. We waved off our new friends from the U.K. who we hope to welcome back next year for another exciting gymnastics meet.
The show must go on. We still had the second competition in the afternoon – the U15 and over 13 age categories. BSB proved tough competition and again, provided the BSN gymnasts with invaluable competition experience in the run up to Nationals. The two age groups fought hard, demonstrating some of their best performances ever.
And the results were in… Highlights from the BSN U15 age groups were; Emma’s bronze on voluntary vault and Athenais taking home the bronze on voluntary vault, the silver on voluntary floor and the gold on set floor securing her third place in the individual all-around finals.
And last but not least, the over 13 age category. The most senior members of the BSN gymnastics squad. Highlights include Toni taking home three silver medals for individual apparatus, Claudia taking two bronze medals, a silver and a gold medal on individual apparatus securing her 2nd place overall in the all-round finals. The O13 champion cup this year went to our very own Sara who took home a bronze and two golds, securing her the champion title. A special mention must be made to the over 13 team which consists of four out of the five members being in Y11 or above. The commitment and effort these gymnasts have shown along side their academic commitments is inspiring!
You can view all the pictures from the event HERE.
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