The Management Committee at the sports hall with the help of Adrian Gaylon, Rother Sports Development Officer, have been successful in attracting a Gymnastic club to the sports hall by offering them financial assistance to buy much needed new equipment and to prepare the sports hall floor for accommodating fixed equipment. This exciting new club run by an enthusiastic and experienced team further boosts the growing number of activities now available for the community. Details of the new club can be found in the ‘Club’ section of the website.
Further background information supplied by the club is below:
Kestrel Gymnastics Academy was set up in January 2008 by Gary and Tracey Crawford with the help from Bodiam Manor School.
To start with the club had very little equipment and just over 40 gymnasts and volunteer coaches.
In October 2008 we joined British gymnastics, which now makes us a recognised club within this large governing body. This is a very exciting time as we move forward and grow.
In August 2010, Bodiam Manor School went into liquidation and the club then found its self with no venue. This was not to stop us but made us more determined to make the club a success. Whilst looking for a new venue we found the Pretious Sports Hall in Northiam and at the same time were asked to keep the club running at Bodiam School when it opened again under new ownership. With our exciting new venue in Northiam and our existing base in Bodiam the club is growing and now has in excess of 80 gymnasts who train on a regular basis; this also includes adult gymnastics and cheerleading groups. We also have several parent volunteers who are aiming to do coaching exams.
As we look to the future of the club very positively and we hope in the next few months to have a squad group who will be expected to train 3 to 4 times a week with the hope of them competing in county and regional level. This is very much a realistic aim for some of our gymnasts.
Our future aims for the club are:
- To our own premises
- To increase our range of equipment
- To run additional classes i.e. Baby gym, preschool, parkour and cheerleading groups
- To get parents more involved with volunteering and fund raising (friends group).