Lavinia in IV is a member of the Epping Gymnastic squad. They recently performed at The London Festival hosted by British Gymnastics with her gymnastics squad. She is the smallest member of the group and one of the youngest participant at the show. She is very enthusiastic and passionate about how much she enjoys being a part of the team and working hard and being with all the squad making new friends in the community.
What is your squad like?
It is really lovely, there are lots of girls from different schools and we are all different ages. We have a wonderful time together.
How much time do you spend doing your gymnastics?
We train 3 times a week, after school on Monday for 3 hours, Thursday for 2 hours and on Saturday we are at Epping Sports Centre for 5 hours. The time goes so fast. We have three coaches who are all really nice and we always start by doing a warm-up. Then we start learning new moves, work together to remember our new routines that we will be performing at our competitions.
Do you enjoy the competitions?
They are really lovely. Our coaches tell us what costume we are wearing and I think we always look really nice. In May we went to Kent and our quad won 1st place in a tumbling competition. The London Festival was in October, there are no winners at the London Festival, but it was quite an impressive national gymnastics showcase. We have another competition on the 25th November in Chelmsford. We are doing a showcase at the Epping Sports center on the 2nd December during the Christmas Market at 12pm and then we are going to Manchester in the February half term for another squad competition called GymFusion. There is always something to look forward to and work towards.
What do you have to learn?
We do a routine on the floor, one on the beam, another on the bar and finally we have to use the vault. My favourite is learning the hard stuff like arching, popping and being thrown by our team mates making sure we land on our feet! There is so much to enjoy – and I really love it.
What is it that you enjoy the most?
I really like it all. It is especially nice that my family come and support me and that they are so proud of me and the squad. I really want to stay and really want to be good. I was so proud that when the coach first saw me that she said she wanted me to be a member of the squad.
We are delighted that Lavinia is enjoying gymnastics so much and that the whole squad have achieved such wonderful results. Coopersale Hall School wish you every success.
