News
Summerfield Ice Breaker
The girls had a brilliant day with only one fall or major error between them. Since the change in rules following the Athens Olympics falls are now so heavily penalised that it is essential to compete clean accurate routines to take all round medals. Ella Tew competing out of age in Grade 6 took first place on Vault, Bars and Floor which despite a disappointing beam won her to the Gold medal overall. The Grade 6 in age event clearly demonstrated the high quality of work produced at the club by Girls Coach Jennie Deadman and her dedicated team of assistants. The five girls taking 2nd to 6th position overall with only 0.3 seperating the five gymnasts! Clean accurate performances form them all were well rewarded with Megan Nathan (2nd overall) finishing first Beam, 2nd on Floor and Vault). The Vault title was shared between Emily Smith, who finished in bronze medal position and Christie-Lee Pullen (6th position overall). Leia Desseaux (4th overall, 2nd on Vault, 3rd on Floor) and Jessica Meadway (5th overall & 1st on Bars) competed clean accurate routines to ensure an almost clean sweep for Pegasus.
The 4 boys completed the Club’s excellent start to 2008 taking first place in both the In age and Out of Age Primary 4 events. Joseph Beretta showed the value of his consistent, steady approach to training with clean performances throughout, to take the Gold medal in the Out of Age Category. The younger boys had a tough task with a large field of well prepared and talented youngsters. Kyran Van Asch in his first event worked well to finish 14th. Joseph McMorrow finished in 7th position overall just behind James Lamb, who showed much improved technique to take 6th place overall but top spot on the mushroom. Gold medal overall was won by their club mate Matthew Richardson who also won first place on both Rings and Parallel Bars. The Regional Grades event is on March 16th where the top 6 boys qualify for National finals. These encouraging results indicate several Pegasus members are well placed to win places in the Regional team. With competition experience using the compulsory routines they also have the benefit of clearly identified strengths and weaknesses before the all important date in March.
Maidstone Youth Sport Awards
Despite a disappointing decision by the organisers to reduce the number of age groups by combining the Under 15's and Under 12's the club still achieved superb results. The Under 12 boys team with great results in the Baskerville Cup and came 4th in the Pegasus Open took third place in the Under 15 Team category.
Emma Williams had her sponsorship by Personal Health and Safety Consultants renewed towards her effort to make team selecetion for 2012. Ellie Gooding who has had a briliant year, complete with a National Gold medal took individual 2nd in the Under 15 Individual category which Courtney Tulloch deservedly won on the basis of his GB selection and his International success in Hugary.
Kent County Squad
The continued improvement in the girls standard has been recognised with 7 girls winning places on the Kent County squads. Gymnasts are selected on the basis of competition scores throughout the previous year so consistency is an absolute essential. Congratulations to:
Junior Squad Members:
Ellie Gooding; Samantha Roberts; Kate Boniface; Lucy Fitzsimmons; Charlotte Wroe
Senior Squad Members:
Emma Williams; Kathleen Boakes
Good News
Home work Task - Find some good news in the paper. The article Elliot found reported on the success of the Music on the Green which made a significant profit. The Parish Council decided to ask local groups to bid for funding from this unexpected pot of cash. Thanks to Elliot (and his school teacher for setting the homework) we had sufficient notice to put in a bid for funds to support out volunteer training.
Monday 14th January - the first item of post opened enclosed a cheque for £500. Now that's really good news! It will help ensure quality training for our volunteers which will enhance opportunities for all members and enhance the skills of the local community.
Thank you Bearsted Parish Council; Elliot's teacher from Cornwallis school and of course Elliot.
Great Britain Call Up
The brilliant performance of the Pegasus gymnasts at the recent British Championships has placed the local boys at the top of the National rankings. Courtney Tulloch and his Coach Ionut Trandaburu have been named in the Great Britain Team for a major competition in Hungary on the 7th & 8th of December.
The National Team will compete in the 33rd Tulit Peter Memorial Cup, which was first run in 1974. Since then it has grown to be the most popular International Gymnastics Competition for young gymnasts anywhere in the world.
Previous events have featured up to 35 nations: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republik, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain (+ Scotland and Wales), Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkish, Ukraine and USA;
The competition features and all around competition on the 7th which takes place in Kiskunhalas, followed by apparatus finals on the 8th in a state of the art new performance centre in Kiskunfélegyháza.
An outstanding performance from Courtney put him in the silver position overall and into five apparatus finals. He won medalas in 4 of them. Well done Courtney and of course his Coach Ionut.
British Championships 2007
Joel Burch, James Hall and Courtney Tulloch travelled to Wigan to participate in the 2007 British Men’s Artistic Championships. The phenomenal rise in standard throughout the United Kingdom in this, the most difficult of the Gymnastic disciplines, during the last 2 years was reflected in both the number of participants and quality of the work produced at the event. British Gymnastics reports “that this years Championships were the best for a generation” and for the first time since the Barcelona Olympics we are once more in contention at World level.
Ionut hard work to ensure our boys were up with the best has paid handsome dividends. Joel Burch competing in his 
first National Championships shot straight to the top half of the rankings with an excellent 13th position in all round results. His steady work on all apparatus kept him ahead of many talented gymnasts with far greater experience in this level of event. An excellent result on which to build his routines towards senior level.
The under 12 section had a record entry of over 50 boys from throughout the UK. Such is the depth of quality at this age group that any of the top 20 boys had a realistic chance at the title! Sadly Jonathan Mills, who was a favourite for a medal on Rings had to withdraw prior to the event with an injured shoulder leaving James Hall and Courtney Tulloch to fly the Pegasus flag and fly it they did with style.
James Hall, still a somewhat anxious competitor who needs to learn the art of making the adrenaline flow for him, made a positive start with some excellent work on High Bar but a poor landing from a dynamic and difficult tumble saw him roll out of the area on floor picking up a costly 0.8 penalty and seriously affecting the flow of the routine. However, thanks to his positive pre event training he picked himself up, dusted down, and went on to produce a fantastic Pommel routine to finish in 8th position on this apparatus. Once into his stride he was on a mission. He followed a classy Piked Tsukahara vault with an outstanding performance to grab 5th place on Parallel Bars and an amazing 10th position overall.
Courtney Tulloch from Romford in Essex who has recntly joined us was out in the Jade and blue for the first time. He has made dramatic progress during recent weeks and revels in the atmosphere of the competition scene. Positive in warm up and enjoying every minute of the event Courtney gave his all to finish in sixth place overall winning a Gold medal on Floor and a bronze on Parallel Bars.
Pegasus is on the up with the best, 2006 a silver and bronze, 2007 a gold and bronze and one of only two clubs in the country to have two gymnasts finish in the top 10 places.
Congratulations to Ionut, Joel, James and Courtney
Grassroots Sport
Grassroots Sport appears on ITVLocal.com – our hugely successful online service that also features news, weather, films, documentaries and classified ads. The new site is aimed at raising the profile at amateur level of all sports.
As an organisation involved in sport we wonder if you might bring it to the attention of your members. The site will enable clubs and participants to promote themselves to a wide audience, thereby increasing the visibility of their activities both in their local community and to the public more widely.
So what are we looking for?
Well every week a huge amount of amateur footage is shot at local events on video cameras and even mobile phones. We want people to share the footage with us on the site. It could be action such as a fantastic goal being scored, a great rugby tackle, a great ice hockey breakaway, a martial arts encounter or a terrific netball pass.
We’re also interested in coaching tips, people showing off their skills and even the antics of supporters. Our aim is to raise the profile of these local sports.
And that’s not all – ITV’s other media outlets, including local news programmes, will be promoting the channel and will even feature the best of the video clips on air.
Users have only to log on to itvlocal.com and follow the links to the Grassroots Sport channel. There will be easy to follow instructions – and prizes to be won!
Who will be the first member of Pegasus to be featured??
Regional Championships
This important event so early in the season is a major test for all the gymnasts, hardly back to school and battling with the regular September "bugs".
Competing in their first Regional voluntary event Charlotte Wroe and Lucy Fitzsimmons presented some excellent work at Level 5. Lucy, a comparative late comer to the Pegasus Squad took 2nd place on Bars. The Level 4 team faced a difficult challenge with only three gymnasts and all scores to count, there was no room for error. Kate Boniface, wsell supported by Coach Charlie Stowe, made an excellent recovery from an unexpected fell on Bars to produce a creditable Beam routine followed by an excellent Floor (6th).Steady, clean routines with some much improved work from Hattie Malloy took the team to a creditable 9th in the South East with Sam Roberts finishing in the top 10.
The club's sole competitor at Level 3, Ellie Godding underlined the progress made since moving to Pegasus, taking First on Bars & Beam and the overall Championshps by almost 2 clear marks. Kathleen Boakes competing in the Challenge event demonstrated some interesting work but requires greater consistency on Beam to climb further up the overall rankings. At FIG level Emma Williams showed a welcome return to form, taking second on Vault, 1st on Bars to finish 4th overall in the Espoires age group. This is an exceptionally talented group with the top four finishing ahead of all their older counterparts in the Junior and Senior age groups!
WELL DONE COACHES! Great results gymnasts. Thank you to Jill & Juliette for Judging on behalf of the Club.
Swifts Invitational Floor & Vault
A busy weekend with this event coinciding with the Regional Championships enabled the Club to demonstrate width of opportunity and depth of talent. Members of the Floor & vault squad competed in this friendly competition bring home a total of six medals. What a great start to the season.
Medal Winners
Intermediate: Girls Aged 8-9 Abigail Clarke 3rd, Boys Aged 10 Ben Kerr 1st, Girls Aged 10 Annie Savage 3rd, Girls Aged 11 Alison Thomas 2nd, Aged 12 Girls Bethan Cooper 1st, Girls Aged 13+ Laura Fowler 3rd
Also competing for Pegasus
Charlotte Daines, Jessica Dilloway, Olivia Morcom, Emily Nurden, Holly Sheridan, Faye Zimmer, Rachel Stanley, Maria Clarke, Chesney Swansborough,
Congratulations to everyone involved and many thanks to Swifts for organising the event.
Deal Invitational Level 6
A great start to the competitive season with the youngest gymnasts competing in their first event away from home.
A Magnificent performance by Megan Nathan saw her take the Gold medal ahead of an extremely competent field of youngsters. Clean tidy routines by other members of the club competing augur well for the Regional Grade 5 championships in 2008.
Pegasus Competitors
In age Level 6 - Megan Nathan 1st, Leia Desseaux 5th, Jessica Meadway 8th, Emily Smith 12th, Christie Lee-Pullen 14th
Out of Age Level 6 - Ella Tew 2nd
