The hangar that houses the Concorde Experience was transformed last Saturday into a miniature gym facility for the 2012 Barbados Gymnastics International.
Eight clubs – St Andrew’s, T&T Gymnastics, Tots & Tumblers, Flip Gym Barbados, Lambert’s School of Dance & Gym, Lexiana Gymnastics, Mater Salvatoris and Olympia Gymnastics – came together to compete in Barbados’ first junior level gymnastics competition.
International judges Mark Robbins, Kathy Ortiz and Brant Lutska, along with FIG Brevet-holder Renée Niccollai were brought in to provide professional evaluation of each gymnast’s performance in the vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise and parallel bars.
The day was split into four sessions with each containing the skill level ranging from the one to eight required for each event.
Gymnasts ranging from as young as six years old to age 19 displayed finesse during their events but only a few broke the mould and impressed the judges enough to come out on top.
The winning teams included Mater Salvatoris from Puerto Rico; Olympia Gymnastics; Lexiana Gymnastics; Tots and Tumblers (all from Trinidad and Tobago); and the Barbados team, Flip Gym.
In the individual rankings from levels one to eight, the top performers were Emily Costa of Tots & Tumblers; Christie Boocock also of Tots & Tumblers; Milagros Vasquez from Mater Salvatoris; Kayla Samuel of Lexiana Gymnastics; Sarah Harford of Tots & Tumblers; Shakayla Estwick of Flip Gym; Rayann Bristol of Olympia Gymnastics; and Latoya Ince of Flip Gym.
The top males in the levels four, five and eight categories were Malik Goodman from Flip Gym; Brandon Gill also from Flip Gym; and Shawndell McShine of T&T Gymnastics Training Centre from Trinidad and Tobago respectively.
Carolyn Humphrey, treasurer of the Barbados Amateur Gymnastics Association, said she was grateful for the assistance from the sponsors which helped to make the inaugural event a success.
