Team Surrey Trampolining collected an impressive haul of six medals at the recent BUCS Trampoline and Double Mini Championships in Birmingham earlier this month.
The club’s excellent display saw them pick up three gold, one silver and two bronze medals alongside a series of other strong finishes and personal bests across the competitions in the tournament at University of Birmingham.
Here’s the full story from the Trampolining club…
“Team Surrey Trampolining attended the annual BUCS Trampoline and Double Mini Championships in Birmingham. It is a two-day event with over 650 competitors across all levels from beginners to advanced. We started early on the Saturday with Zasha Rabie who competed in Double Mini Trampoline Level 1 Women’s group at 8.30 am – Zasha had no issues in warmups and performed solid routines – finishing with a bronze medal. A great achievement for Zasha – setting the standard with a great smile and boosting everyone’s morale. Next up was Dinah Silah, one of our coaches who in her last year of university has upped her game and was entered into Grade 3 Ladies – a grade much harder than in previous years, Dina had a very strong first routine, and followed up with a good second routine, then came the long wait whilst she watched 24 more competitors in her group compete – Dina finished in 22nd Place, with a personal best for her score.
Whilst Dina was waiting she was also supporting our other Grade 3 Ladies competitor – Katie McCune, It’s Katies first year at university and made a huge impact in her round – a very strong first routine placed her in 3rd position, Katie then in her second routine fought hard to keep her position – she fought so well she made it into the top 8, giving her a few hours to have a break – then at 4 pm the top 8 had to compete again in a zero finals high stakes competition to find the overall winner. One routine each, performed in front of a large crowd – high pressure and Katie not only held onto the 3rd place – but did so well she moved into 2nd place – Silver medal for Katie.
Next up we had so many on at the same time – it was a huge task for our coaches to ensure everyone had the support they needed.
Abi Rouvillois – Ladies Grade 5 – had 48 competitors to go up against, Abi sadly did not have her best first routine and a small error then prevented her from completing the routine and left her in 46th place.
Cerys Williams, our Competition Secretary – Ladies Grade 4 – had 57 others in her group – the largest group of the event, Cerys did very well – after having some setbacks with training she did so well – being ranked 15th after the first round, though unfortunately dropped to 19th place following a second routine.
Mae Albury – Ladies Grade 6 – had 40 others in her group, all fighting it out – Mae had a good start – her first routine scored her a personal best and ranked 15th. Mae then on her second routine took the challenge and performed an even better second routine – finishing in 12th overall. That night she celebrated not only a personal best score, but her Birthday which was on the Sunday as well.
Lucy Tullett – Ladies Grade 6 – As well as being president and a final year student Lucy has found the time to up her game in the last few months and be ready to be a fierce threat to the top positions, her first routine gave her a personal best score – and was ranked 2nd. Her second routine didn’t quite match the greatness of the first, a small but costly error and Lucy ended up in 37th Place.
Whilst all this was going on the highest level of Mens Double Mini was warming up – Both Zayden Rabie & David Freemantle were competing, following some solid warmups. Things were looking good. At the end of the first round, Zayden was ranked 1st, and David ranked 2nd out of 9 entrants. Tough to be at the top when you know you still have 2 more routines to do – both took it in their stride and focussed on what they wanted to do – to keep hold of their lead. The warmups started and the pressure was on – Zayden had a great start – his 3rd routine was scored the highest score of the group so far; David’s 3rd was solid with a great landing enabling them both to keep hold of their rightful positions at the top. The 4th and final routine was when all the pressure was on – any small errors made here could cause them to lose instantly. However, they both performed so well under the pressure – Zayden thriving on the challenge – David taking it calmly as always. They both kept their positions and took home 1st – Zayden Rabie & 2nd – David Freemantle. As David graduated 2 years ago, he did not receive a medal as he was entered as a guest performer.
So, with the morale at an all-time high following the success of the Double Mini Trampoline performers – the stakes were raised, and a new standard was set for all to aspire to. Next up was Kai Harris – one of the newest members of the team to go to BUCS, Kai only started with the club in October 2022. Kai warmed up well and was already being ‘the one to watch’ amongst his competitors – his natural flexibility and grace were clear for all to see – adding that to his focused attitude and ability to cope under pressure. He was ranked 1st after the first round, he then had to keep hold of his nerves and compete for his second routine – so he made the finials – alongside Katie, they had to compete for one more routine and battle it out with only 7 other competitors in their groups – Kai then went again and increased his score – the highest execution score of the day – and took home the Gold Medal. So, at the end of day 1, we had 2 x Gold, 2 x silver & 1 x Bronze – what a day!
Day 2
Sunday morning came too soon with both Annie Scott and Katie McCune & Abi Rouvillois and Kai Harris competing in the Synchronised Trampoline Event. They all warmed up well – Abi & Kai were ranked 10th at the end of the first round and Annie & Katie were ranked 10th. In the second round, Abi & Kai, unfortunately, had an error which took them down to finishing in 12th position overall. Annie & Katie did so much better in their second round – increasing their placing from the 10th to 5th position overall.
We then moved back to the Double Mini event – where we had Jake Thompsett and Kai Harris competing in the men’s level 3 event – both having only started this discipline on October 2022 – they were both eager to see how their routines would measure against others. We then had a massive blow to the team – Jake fell badly on his leg during the warm-ups and had to be taken straight to hospital – in good spirits whilst on some heavy pain medication – his last words to his teammate Kai were ‘You have to medal for me as well now’ – Kai fully listening – and even with the whole team spooked and upset by what had just happened – the team pulled together and carried on – Kai took what Jake told him and made it happen – taking home the Gold medal.
With the whole team still worried about their teammate – it took the committee members and coaches to pull together to keep the team upbeat and focussed on the routines ahead – we had members of the team who still hadn’t even started their competition.
Jack Connolly, Coach, and previous president of the club was competing in Level 1 Men’s – Jack started well and was ranked 6th after the first round, he then increased his ranking at the end of the second round he was placed 5th – giving him a place in the finals – top 8 in each group and in the final he kept his nerves in check and was ranked 5th overall. Jack then turned his attention to coach Chris – who was next up in the Level 2 Men’s group – after a shaky start to his warmups his first routine went well – placing him in 4th position, following his second routine he kept hold of his 4th position and gained himself a slot in the finals. The finals were tough – with all of them upping their game and wanting to win – Chris kept his nerves and placed 4th overall.
It was such an amazing weekend, the team went from being on cloud nine with medals being won to watching one of their own being taken to the hospital. The team spirit never faltered and they supported each other so well – everyone checking in with everyone and sharing updates from Jake – who even from A & E department was making jokes and wishing the rest of the team well.”
Head Coach Helen Jolliffe said: “I am so proud of everyone, the medal winners, the coaches, the committee members and all the performers – the team spirit that kept us all going through a very tough time was something that can’t be measured by points or medals, but is truly a great achievement that everyone was part of. At the time of publishing Jake is doing well and is having surgery on his leg, he has promised to be back bouncing as soon as he can”.
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