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Jersey’s Olympic hopefuls are starting training in the Island’s first purpose built state-of-the art gymnastics facility.
But getting the gym built at the former Butterfly Farm in St Mary has been no walkover for their head coach because of the lack of local support for the sport.
Tory de Mond who runs De Mond Gymnastics Academy is training the best gymnasts Jersey has ever seen but she says there’s more investment in high-profile teams like the Jets and JRFC.
10 year-old Bryony Ludlow is now ranked the 4th best 10 year-old gymnast in Great Britain and is about to start training with team GB. 11 year-old Elisha Stott is ranked 11th in her age group, having missed out on the GB team by just 0.05 points but is the 4th best on bars in her age group in Great Britain. Emily-May Gorman who has only just turned eight is this year's Hampshire County Champion and the South Region of England champion and 16-year old Bonita Shurmer wiped the floor at this summer's Nat West Island Games and aims to represent Jersey in the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
It's an incredible feat for this group of gymnasts whose coach says definitely have Olympic potential but have all been training for years in a make-shift gym.
Tory said: “We’ve had the best year ever but we can’t wait to get into the new gym because we don’t even have a gymnastics floor at the moment, the gymnasts have to remember their floor routine in a square shape because we don’t have one, we have a straight line.
"The new gym is state-of-the-art, it’s everything a gymnastics academy needs, Jersey doesn’t have a permanent correct facility, it’s always just in a hall."
The States help gymnasts with the cost of going away to compete off-Island but there's no financial help on offer to build the new facility. Tory has come up with a Buy-a-Brick scheme to help pay for it but hopes to find a main sponsor for the Academy.
Tory said: "I set out to set the club up, to increase the standard and to build an actual facility. We'd love someone who’d be willing to support the gym."
You can find out more about the Academy here.
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