A Tuesday night, February 2016, and the Oxford gym girls had a gathering. The gathering had an agenda: bling up our leotards. Once that was done, the only thing left was to travel to Loughborough University and get the show on the road.

Several (hundred) roundabouts,  warm up and admiration for the Loughborough gym later, the show was imminent. Britt had entered for all four pieces, and was first to take to the A Bars, pulling off a straddle back, and later giant into double tuck which had the crowd gasping. She was followed by Serena and Liza  in the Grade 2 category, both routines done and dusted and Oxford marched to beam.

The dreaded balance beam luckily proved not too disastrous, with only one fall between four girls. On top of this Liza’s one armed plank was certainly the pose of the day. Wobbles out of the system, and we prepared to take to the floor (literally).

Loughborough’s floor is, for those who haven’t had the pleasure, top notch. Twists, tumbles and routines all went through clean. It was a good closing note for Serena and Liza, and a smooth transition for Britt and Katrina whose vaults finished off a good start to the competition season (watching Katrina run towards a stationary object while grappling contact lens problems, and still pulling off a wonderfully clean half half was of course a highlight). All there was to wait for was the presentation, where Britt came away with five medals and Serena with two, and Aidan, whose driving was obviously indispensable, was able to star in the event photo.

If all of these gym words don’t make a whole lot of sense to anyone, then the essentials are here:

An extremely fun day and useful exercise. We’re looking forward to the rest of the term (mostly) and all that is in store in the gym!

Thanks to Loughborough Gymnastics for organising, to Aidan for all his help on the day and of course to the club for their support.

-Serena Chang, Women’s Captain.

Team (left to right): Katrina Kelly, Liza Hadley, Serena Chang, Brittany Lee Garcia.