Key Stage 2 Gymnastics Festival - Judges Feedback
A very good performance from Wellgate Seniors which would look good in any competition, visually good with a nice use of the floor. Good gymnastic start, lovely balance in movement. High View and St. Mary's were two lovely routines and hard to split which shows in the scores. Both used the full floor with a good balance of both dance and gymnastics, but gymnastic moves need to be performed with more perfection.
After a shanky start Barugh Green put in a nice performance together to get 4th place. Like all the teams that performed they need to work on pointing toes and keeping legs straight and if splits are being performed, a full split is required.
Like their senior team, Wellgate Juniors gave a lovely routine. Let down a little by confusion in some parts, but a clean and polished performance made up for that. Birkwood, Penistone St. John's and Churchfield performed with confidence but again toes and legs need full extension in things like cartwheels and balance moves. Judges will find these things easy to spot and they will lose you points. Find routines that don't overstretch your gymnasts too much.
Choreography in Burton Road's team was very nice and it looks like a team that can achieve better. A good start which gave confidence. Just polish up your routine a little and higher scores are easily achieveable.
Gawber and St. Dominic's both lacked timing, a little confused at times and some gymnasts looked better than others which may have caused the lack of timing. But not to discourage these two teams which i'm sure will do well in years to come.
I personally love to see a school like Greenacre at gymnastic competitions, although they came out last, it was only because they could not fulfill the criteria for the standard set down for the panel to judge. They got 10 out of 10 for colour, movement and confidence. It is not easy to get on the floor and perform and they did it with style. The teachers and staff at Greenacre should be very proud because they were a pleasure to watch.
JUDGES NOTES
Both I and my fellow judges, Varsiliki and Gail are very happy to see the future of gymnastics in Barnsley going forward with such a high standard. There was not one bad performance at Kingstone on Thursday and you can see that by the close scoring involved. There is still a lot of hard work to be done; concentrate on flexibility and strength in your gymnasts which will make elements they perform easier. But, please focus on pointed toes, fully extended legs and arms which are very important.
Regards
Jonh Winder (Assistant Coach at Barnsley Gymnastics Club & Club Judge)