On Saturday 14 March, almost 400 students travelled to Eastleigh from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England to compete in the British Schools Gymnastics Association National Trampoline Finals. Two HSDC students, Andrew Lewis and Federica Vazzana, took part and came up trumps, coming in 1st and 3rd in their respective categories.
Former The Petersfield School (TPS) student Andrew is studying French, Physics, Maths and Further Maths A Levels at our Havant campus. He secured his place in the finals of the Year 10-14 Elite group by placing in the top three individuals at the Southern Region Championships and Zonal Championships earlier this year. His coach (and mother) Lisa explains more:
“Andrew was very much the underdog going into the finals. The other competitors were far more experienced with higher difficulty scored routines. Andrew had to pull out some new difficult moves just to be in with a chance against the others.
He had only completed his new routine a handful of times before the big day, but he had nothing to lose so he went for it. He pulled off a brilliant performance and, despite still having the lowest difficulty score, his superior execution and control saw him take first place! We had to keep checking the scores to make sure it was really true!
It’s an absolutely fantastic achievement, and I get to be doubly proud as his coach as well as his Mum! Andrew was nine when he started trampolining; it’s an even more amazing feat when you know he only started after recovering from major spinal surgery to treat a form of spina bifida.”
Federica is studying in the Expressions course at our Alton campus. She competed through the Southern Region and Zonal Championships as well to make it to the Years 7-14 Girls Category 1 Novice finals for the second year in a row. The nine gymnasts competed in a hard-fought final, in which Federica took 3rd place in her disability category, losing out by only 0.05 points to the 2nd place finisher. Federica also helped out all day at the event on the Admissions desk, signing gymnasts and teams into the competition.
What an achievement for both Andrew and Federica – our congratulations go to both!