On Friday 16 November, 29 excited gymnasts from across all 5 campuses departed for London for the Independent Schools Gymnastics Association (ISGA) 2019 2-piece National Championship.
After a sing-a-long filled bus trip, and a quick stop at Tescos (arguably the most anticipated part of the trip with the girls excited to stock up on UK supplies!), the team arrived at the hotel where they all enjoyed a dinner buffet in a private VIP dining room. After dinner, the girls got straight to work creating their performance tasks with U9s to U15s collaborating on their performance choreography, demonstrating excellent teamwork.
Saturday was the big day, and the Championship hosts, the Royal Masonic School, spoiled the teams with professional programmes, ISGA tops, and professional photographers. As per usual with gymnastics competitions, it was a long day in the sports hall, waiting for everyone to compete. The girls were fantastic – a real credit to the school. The seniors took on their leadership roles extremely well and took excellent care of the “littlies”.
Each team performed the best floor and vaults that the coaches have seen to date, and were touched with how supportive each of the team members were to each other: with the coach highlighting that all gymnasts should be exceptionally proud of their achievements. The U9 team performed fabulously (and is the first U9 team the British School in the Netherlands (BSN) has had in years). They have also qualified for the 5-piece National Championships in March. The U10 team performed excellently for being such a new team and competing in their first-ever ISGA. The U11 team was a mixture of “newbies” and gymnastics veterans and placed 5th overall in the team finals - well-done girls! The U15 team also consisted of mainly “newbies” to ISGA and performed unbelievably well with the U15 captain, Kayla, scoring a HUGE 9.80 on vault, placing 2nd on vault out of 35 gymnasts.
Ending on the highest note of all was the U13 medal ceremony with our team winning the ISGA 2019 U13 2-piece National Championship! Additionally, Laia placed 4th overall out of 65 and Sofia placed 3rd overall out of 65 gymnasts in the individual all-around finals.
All the gymnasts should be incredibly proud of their achievements. The commitment and hard work of the gymnasts show that they are outstanding athletes, and the team bond and high-spirits was inspiring. It’s safe to say that the students had a fantastic trip and made life long memories.
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