Tue, Jun 15, 2021 6:30 PM

Gymnasts prepare to vault onto national stage

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Peter Jones

These are exciting times for two young Marlborough gymnasts.

Twelve-year-olds Tyler Higgins and Tess Tate have qualified to attend the national gymnastics championships, to be staged in Auckland’s Trust Arena on July 20-24.

The Bohally students will travel north as part of the top of the south team, the only representatives from the Blenheim Gymnastics Club making the trip this year.

Tyler will compete at step six, Tess at step five, the introductory level at the nationals, which both will be attending for the first time.

Both youngsters are expecting a serious step-up in the standard of competition but have been putting in the hours at training and are excited by the opportunity to take on the nation’s best.

Tyler, who has been involved in the sport for the past four years, said this would be her biggest event so far.

Tess expected it “to be fun, a nice challenge”. Her favourite apparatus is the vault, while Tyler most enjoys performing on the floor. In Auckland they will take part in all four disciplines – the floor, vault, beam and bar.

Both girls said they would be happy to come away from the nationals with a good overall score, Tess adding that she wanted to come home “knowing that I have tried very hard in all the competitions and trained for them … that would be cool.”

Their coach, Erica Ticehurst, said the fact the pair have met the required standard for the nationals was “huge for our province and the club”.

“It is not easy to qualify,” she explained. “They needed to meet the standard twice, once locally and once in an out-of-town competition.”

Tyler and Tess’s supporters have organised a three-course dinner at Fairweathers to help raise funds for the trip north. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased from Rosa Tate, who can be contacted at thetates3@hotmail.com.

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