Waveney Gymnastics Club

Home » Waveney Gymnastics Club

The club was formed in 1976 at the Harris Middle School where it met every Saturday morning for many years, and the members were simply basic recreational gymnasts.When Benjamin Britten High School was built in the early eighties, the club moved to the new school at the request of the head of Physical Education.  This enabled the club to increase its number of sessions and therefore begin to raise the standards of gymnastic work.  Over the years at this venue the club had a membership of around ninety gymnasts, which fluctuated between eighty and one hundred and ten.  Success included several gymnasts who were members of the Suffolk County Squad and a few who managed to reach Regional Squad level.  This was largely on the girls’ side, but the introduction of a boy’s section around 1990 saw standards rise here too.  Within a short period of time boys were being selected for the Regional Squad and the club also had a couple of boys who went on to be National Squad gymnasts.In 1994/95, the two main post holders at the club saw the opportunity to consider working towards the vision of a permanent built gymnastic facility in the town.  John Pawsey, the secretary and chief coach at the time and Colin Price, the treasurer began to investigate and research the possibility of Lottery funding for such a project.  By 1998, after a great deal of hard work and negotiation with Suffolk Education Authority for part of the school field at Kirkley High to be allocated to such a building, a submission was made.  Eventually approval for the project to go ahead was given in August 2001 and the building work started in February 2002.  The club first used this fantastic facility in November 2002 and the official opening held in January 2003. 

The club is also delighted to announce that it has been included in the London2012 Pre-Games Training CampGuide, for visiting teams to use their facility for their preparations.

COMPARING FACILITIES.

From 1976 until 2002 the club had been putting all the equipment in and out every session and this eventually meant up to five times a week.  Equipment wears out more quickly and is prone to damage in a situation such as this. The new facility is equipped with GYMNOVA apparatus and not only is a much improved environment to work in, but of course enables the equipment to be out all the time.  All sessions now benefit from full use of the time and training sessions have automatically become more rewarding for both coaches and gymnasts. The complete fit out of equipment was around £150,000 but with membership rising and other uses being made of the centre, we will need a contingency fund to replace items when necessary. Clearly the new facility is a massive improvement on hiring school halls etc. that we had been experiencing for twenty-six years.

 The ethos of Waveney Gymnastics Club is a simple one, to provide the highest level of coaching and care to each and every gymnast and child, at all abilities and to ensure that each reaches their full potential.Our vision is to do our very best for every gymnast and child who enters our club, to motivate, encourage and value each of them.That is our commitment as a club.

Waveney Gymnastics Club
101 Southwell Road
Lowestoft
Suffolk
NR33 0RR

T: 01502 501419

www.waveneygymnastics.org

E: waveneygym@aol.com