The first two rounds of the new BGA national grade 1 trampoline competitions had strong competition from Brentwood-based Cloud Nine Trampoline Club.

This grade replaces the old BTF grade A and, as in that format, has a short competitive year culminating in the National Championships to be held in Sheffield in July.

The period between July and March is not wasted, as these months are used for preparing new routines and skills with occasional Open competitions to try them out.

In the case of the Cloud Nine squad this has clearly paid off.

The first of the competitions was relatively local in Southend, and the venue helped overcome some of the strain felt by the girls who were all venturing into unknown territory.

Sarah Ainsworth, an experienced competitor at Grade A was having to compete a harder routine as she moved up into the Under-18 group where she was joined by first timers Suzanne Perkins (last years National Grade B Champion at this age) and Joanna Woodger (National Grade B Bronze medallist).

All three achieved their personal objectives for the day by qualifying for the National finals and, in doing so, also won Team Silver medal for a strong effort across the board.

Individual placings were sixth, eighth and 13th out of 32 for Suzanne, Sarah and Joanna respectively.

The second event was in Maidenhead where Joanna, Suzanne and Sarah were joined by James Davies and Hannah Davies who both recently qualified from Grade 2.

Sarah, Suzanne and Joanna repeated their team effort by securing Silver medal again but fell back slightly in individual placings in an enlarged group of 38, taking ninth, 14th and 18th.

James, competing in the Under-11 boys event, however, won individual Gold while Hannah, in the Under-15 girls finished strongly in ninth place out of 34. Most importantly all scored qualifying scores to the National finals.

Grade 1 squad coach, Caroline Arno, said: "Getting to the finals is part of the story, as they will all have to continue working hard for the next few months to get individual recognition.

''What is certain, though, is that Cloud Nine and Brentwood are now recognised as being 'here to stay' at this level with the club gaining a reputation for bringing the youngsters along to higher levels of performance!".

A successful quintet: The Cloud Nine Trampoline Club members who performed well at the recent national grade 1 trampoline competitions. (back row): Joanna Woodger and Suzanne Perkins. (front row): Hannah Davies, James Davies and Sarah Ainsworth.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.