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Christopher (14), is a trampolinist who excels in his sport and has been a member of the Great Britain Youth Squad since 2002. He achieved 1st place in both the National Championships in Birmingham in 2002 and the Dave Ward Hunt International in 2003. He has also won 5 national titles and was the most successful member of the British group at the World Championships in Germany, achieving 8th place.
Christopher received a cheque for £1000 from Colin Jackson and Will King at the Young Blades photo call held at the Jubilee Gym, Covent Garden, London on 4th June 2004.
Please scroll down to read the latest updates and news from Andrew.
Update: 2 June 2005
Chris was informed yesterday that he has been selected to represent Great Britain at the World Championships in Holland later this year.
This was a result of recent successes having won 2 out of the 3 National Qualifiers. Namely the South West Open and North East Open.
Update: 6 March 2005
Chris had his first National Competition of the season today. The South West Open at Taunton. He finished 1st by quite a decent margin with a personal best score of just under 104.00. He scored 9.4 for his 1st routine.
This now puts him in 1st place for qualification to the World Championships later this year. He has two more qualification competitions to go.
Update: 3 February 2005
This year is an important year for Chris. He has the World Championships in September in Eindhoven, Holland. This is his last year as a junior and he will be hoping to improve on his number 8 result from Germany 2003. Chris hopes
to qualify for both Individual Trampoline and DMT.
Qualification for Double Mini Trampoline (DMT) has already begun with the first competition held at Chesunt in late January. Chris lead this event through all four rounds and finished 1st. This gives him a maximum points score of 24 so far. There are to be two more qualifying events. DMT Mid Season at the Welsh Institute of Sport on 17th April and 19th June is the final controlled competition in Gillingham, Kent. The top two on each age group qualify for World Championships.
The qualifying competitions for Individual Trampoline are South West, Taunton 6th March, Welsh Nationals, Cardiff 16th April and Yorkshire, Huddersfield on 14th May. The top four from each age group qualify for World Championships.
Chris has been progressing very well and if all goes to plan he is almost certain to qualify for both events.
Update: 28 October 2004
Chris had a great summer and has now return to training full of enthusiasm. His friend Gary Smith finished 6th at the Olympics and this has filled Chris with a desire to follow him in 2008 or 2012.
His coach has had meetings with National Squad Director, John Beer and have formulated a four year plan which will hopefully get him to one of these Olympics. Chris has also been upgraded to the British World Class Potential Squad. In 2005 Chris will hoping to improve on his 8th place world ranking at the World Championships.
Chris now has a personal fitness trainer who he sees twice a week. He will be 15 in December and we have decided it is time to fill out his physique and muscle up the world rankings!
Update: 7 July 2004
Christopher performed very well to finish 5th at the National Trampoline Championships at the NIA in Birmingham this weekend. Placings are a bit down on what he has achieved in the past; this is because he has moved up a group to Under 18. We expect him rise to the top again in time for next years World Championships.
Chris also competed in the Men's event for the first time and finished 10th. He scored 99.9 only 0.3 away from 7th. We were very pleased with this result up against the Senior Men. They don't like being beaten by these young lads!
Full results are available at www.british-gymnastics.org
Update: 29 June 2004
Chris has been very busy since the photo call on June 4th. Straight after the photo shoot he was of to Gatwick where he flew out to the European Championships in Bulgaria. He was competing for GB in the DMT event. (DMT is his second sport and is very similar to vault in gymnastics, though the springboard and vault are one unit and sprung like a trampet or trampoline.) Individually he made some mistakes and did not finish high up. He did very well in the Team Championships and helped GB secure a Team Bronze.
On 20th June Chris was in Manchester for the DMT National Finals. He did well and finished 4th individually. This week (29 June) he is off to the NIA in Birmingham for the Trampoline National Finals. He will be looking to secure or improve on his number 2 ranking. Though having moved up an age group to under 17s a top 5 position will be good for this year.
Chris has also been selected for GB to compete in the Swiss cup in Switzerland on 17th July.