Dursley Sport
James Rutley puts off joining the army for British gymnastic trials
10:30am Friday 3rd February 2012
A TEENAGER from Yate has put his army career on hold to chase his dream of representing Great Britain at the World Championships in Orlando later this year.
James Rutley announced his retirement from gymnastics after winning gold at the British Tournament in Stoke-on-Trent in December with Thornbury’s Danni Williams in the junior mixed pair event.
However, just hours before he was due to sign his papers to join the army, he and Williams were invited to attend trials for the Great Britain squad at Loughborough in March.
The 19-year-old made a quick call to his commanding officer to arrange a later entry date and give himself a chance of competing.
Gabby Cousins of Winterbourne and Bradley Stoke-based Chloe Gunter also impressed with a silver medal at the British Tournament and were invited to the trial.
Filton College student Cousins, 18, combines full-time education and a part-time job, but still dedicates 15 hours a week to training, which has enabled her to be amongst the very best in Britain with a chance of taking on the world.
Gunter, 12, attends Abbeywood Community School, while Williams, 14, is a Bradley Stoke School pupil, and both pairs are members of the Harriers Acrobatic Gymnastics Club in Patchway.
Head coach Sarah Bateman said: “This is fantastic recognition for the club.
“We have worked so hard to give young people opportunities locally and in recent years our club has grown significantly with over 120 members from four-years-old up.
“To reach this level of performance takes dedication and, despite not having purpose built training facilities, our gymnasts love what they do and it’s this that gets results. To do so well at the British Tournament was reward enough but to now have the opportunity to compete at the trials for the World Championships is a special thing indeed.
“The whole club is proud of this. We must also recognise this achievement as a team effort with huge amounts of work taking place to coach young people to achieve goals.
“This has really put our club on the map nationally with glowing references coming from some of the sports elite coaches and selectors to the gymnasts’ technical skills.”
Harriers won another silver medal at the British Tournament as Thornbury’s Lauren Sharp teamed up with Bradley Stoke duo Lara Short and Georgia House in the international one trio to perform their balance and dynamic routines. Yate’s Lois Moore and Kenedi Cross of Bradley Stoke finished fourth in the 11-16 women’s pair.