Genesis GC

Genesis GC meets on Saturday mornings at Chessington Sports Centre, part of Chessington Community College in Garrison Lane, Chessington, Surrey. We offer general gymnastics lessons to our gymnasts, covering a wide range of apparatus use.

We welcome gymnasts from the age of 5 and upwards. We also accommodate children with special needs, but we are not able to offer sessions for children with wheelchairs.

We are not a competitive club but we do encourage our gymnasts to enter low level competitions and events, suitable for this type of club.

We work hard to give your child an enjoyable and positive learning experience. To help us achieve this, we set the coach to gymnast ratio at a low 1 : 5. This may mean that it takes a while for children on the waiting lists to get a place - please be patient.

We are a British Gymnastics registered club, and are affiliated to the regional and county associations:

• South East Gymnastics
• Surrey Gymnastics Association

Genesis Gymnastics Club has achieved British Gymnastics GymMark status. Gymmark is our Governing Body's kite mark of a quality club - safe, effective and child friendly - and is endorsed by Sport England through their Clubmark standard.

 

NEW GYM ENTRY AND EXIT DIRECTIONS

 

 

RESTART NEWS - 28 February 2021, updated on 17 April

 

Following the recent government announcements and with confirmation from British Gymnastics, we will be restarting our classes on Saturday 24th April.

 

This is, of course, assuming that the National Covid situation continues to improve as predicted. but we are really hopeful that we will see you all on the 24th.

 

By then it will have been over a year since we had to shut down suddenly and the changing rules meant that we were only able to offer 6 sessions during these 12+ months. When we do restart, social distancing and other relevant hygiene measures will still apply, including dropping the children off and collecting at the door. For the time being, the session content will still have to follow the practices that had to be introduced due to Covid, e.g. restricted apparatus and coaching. Details can be seen on the 2 downloads at the bottom of this home page. Please do read them to remind yourselves what is involved - it has been a long time since we last ran a class!

 

There is one change to the restricted Covid procedures we have had to use in our classes. As from 8th May we are allowed to offer physical support to some gymnasts, although this will be in a very limited way and is subject to each parent or guardian opting in to this scheme through a signed form of acceptance. Details have been sent by email to all parents. If you have not received yours please contact us. Opt-in forms will be given out on the 24th April.

 

Nevertheless, we are very much looking forward to seeing you all on the 24th!

 

 

GYMNASTICS AT HOME DURING LOCKDOWN - 5 February 2021

 

Still no news regarding a restart but, in the meantime, we are tapping into video clips compiled by British Gymnastics over the last few months. These are mainly short clips of gymnasts performing basic gymnastics skills at home, in conjunction with their clubs and approved by BG. Many of these clips are about 1 minute long, so easy to try. Bear in mind, though, that quite a number were recorded in warmer weather in gardens, so will need an appropriate amount of space when trying indoors and may need a 'soft' floor. Parents will need to supervise the activities and check for hazards (including the wearing of jewellery). If these requirements are met the children will be covered by their insurance in case anything goes wrong.

 

Details, including the YouTube link, have been emailed to all parents  Let us know if you think you have missed this.

 

LOCKDOWN 2 - 8 January 2021

Happy New Year to everyone

 

Jut a short update that, as we all know, the current full lockdown includes grass - roots sports. We don't expect any change any time soon, but when the end of this tunnel comes into view we will contact all members by email, Facebook and this website.

 

Please stay healthy.

Sandy & Andy

 

TIER 4 UPDATE - 21 December 2020

 

We have just been advised that the Sports Centre has closed due to Tier 4 restrictions. We had been expecting this, though at this time our information simply is that the closure is until further notice. We hope that we will have more specific information for at the end of this month. We are still keeping fingers crossed that the January classes can go ahead, and will keep you updated via this site and directly by email as soon as we know any more.

 

Wishing everybody a healthy and happy Christmas - from Sandy & Andy

 

CLUB REOPENS AFTER LOCKDOWN        20 NOVEMBER 2020

 

We will be able to restart our classes from Saturday 5th December, operating under the full Covid procedures that we used in October. We will also run our planned class on the 12th December, after which we will close for the Christmas break. 2021 classes will start on Saturday 9th of January.

 

SECOND COVID LOCKDOWN       GENESIS GYMNASTICS CLUB          2 NOVEMBER 2020

 

We have been advised that the Sports Centre will close on Wednesday 4th November until further notice, due to the recent government lockdown announcement. Consequently there will be no classes running on Saturday 7th November or subsequent Saturdays. We will advise parents of more details by email.

 

COVID-19 UPDATE 7        -          GENESIS GYMNASTICS CLUB          15 OCTOBER 2020

 

Following today's government announcement, the local authority guidelines have confirmed that sport can be permitted indoors if it is for youth and / or disabilities. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

 

COVID-19 UPDATE 6        -          GENESIS GYMNASTICS CLUB          15 SEPTEMBER 2020

 

WE ARE COMING BACK!

Chessington Sports Centre will be re-opening from the end of September and our classes will re-start on Saturday 3rd October (main groups) and 17th October (Special Needs groups).

 

We have new procedures that we will be following and these are itemised on the "What To Expect When You Get There" document, which is at the bottom of this page. Please make sure you have read it.

 

Details of fees, etc., are in the email that we have sent to all parents.

 

Please note that you will now need to renew your children's British Gymnastics annual membership, otherwise they will not be able to participate.

 

COVID-19 UPDATE 5         -        GENESIS GYMNASTICS CLUB         4 SEPTEMBER 2020

 

Kingston Borough Council are hoping to confirm opening arrangements for Chessington Sports Centre in the very near future. Once we have that information we will be able to give all our members a date for re-starting our classes and details of the operating changes due to Covid-19.

 

COVID-19 UPDATE 4         -        GENESIS GYMNASTICS CLUB        27 AUGUST 2020

 

We are still waiting for Kingston Borough Council to give Chessington Sports Centre permission to open. In the meantime an email has been sent to all parents giving advice on preparing to return to gym and general matters. This document can be viewed by clicking on the 'Before You Leave Home' PDF download below.

We will be sending out another email soon, dealing with procedures when arriving at the gym, how classes will run and  procedures for collecting children.

 

 

COVID-19 UPDATE 3        -         GENESIS GYMNASTICS CLUB          14 JULY 2020

 

We can now confirm that we are hoping to resume classes in September and are starting to plan for that. All parents should have received an email with more details which also asks for parents to let us know if their children are not intending to return. If you have not received your email please contact us. The pandemic will require us to adopt new procedures and for that we will to know how many children will be with us in September. If your child will not be coming back please let us know.

 

 

COVID-19 UPDATE 2     -           GENESIS GYMNASTICS CLUB           24 JUNE 2020

 

Yesterday we received advice from British Gymnastics that there would be no early return to gymnastics activity in clubs. This government policy statement regarding indoor sports was not what was hoped for. For our club it now seems likely that September will be the earliest time we will return. Clubs that operate from their own premises might be able to start a little earlier, but we will have to fit in with the local authority and school procedures.

 

 

COVID-19 UPDATE 1     -           GENESIS GYMNASTICS CLUB          19 JUNE 2020

 

We still don't quite know where we stand but information is trickling through that, nationally, clubs could begin operations from early July. This comes from British Gymnastics who, in turn, are following government guidelines, and they emphasize that this is still to be confirmed.

 

On the face of it good news – but any such restart will require an extensive review of how we and all other clubs would run.

 

We will have to look at social distancing, in respect of:

• How many children would now be safe to be in the gym at any one time. Currently, at 9.15 and 10.15, well over 40 children come into the hall.
• Procedures for parents dropping off and picking up
• Movement pathways in the gym and coaching ratios

 

 It may well be that social distancing (i.e. how close the coach can be to the child, and to what extent they can touch) will limit what type of gymnastics we can offer. We will also need to address hygiene issues including safest use of apparatus, personal hygiene and cleaning after each class. Classes may need to be shorter to allow for this.

 

There is a lot to work out and all clubs are in the same boat.

 

On top of all that, as you are all too aware, we operate in a sports centre which is itself linked to the school. We are trying to find out how any new procedures and policies of one will be affected by the other and what their arrangements are likely to be.

 

Given that we run during term time only, even if gymnastics is permitted to start in early July nationally, we would then only have a couple of weeks before we would normally break for the summer. So at this time it would appear that a September start is more likely.

 

We have now had 4 months without gym and we know that some of our members have decided to call it a day. Others have joined the waiting list. As the situation develops we will be contacting everyone individually by email, hopefully to give you a clearer picture of how our classes will look and to ascertain if you do wish to carry on with us.

 

At this time we assume that you will be returning unless you advise us otherwise.

 

Stay safe and healthy

 

Sandy and Andy