Club News
News on the various awards the club has received and other information. For more news and results, visit our facebook page.
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On the 27th of September 2022, the South East Gymnastics Region held its Regional Awards evening, the first for 3 years. These awards recognise very good work by gymnasts, coaches and clubs. The evening concludes with the President of South East Gymnastics presenting his special award to an individual who has "made an outstanding contribution to gymnastics in the South East through a consistent and dedicated commitment to the sport over a minimum of 10 years".
Andy was honoured to be the recipient of the 2022 South East Presidents Award.
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Dear Parents
You may have heard and seen media coverage of the report on abuse in gymnastics, in GB, drafted by Anne Whyte QC, and presented as 'The Whyte Review'.
This very lengthy report was commissioned by Sport England and UK Sport, and covers the 12-year period 2008 - 2020. It deals with over 400 allegations of physical, sexual, emotional abuse and bullying, made over those years by gymnasts and their parents about their coaches and clubs, from recreational to high levels.
It makes for very disturbing reading, revealing a picture of indifference, confusion, avoidance of responsibility and protectionism in British Gymnastics, our governing body. Recording of and responding to complaints was a shambles. At the centre was a culture of 'the coach knows best how to get results, and no one else understands'. Gymnasts were expected to toughen up and get on with it. Long term effects on children were not considered and many still have problems with mental health in adulthood.
In my time as a coach in competitive gymnastics, when attending high level training and competitions, I did witness instances of this. What I found particularly disturbing was the complete lack of respect shown to the gymnasts and the undermining of parental challenge.
As a club and individually, we totally reject such coaching practices. Some years ago I met with some Canadian coaches and we discussed a 'Gymnast's Bill of Rights', which they were putting together with the aim of laying a foundation for how we treat gymnasts. We adopted this when we started our club in 1994. You can see it on our website on the 'About Us > Policies' page, and it is on the back of the registration form you signed on joining.
The fallout from the Whyte Review will go on for a long time. Watch out for statements made by British Gymnastics, who have a new CEO, and more press coverage. Meanwhile, if you have any concerns about our dealings with your children, please come and talk to us. Our Welfare Officer is Paula Thompson. She has years of experience in children's activities, attends our classes frequently and can be reached on 020 8224 2037. You can, of course, also speak to Sandy and Andy.
Andy Piekarski
Head Coach
Sandy Piekarska
Manager
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In November 2019 we celebrated our 25th year as a club.
It all started in late summer 1994 of with a family gathering round the dining room table to discuss whether it would be possible and who would be involved. Andy and Sandy were willing and fortunately daughters Adeline and Naomi were up for it. Naomi later left for son's football (!!) switching with daughter Steph. We brainstormed for a name and Genesis seemed suitable for an enterprise with a new beginning. Sandy and Andy had already been running Acrobrats pre-school classes on weekdays for a number of years and we had some good coaches helping us with those, and a couple said yes to Saturdays.
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Winners of the Regional Chairman's Legacy Award
In 2019 Andy, Sandy, Adeline, Steph, Jasper, Nyah & Matt (Adeline's husband) were awarded the South East Region Chairman's Legacy Award, for services to the Region in running the regular Floor & Vault competitions. These started in the year 2000 and have grown steadily in popularity. Over 1000 gymnasts a year now enter these competitions. It is rare for 3 generations of a family to be involved in running such events and the award recognises this.