National and International Level

• Online Mentoring Programme/ Education mentor.
• Bursaries.
• Online forum to network with other students from across academies.
• Contact with current and past international athletes and coaches.
• Possible access to Physiotherapists and psychologists.
• Video analysis.

Felixstowe Academy student becomes Commonwealth Champion

Last week was very successful for Ben, taking part in his first International he managed 4 personal best lifts as well as two British records along with a new title of Commonwealth Champion. He finished with a 150kg squat, 100kg bench press and 172.5kg deadlift which gave a total of 422.5kg. As well as breaking the British Bench Press record this was also enough to secure the British Junior total record in addition to 4 gold medals.

Ben was pleased with his performance which showed an improvement in his total of 12.5kg in just 8 weeks and now being able to call himself the Commonwealth Champion 2011 was just the icing on the cake.

Ben also competed in the Bench Press competition on Sunday 18th where he claimed his 5th gold medal of the competition and another Commonwealth Championship title with alift of 95kg.

Maltings Academy Fencer competes in Senior Nationals

Elizabeth Beaver, Maltings Academy 6th Form College, took part in her first Senior Nationals competition at the weekend in Sheffield. The competition is seen as the pinnacle of the season amongst fencers as it produces the National Champions in the six weapon categories.

Elizabeth, who competes in the Women’s Foil category, has seen her national Senior ranking rise from 90th to 23rd this season was pitched against the elite fencers in Great Britain.

The competition is split into one round of pools followed by the direct elimination round to the final. In her pool Elizabeth was matched against five other fencers, including the current 7th and 8th ranked fencers in the country. Elizabeth won two fights despite feeling the effects of a heavy cold, one against the 8th ranked fencer by a score of 5 –1, as well as narrowly losing 5 – 4 to a fencer who is currently based in Italy and losing the other two.

After the pools were completed Elizabeth was ranked 29th overall. This gave Elizabeth a bye to the last 32 round where she met the current fencer ranked 3rd in the country. Despite the difference in experience Elizabeth gave a good performance eventually losing 15 – 5 to a fencer who has competed at Senior European events.

The event also counted towards the Junior, under 20 age group, rankings and Elizabeth’s final position could see her improve on her current ranking of 24th, with the possibility of reaching a place in the top 16 in the country.

Everest Community Academy Skater takes Bronze

Basingstoke based skater Danielle Harrison capped a brilliant season as she took third place / bronze medal in the Advanced Novice Ladies class of the British Figure Ice Skating Championships at Ice Sheffield in November.

The 12-year-old - from Everest Community Academy - was in a category for skaters for 15/below and excelled, coming home with a medal after finishing third in both the short program and the free skate.

Danielle is coached by the team of Debi Briggs, Simon Briggs, Gary Peed and Lisa Beaumont - located in Dundee and Basingstoke.

Danni has been skating so well all season and it was a great result for her being only 12. She has another three years at this level

Gary Peed

More information about Danielle’s skating at http://danielleharrison.co.uk