Three Dubbo junior male gymnasts have triumphed against all expectations at the National Men’s Artistic Championships on the Gold Coast.
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Joel Barker, Jared Readford and Will Bampton pulled off near-perfect routines and can now call themselves National High Bar champions.
Coach Trish Harland said she took the three boys to the championships mainly to experience top-level competition.
“I wanted to give the boys a chance to compete at the top level which would hopefully motivate them to strive for the top,” she said.
“The hard work they put into training has paid off, to achieve first place in Australia in high bars as a team is something I never thought a small country gymnastics club could achieve.
This is a memory that will last a lifetime; I am incredibly proud of the boys.
“We all shed a tear when they won because it was so good to get the boys’ names called out as first place and to stand on the podium.”
The three boys are still getting used to being the national champions and are now hungry for more success.
“It feels amazing to know we are the national champions at the high bar,” Joel Barker said.
“We trained hard and although we were really at the event for fun, it's awesome to get the result we got.
“We do take what we do seriously, and I think we will be even more serious now, we want more success now.”
Teammate Jared Readford said he was confident of doing well at the Gold Coast tournament.
“I was nervous because there were a lot of people watching, but I got over that as soon as we started,” he said.
“I want to compete at a high level more often now, it was so much fun and I reckon we can get even better.
“As a team, we can go for gold now I reckon.”
Will Bampton was a tad more cautious than his teammates about the event but now shares their enthusiasm to aim for higher honours.
“I was nervous leading up to and at the championships because I have not been doing this for very long,” he said.
“I have been doing gymnastics for a year and I mainly do it for fun and to keep fit.
“Now I have a bit of a taste of what it’s like to compete at one of these events I’d like to do more of them and I think we can do well and improve.”
Will, Jared and Joel believe their coach played a big part in their success at the nationals and are more determined now to listen and learn from their mentor.
“We have to thank Trish because she believed in us, we should also thank our parents who drove us all the way up to Queensland and back,” the boys said. “It was good to go to the beach while we were there too.”