Other Supported Talents Blog

Dressage

Natalie travelled to Gloucester at the start of the month for training camp with the dressage coach learning to progress into advance dressage. They had their first training session on side saddle which Natalie was thrilled about and explore more possibilities of this in the future.

Natalie also took a trip to Your Horse Live where she met with new brands and to learn from the top trainers in the UK.

Junior Gymnast

Since April this year has been eventful for Megan.

After winning county grades in March and then Regional finals in April she had a successful trial at Portsmouth Gymnastics Club where she was offered a permanent place on their WAG squad, within the performance/nationals pathway.

Then at the end of June Megan unfortunately had an accident and fractured her hand and wasn't able to train for 6 weeks. Despite this set back Megan kept up with her conditioning training. She competed in her 1st competition for Portsmouth which was Club champs an in house comp where her team came 3rd place.

On 8th September she competed in the Hampshire Championships coming away with, 1st place Beam
3rd place Bars, 4th overall in Copper level age 11-12 years, 4th overall out of all age groups in Copper level and the top 20 qualifying for regional finals on 17th November at the Carterton Gymnastics Club, Oxfordshire.

Congratulations Megan, keep up the great work!

Taekwondo Athlete

Another busy couple of weeks at the end of October for Joe  competing for Isle of Wight Taekwondo and National Squad.

On the 20th October Joe competed at the OMA Welsh Championships along with 250 competitors in Wrexham, but unfortunately for the first time in this OMA event Joe placed outside the medals in both the Patterns Division and Sparring Division where there were so many great athletes.

On the 26th October, Joe travelled to the Sovereign Taekwondo Open in Swindon along with 9 other students from the Isle of Wight Taekwondo and came home with a total of 10 medals.

Joe represented the Isle Of Wight Taekwondo and TCUK National Squad finishing 4th in the Individual Blackbelt Patterns where his Instructor Pete Scotcher won Gold.
Next came the Blackbelt Middleweight Sparring Division where he reached the final coming away with a Silver Medal.

Joe, his Instructor and a TCUK Squad Member came together to take part in the Team Patterns Event where they got the highest scores out of 8 teams and took home the gold medal.

Band

Its been a crazy year for both Lily and Lottie AKA The Pill. The duo released their first single back in April and since then have been playing shows across the UK and in Europe, The River Stage at the IOW festival.

In May The Pill signed to their first ever record deal with AWAL a Sony owned record label. Following this they released their 2nd single ‘Scaffolding Man’ which has 12k streams on Spotify. The Pill has also been working away at Empire with Rob and Jim Homes AKA BoeWeaver who produced their second single.

The Pill are still on tour all the way into the festive season supporting Sprints on their Germany tour dates!

Big achievements this year and good luck on your last shows for the year!

Ballerina 

2024 has been a great year for Ballet Dancer, Emily.

There's been many highlights this year such as coming 1st in the So You Think You Can Dance grand final in ballet and 2nd in character being the highest scoring senior of the whole day.

Emily has also competed in the All regionals this year earning many 1sts in Freestyle, Character solo and Musical Theatre.  

To top Emily's year off - she auditioned for a place in the School of Ballet Theatre UK which is one of the top ballets schools in the country where she has has secured a place as well as studying BA Hons degree in ballet performance!

We look forwarding to seeing your success Emily!
 

Taekwondo Athlete

At the start of October Joe was invited along with a couple of members from the National Squad to compete at the Taekwondo Verve Championships in Stourport.

The day started in the Blackbelt Patterns Division where Joe reached the final and came away with a Silver. He then went on to compete in the Middleweight Point Stop Sparring Category against tough opponents and came away with a Bronze Medal.

Although exhausted from his last match Joe reached the semi-final of the Middleweight Continuous Sparring Category and came away with another Bronze Medal.

On the 12th October, Joe and 3 other members from the Isle of Wight Taekwondo travelled to Swindon for their Grading for their next Blackbelt, and after 3 hours they all Passed and got promoted to a 4th Dan Black Belt. Joe passed with an A PASS with a high standard.

Great achievements Joe!

Taekwondo Athlete

Taekwondo athlete, Joe Ramskill recently competed at the GTI National Open in Cheltenham alongside 200 other athletes. Joe tied for gold in the Blackbelts Patterns Division but after a split decision came away with a Silver Medal in that division.

During the Middleweight Sparring Division Joe reached the Semi-Final but lost the Bronze Medal match to a tough opponent.

Although a tough end of the day, Joe still came home with a Silver medal.

Well done Joe!

Dog Agility

Dog Agility competitor Abs Whittington and her Border Collie Dash have had a great couple of months together.

First, they competed at the Jump and Jive A4A show in Dorset. Dash did three classes, they trained in the ring in two and then placed 2^nd in jumping. They also had their first go at Mini Maxi pairs with their friends Carla and her Chihuahua, Logan!

The next stop was the Kelluki Kennel Club Show in Surrey. Dash was on fire all weekend, getting nearly every contact and weave entry. Dash placed 1^st,  2^nd twice and 3^rd! 

Dog Agility trainer Abs Whittington and her Border Collie Dash recently travelled to Newbury Showground for the A4A Barkside Show.

Dash won four of the novice steeplechases and also placed 4^th in their first competitive Gamblers Agility.

Abs and Dash are only 12 points away from levelling up in both steeplechase and performance with A4A!

They also attended the Iconix Kennel Club Show at the Dallas Burston Polo Club in Warwickshire this month. Unfortunately, they didn’t place, but Dash was excellent and got every contact in his first Kennel Club Competition of the year!

Well done Abs and Dash!

Dog Agility

Dog Agility trainer Abs Whittington and her Border Collie Dash have had a brilliant time working with a trainer in the New Forest, who had many positive things to say about their partnership.

Dash and Abs attended the ‘Ability for All’ show at Lydiard Park, and despite the tricky weather making the ground slippery and difficult conditions to run in, Dash still won two first places in the steeplechase at his first attempts at this new level!

Abs and Dash made sure to get lots of training in the ring, working hard on keeping criteria for the contacts and weaves too.

Well done Abs and Dash!

Ballerina

Ballerina, Emily, recently participated on the Island for the Isle of Wight Music, Dance & Drama Festival which was a qualifying festival for the semi-finals of All England Dance!

Emily came away with some amazing results:

1^st in a lyrical group

1^st and 3rd in ballet groups

1^st in musical theatre

1^st in freestyle group

1^st in character solo

1^st in modern group

3^rd in a lyrical trio 

4^th in modern duet, modern solo, lyrical solo and ballet duet 

Thanks to her amazing results, Emily will now go on to the All England Dance semi-finals, representing Joel Morris Dance Academy in Portsmouth at the end of this month! 

Well done, Emily! We can’t wait to hear your results!

Gymnast

Last weekend, gymnast Megan Marshall took part in the South Region ‘Preparation and Development Grades Finals’ at the Portsmouth Gymnastics Centre. And considering she was feeling under the weather, Megan did amazingly well!

Megan is now the Southern Region All-Round Champion for Development Grade 3 and walked away with some amazing results.

Bars – 1^st

Beam – 1^st

Floor – 1^st 

Vault -2^nd 

R&C – 3^rd

Overall – 1^st

Well done, Megan!

Gymnast

Megan recently attended her second Hampshire Squad training day at Portsmouth Gymnastics Club.

Megan had an amazing day and got to have a run-through for finals at the end of this month!

She even managed to have a go at a few new development skills!

Good luck with finals Megan!

Dog Agility

Abs Whittington, dog agility trainer, and Border Collie Dash have had a busy few months in training.

They recently competed at the Agility for All Easter Show in Cheltenham. Together, they gained two firsts, one second and one third.
Dash has now gained enough steeplechase points over just two shows by winning four classes to move up a level! Abs and Dash have put in a lot of hours of training with Dash becoming more confident on every run.

Taekwondo Champion

Joe recently competed at the BUTL University World Taekwondo Championships in Nottingham with over 900 competitors from 90 clubs and 60 countries competing over 3 days.

Joe attended the competition representing the Isle of Wight and The TCUK Squad where he was one of four members competing.

The event kicked off with the Patterns Division, where Joe was in the 3^rd Dan Blackbelt Category. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it to the second round.

Joe also participated in the Sparring Divisions, where he was placed in the under 79kg category. Easy round saw two intense 2-minute sparring sessions and although he made it into the semifinals, he was eaten by a tough opponent from Greece.

Joe still managed to bring home a bronze medal from a challenging division! 

Ballet Dancer

Emily has been super busy over the past couple of months!

She performed in a ballet ensemble of The Phantom of the Opera!

And a huge moment for Emily, after a 3-hour audition and an interview, she was offered a place at her top ballet school to study BA Hons Ballet Performance at the School of Ballet Theatre UK in Hinckley.

After she has completed her GCSEs, in September when most students will be starting college or 6^th form, she will be off to begin her degree at ballet school!

Well done, Emily, what a huge achievement. 

GYMNASTICS CHAMPION

Megan recently travelled over to Dynamo School of Gymnastics for the Hampshire County Grades 2024.

This was Megan's first competition of 2024 and she absolutely smashed it with medals across the board. 

1st – Overall
1st – Floor
1st – Range & Conditioning
2nd – Bars
4th – Beams

Megan also qualified for the Regional Finals next month! 

All of Megans hard work and dedication has definitely paid off as she now holds the title of Hampshire County Champion for Development Grade 3! 

Well done, Megan, we can’t wait to see more from you! 

Speedway Rider

Charlie has been on a recent trip to Workington where he was able to ride his 250cc bike, testing the track among other thigs at the 3-day training camp. Day one consisted of riding, learning new techniques and lines on the track. Day two was all about more riding (with a trip to the gym) and on day three, the rain put a halt to riding but there were some valuable lessons in bike maintenance and a track walk. A really busy, but fun 3 days! Well Done Charlie!

DRESSAGE RIDER

Dressage rider Natalie Brougham was recently invited to the National Equine Show at the NEC in Birmingham to receive her competition results!

She participated in the Eriders NEC Championships, an at home online dressage competition that saw her make it to both the qualifying round and the finals. 

Natalie entered and competed her three ponies, performing her tests online to earn podium placements across the board. Her youngest cob Shelby took reserve champion at the restricted novice level, her mare Bellini and more advanced cob Rodney both proudly took reserve at medium level. 

Amazing results for Natalie and her ponies! 

TAEKWONDO CHAMPION

Joe recently competed at the OMA (One Martial Arts) Regional Championships at Deeside in Wales, with over 200 competitors from all around the country.

Joe entered the Blackbelt Patterns Division where he initially tied with 3 others with the same score for silver or bronze. Joe performed his routine again, and he was again tied for bronze. He performed his routine yet again, where he unfortunately missed out on a medal and placed 4th. Also entering the Blackbelt Middleweight Sparring category, Joe managed to reach the semi-finals, placing bronze! 

A great day for Joe in two very strong divisions, representing his club, Isle of Wight Taekwondo and the TCUK Squad! Well done, Joe!