Victoria does a cracking job at the Pembrokeshire Special Needs Gymnastics Club
When the young gymnasts at the Pembrokeshire Special Needs Gymnastics Club did superbly well at the Special Olympiad held in Leicester a short while ago, no one was more thrilled than Victoria Jones because she is a coach at the club who had doubled up as a fund-raiser to make the trip possible for all who wanted to take part.
Victoria’s mum Jean is the coach and founder of the Special Needs Gymnastics Club and Victoria started helping as a keen 11 year old as long ago as 2001 – and is every bit as keen now that she is a young adult who enjoys plenty of sport and other interests.
Qualified coach
She is currently a level two coach, which means that she can take classes on her own and coach anywhere after passing two written examinations and attending three weekends at a course in Bridgend, and being mentored at the club by Jean. Victoria enjoys working alongside her pal Amy Yelland as everyone meets at the club’s headquarters on the Thornton Industrial Estate in Milford Haven on Thursday evenings for four hours of hard work which is also great fun.
“About 50 gymnasts regularly attend, and the club is determined that everyone receives a warm welcome, irrespective of special needs, age and ability,” says Victoria with conviction, we as coaches certainly do our work on that premise and there is wonderful support from parents as an added bonus.”
Learning curve
Victoria took three young gymnasts to special squad training with the British Disability Squad in 2008 and was delighted to see her charges perform somersaults and other complex gymnastic moves – and she readily admits,
“It was a great learning curve for me too since I discovered a great deal from experienced coaches there. We also attend a tournament in Poole, Dorset, each year and the Pembrokeshire contingent won the ‘Most Enthusiastic Club’ award last year to nicely set things up for this year’s Special Olympiad.”
They had attended the previous holding of this major competition in Glasgow back in 2005, where the gymnastics section took place in the Kelvin Hall, renowned for boxing, amongst other things, and there was a great atmosphere there and at the opening and closing ceremonies at Celtic Park, the home of Glasgow Celtic AFC. The team won far more than its fair share of medals and so it was on to Leicester this year, where Victoria played a major role in the fund-raising activities over the previous year, where she helped raise £10,000 by writing to as many local clubs and organisations that she could find, with special mention for local Freemasonry for their willingness to donate to the cause, plus Chevron for their wonderful support, as usual.
Great excitement
Victoria and Co looked resplendent in their track suits and had a wonderful send-off from County Hall by the chairman of the council, other local dignitaries and well-wishers before making the journey to Leicester for the four days of competition. Their events were held at Loughborough College, where the team stayed and had a wonderful relationship with the local police who were looking after them there. They played football together, chased each other around and were even given a free ride in the riot van!
Wonderful memories
The opening and closing ceremonies were staged at the Walker’s Stadium, home of Leicester City AFC, and everyone celebrated a wonderful haul of medals as proof of the hard work and dedication shown by participants and coaches.
“We had about four hours sleep a night,” says Victoria with a chuckle, “but it was worth it. The team were fantastic ambassadors for Pembrokeshire and deserved every medal they received.”
Wide-ranging sporting activity
Victoria was a gymnast herself when she was a nipper, where she was best at working on the beam and the vault, but decided to call it a day after nine years of taking part. She also plays cricket for Neyland Ladies which she says is great fun, with some real characters like Angela Morris, Kath Easton, Julie Garlick and Katy Norrie, amongst others. She previously played for Burton Ladies but her part-time work at ‘Curves’ meant she missed the cup final with Neyland at the end of the season.
Victoria has also played hockey for school and county as goalkeeper after volunteering to do the job when no-one else wanted it and she also enjoys rugby but a knee injury prevented her taking part. So she does some coaching with Kim Norkett and takes on the referee’s role in schools’ rugby alongside Tamara O’Leary, from Johnston and says it is great fun. She also helps out behind the bar at Haverfordwest RFC, where her feller Graham Jenkins is steward.
Sporting family
It might come as no surprise to learn that Victoria hails from a sporting family because mum Jean not only is head coach with the special needs gymnasts but also helped start Burton Ladies cricket team and has been a more than useful swimmer. Her dad Steve still plays as a stalwart of Burton Cricket Club after almost 40 years and younger brother Richard is following in the cricketing footsteps at Burton.
She is currently studying for her degree in Sports Science at Pembrokeshire College and is encouraged to be involved in a wide range of sports. It will take her another two years and although she is busy it will not stop her maintaining her involvement with the Pembrokeshire Special Needs Gymnastics Club – which is great news because Victoria Jones is an integral part of its set-up and long may she continue to help out there!
