13 year old Anthony Triebel has recently been awarded the ‘Welsh Disability Male Gymnast of the Year’ award for 2015 at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, as fitting reward for his total commitment to his chosen sport.
 
Anthony has been heavily involved in the discipline of Men`s Artistic Gymnastics since 2011 after starting out at Haverfordwest and his hard work and commitment to his sport has been a credit to him.
 
 His fitting reward came in 2012, when he was selected for both Welsh and British Disability development squads, after attending trials for both.
 

Total family support

 
Anthony lives in Milford Haven with his mum Fiona, his dad Phil and his older sister, Sophie, who loves horse riding – and all three are are very supportive of his sport and travel miles to take him to training and competitions.
 
He started out his gymnastics as a busy child who was taken by Fiona to the pre-school group at Haverfordwest Gymnastics Club before Fiona instigated a move to the Swansea Gymnastic Centre, and his coach Cameron Dundas has just received Welsh Young Coach of the Year 2015. A special thank you must go to him, and to Adam Perman and all the other coaches who have been so supportive of Anthony and who have helped him achieve his goals to date   and makes all the travelling to regular training sessions worthwhile.
 
It means a real commitment to travelling but Fiona readily admits that she enjoys watching her young feller work so well! All of this activity not only takes time but involves a heavy expense and the Triebel family are grateful to Austwel Ltd of Milford Haven for their help with Anthony’s kit.
 

Strong overall approach in six disciplines!

 
Anthony spends time on each of the six disciplines in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics and is building towards a strong overall approach in the vault, on the rings, high bar and parallel bars, on the pommel horse and in the floor exercise – and for the last three years Anthony has travelled to Leicester for his NDPs (National Development Plans) and each level he has achieved with a merit as reward for his total commitment and high skill levels.
 
During 2013 Anthony and his family travelled up to Newcastle for the British Disability Championships where he ranked first and came back with a gold medal. The whole family were understandable delighted because it showed just how quickly Anthony had developed his overall gymnastic skills
 
In 2014 he competed in Gemau Cymru, Welsh Disability Championships, and the British Disability Championships which were held in Lilleshall in front of very big crowds, where he came back with Bronze.
 
This year he also travelled to Scotland for training with the British Squad and also to the valleys for Welsh squad training sessions.
 

Special thanks to the Jones’ clan . . .

 
It would be a good time to give a special mention and thank you to both Jean Jones and Victoria Jones of the Welsh Disability Squad for their outstanding dedication and commitment to the support and help that they give, not only to Anthony but all the gymnasts.
 
Victoria was in attendance to cheer Anthony on when he received his Welsh Disability Male Gymnast of the Year trophy and told us,
“It was a fantastic night which was covered well by the BBC and had loads of gymnastics celebrities there – and it was lovely to see Anthony recognised, not only for his skills but commitment and willingness to work at home, with total family support.
“He has made huge strides this year and we are thrilled for him.”
 
Jean and husband Steve were at Folly Farm when Anthony came runner up in the Junior Disability Sport Awards organised by Sport Pembrokeshire at the end of November, and he received a beautifully engraved cut-glass memento to add to his growing number of trophies and medals.
 

. . .And to Josie too!

 
A big thank you also goes Josie Hiscock at PhysioFit, West Wales, who was a great help after Anthony had damaged the rotor muscles in his shoulder on the parallel bars.
“The injury might have taken a lot longer to heal had it not been for Jodie’s expertise,” Fiona told us, “and it was great to see Anthony back in action!”
 
In 2015 Anthony travelled to Bolton Arena to compete in the British Disability Championships where he placed first overall in his category, bringing back another gold medal to Pembrokeshire.
 

A range of other sporting interests

 
It would be true to say that Anthony is totally committed to his sport of gymnastics but he has other sporting interests which he also values. Anthony and his family would also like to thank the Riding for the Disabled scheme at Bowling’s, Haverfordwest, which he really enjoys but is difficult to spend as much time as he might like because of his gymnastics, plus head coach Rachel Davies of Neath Flyers Trampolining Club, a sport that has greatly helped Anthony’s gymnastics.
 
Another great help has been Nicki at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre, who taught Anthony in swimming sessions with such success that he has now achieved his certificate for swimming 400 metres and has successfully completed his bronze lifesaving badge.
 
And finally, but not least, Ron Hovell has become a big influence after Anthony took up the sport of Air Rifle Target shooting with a brilliant club called Modern Print Target Shooting Club. The club used to be based in Pennar, Pembroke Dock, but has relocated to Kilgetty and under the expert coaching of Ron Hovell and RCO Phil, Anthony is progressing very well indeed. It is great to have such wonderful clubs in.Pembrokeshire and as Fiona says, they should be very proud of what they do!
 

And finally . . .

 
Talk to the Triebel family for just a short while and it is easy to see the pride they have in Anthony’s performances and there is no doubt that at 13 years of age he is doing remarkably well to be training alongside some of the Elite Men’s Artistic squad.
 
He is certainly flying the Pembrokeshire Flag with distinction and we wish him every success in the future with regard to his artistic gymnastics and other pursuits!