A golden birthday celebration

medallists: Gisborne Trampoline Club members with their medals. They are, back (on shoulders): Hayley Rolls. Middle (from left): Lily Arnold, Tegan Hayward, James van Aswegen, Lydia Rolls, Capria Tamatea and Isi Kamoto. Front: Bella Campbell-Reidy.Picture by Rebecca Grunwell

HAYLEY Rolls celebrated her birthday by winning three gold medals at the national trampoline championships.

Her performances put her far ahead of the competition in the 10-and-under women's trampoline, double mini-tramp and tumbling, coach Doug Callahan said.

He expected her to medal, but three golds exceeded expectations.

“She's way ahead . . . more degrees of difficulty, and she didn't move around.”

In the double mini, she “stood” every landing, not taking a step which could take up to 0.3 of a point off the final score, he said.

Winning on her birthday “was a good present for her”, Callahan said.

“She's put a lot of work into training . . . she'll go a long way.”

Gisborne Trampoline Club members won 15 medals, including six golds, at the national competition.

James van Aswegen won gold in the 15-16yr men's synchro with Isileli Kamoto, as well as silver in the double mini and trampoline.

Van Aswegen had better form than his competitors but would need to raise the bar on his degree of difficulty if he wanted to make an impression in the highly competitive 17-and-over category next year.

Lily Arnold had a strong performance in the double mini-trampoline, earning gold as well as a bronze in the synchro.

She competed in the sub-junior international women's category, and Callahan said he had a lot of coaches come up to him after her performance on the double mini asking where she'd come from.

Arnold will graduate to the junior women's category next year.

Callahan said he was pleased with the results at the final competition of the year for the club. The athletes would now change the focus of their training to improve their skills, form and jump-height.