NATIONAL coach John Grady and gymnasts Douglas Mauger and Harry Smale of Mont à l’Abbé Special Gymnastics Club joined the British Gymnastics Disabilities National Men’s Squad for a training camp at Wingate House at the weekend.

The National Disabilities Squad is made up of ten gymnasts, they were trained by six coaches, one of whom, Jackie Lewis, is an experienced coach in mainstream gymnastics.

With Grady’s experience of special needs this made for a very strong coaching team.

The squad gelled well as both a sporting team and a social group and the Jersey boys gained a tremendous amount.

Mauger benefited greatly from working with gymnasts of an equally high standard.

He was selected as part of the top group for the training and was pushed to the limit by the friendly rivalry that developed.

Smale showed what he was made of and demonstrated a determination to keep up with the pace.

He was placed in the lower group for training but the demands made on him were similar to those on Mauger and he gained much from the weekend.

The training was funded by the Sports Advisory Council.