THREE of Mont à l’Abbé Gym Club’s gymnasts compete in the Special Olympics European Youth Games from 30 September to 5 October.

Samantha Godel, Harry Smale and Douglas Mauger qualified for the European event (which is being held in Rome) at the recent National Gymnastics championships in Birmingham.

They will compete against gymnasts aged between 12 and 21 from all over Europe – gymnastics is one of four disciplines being contested in the Eternal City; the other three being aquatics, athletics and bowling, while 1,400 athletes from 57 countries are expected to take part.

Coach John Grady said: ‘All three gymnasts are very much looking forward to it.

Samantha competes in the women’s artistic level 3, which is the highest standard of the set levels.

I have high hopes for them, they are all practising hard and performing well at present – but there may be some brilliant gymnasts in Rome that we haven’t heard of yet, so anything can happen.

‘Samantha is very motivated.

At the Nationals recently she had real problems with the run-up because she was so keyed up, but she was very focused and determined to overcome those problems.

‘Harry used to be very laid back about his performances, but last time out he was very upset when he didn’t do as well as he knew he could.

He used to just shrug it off, but now he realises it is his responsibility.

‘As for Douglas, he is a quiet lad who really thinks about what he’s doing.

You can almost see him working through the routines mentally, as he performs.’ The three gymnasts are being sponsored by the Ladies of Variety for their trip to Rome, and it has now been confirmed that there will be a training camp in Jersey for the gymnasts who will be competing in the World Games in 2007, with Education, Sport and Culture offering the use of the training facilities free of charges.