THE Portland Gymnastics Club hosted an in-house competition on Sunday with plenty of hype in the Yarraman Park-based gym after the $1.25 million funding announcement a few weeks ago.

There was plenty of gymnasts out in force across the day with all levels competing in a number of events.

Head coach Brooke Smith said it was a really strong turnout and a good opportunity for some newer gymnasts to experience competition level.

“Our in-house competition went great - we have a lot of new gymnasts this year so we wanted to give them the opportunity to experience what a competition is like in a relaxed environment, with the hopes that it would encourage them to compete externally at other competitions throughout our region,” she said.

“We had such a strong turn out with 50 gymnasts entered so hopefully we will see lots of them competing again this year.”

All gymnasts had the opportunity to perform in front of independent judges and gain some valuable critique ahead of the season start.

“The gymnasts all performed really well,” Smith said.

“We are still about six weeks away from the official start to competition season and there are definitely a few things we can improve on, but generally they are all in a really good position to tidy up their routines and achieve some great results this year.

“We also had new judges and coaches who really benefited from some real-life practice with what is expected of them at a competition.

“We had a strong spectator turnout as well and the gym was packed with friends and family who came to see the gymnasts showcase what they have been working hard on so far this year.

“We did run a little bit behind with our first session, but I think it actually worked to our advantage as the lower-level gymnasts got to see our senior gymnasts competing. A lot of the juniors train on different nights to the more advanced girls so they had never seen them doing their high-level routines before. Hopefully they were inspired to keep training hard so that they can one day do the ‘exciting’ skills.”

Sunday’s competition took place just two weeks after the State Government announced $1.25 million for upgrades to the gym.

The upgrades will prioritise an extension of the roof which will allow competitors in the higher divisions to perform skills that haven’t been an option previously due to safety concerns.

“The funding announcement has definitely created a lot of excitement around the club, we have had new expressions of interest from parents wanting to join the committee and be a part of the exciting developments to the club,” Smith said.

“Hopefully within the next couple of years we will be able to run amazing competitions with ample seating and viewing areas and our higher-level girls will be able to perform all their skills with a nice high roof, we can’t wait!”