Please help us raise £650, the cost of purchasing all sixteen items of kit that Finley needs to compete with Team GB Junior Squad.
Finley has recently been invited to join Team GB junior squad as an elite gymnast in double mini trampoline (DMT) which is an incredible achievement. However, team GB do not offer any financial support to their junior gymnasts and so we are having to fund this ourselves, including the purchase of his kit, which is in excess of £650. If any felt able to offer up a pound, or the price of a coffee or more if you felt inspired by his story then we would be so grateful, especially considering the difficult Financial Times we find ourselves in.
If you would like to know more about his story then please read on. If its not for you then thank you so much for reading this far we really appreciate your time.
THE JOURNEY SO FAR
Finley is 16 years old and currently taking his GCSE’s at QECC. As long as he has been able to walk Finley has been involved in competitive gymnastics. As a younger lad he was part of the South West Gymnastics Squad via Exeter Gym Club and achieved bronze position at the National Age Finals in 2016. After a difficult time with a change of coach, Finley moved over to trampoline gymnastics and specifically the double mini trampoline (DMT), an explosive form of gymnastics that involves a long run up (like a gymnastics vault) to a small angled trampoline onto which he jumps and then flies in the air landing in a small boxed space on the other side. He now trains with Exeter Trampoline Academy at Sowton in Exeter. He has been training in either artistic or trampoline gymnastics four days a week since he was 8 years old racking up between 12 and 15 hours a week 50 weeks a year.
THE LAST SIX MONTHS
In the last year has had something of a meteoric rise being invited to join the Junior England Squad back in September and then being invited to join the Junior Team GB Squad in December. We are exceptionally proud of him and all of his hard work in getting to this stage. He attends Squad training camps at Lilleshall National Sports Centre near Telford at least six times per year to train with his squad and also frequently visits Olga Gymnastics in Poole where he trains with one of the GB coaches there. He has his first competition with Team GB in July this year in Portugal at the Scalabis Cup and is expected to compete for Team GB at the World Championships in Bulgaria in November.
THE FINANCES
As you can imagine it is a costly business for us as parents (we estimate it to be around £10k per year now he is performing as an elite gymnast at national level). Over the years we have as a family made many sacrifices to ensure Finley can continue training, we have had no expensive or foreign holidays, missed parties and family events etc to ensure he is able to make essential squad weekend training events and be at competitions and so on. Fuel is so horribly expensive at the moment but public transport being what it is we have to rely on the car to get him to training.
To give you an idea here are some of the costs involved :
Monthly Squad Training at ETA: 150:00 (annual cost £1800)
Travel costs to attend regular training (monthly fuel average): £300 (annual £3600)
GB Squad Training at Lillehsall National Sports Centre Telford + travel and accommodation (min 6 times per year): £180.00 each visit (annual approx £1100)
Domestic Competition Costs + travel and accommodation: approx £150 per comp
(approx £1200.00 per year)
GB KIT required for training and competition - not supplied by GB but self funded
16 items totalling over £550.00
To compete at Scalabis Cup in Portugal including travel, accommodation etc: £1100 (not including the kit as above)
World Championships in Bulgaria November 2022 (estimate) £1500.00
OUR PLEA TO YOU
We have reached a point as a family where we need to look outside of our own income for some financial support. We are only too aware that funds are tight for everyone, especially in the current climate but if you feel you can offer up a pound or two to help purchase his kit then we would be so thankful. xxx
This project successfully funded on 12th July 2022