Success for boy gymnasts

The two youngsters competed in the Northern Ireland general gymnastics championships in May along with their team-mates of the Shooting Starz boys team. The two boys won all their events and the whole team excelled helping Shooting Starz win the team cup for 2010.

A week later the Daniel, 11 and Jude, 9, competed in their first ever men's gymnastics competition, the Northern Ireland Men's Championships, requiring greater skills than general gymnastics and involving 6 apparatus: floor, vault, rings, pommel, parallel bars and high bar.

Though up against top Northern Ireland gymnasts, Daniel won every event in his category and placed first overall. Jude won high bar with an immaculate preformance.

Both boys impressed the judges with their clean, precise performances and were rewarded with invitations to train with top coaches and elite gymnasts over the summer. Two high performance athletes with a bright future, they are also inspiring other boys to take up gymnastics and to emulate the incredible feats of Spellbound, Britains's Got Talent winners. Shooting Starz now has 70 boys in the club and, thanks to the pressure from pioneering Daniel and Jude, the club now has an extensive range of equipment for mens gymnastics.

Vladimir Schchegolev, a top international coach from Russia, was also impressed with the boys and has agreed to act as visiting coach to Shooting Starz to help develop all the boys team.