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Jersey's gymnastics community has raised concerns that the Government's new facility at Oakfield Sports Centre will not provide enough space for all the young gymnasts in the island – and is calling for another dedicated facility for the sport to be built out west.
It comes after St Mary-based De Mond Gymnastics Academy officially closed its doors at the end of August.
The gymnastics club announced last year that it was not renewing its lease due to high rent costs.
Pictured: The closure of De Mond Gymnastics Academy earlier this year left 400 young gymnasts without a club.
The closure of De Mond prompted other coaches and athletes to speak out about the lack of dedicated gymnastics facilities in the island – something which they say they have raised with Government many times over the last decade.
Ben Frith is the Head Coach at Jersey Gymnastics Club, which operates from the Sports Hall at St John's Recreational Centre.
For six months of the year, the club can keep all of its equipment set up.
But in the winter, other sports club also use the indoor facility – which means the gymnastics equipment has to be set up before and taken down after each session.
Ben said that this was one of the key reasons why the island is in desperate need of a dedicated gymnastics facility where specialist equipment can live all year round.
He explained: "Our gymnasts generally have to prepare for competitions during the winter months, when we don't have the kit out, so they're affected badly by that."
Pictured: Ben Frith is the Head Coach at Jersey Gymnastics Club, which operates from the Sports Hall at St John's Recreational Centre.
Ben added: "We used to do some training sessions at De Mond, but we can't do that now, so that's holding a lot of our gymnasts back from developing and reaching their potential.
"With one gym club closing and now just two clubs left on the island, we can't cater for the number of gymnasts that want to do the sport."
Teen gymnast Millie Painter said: "No one in Jersey has gone to the Olympics for gymnastics, as the equipment and the facilities aren't good enough to train for the Olympics or British Championships."
Her sister and fellow gymnast Elsie added: "There's also a lot of younger gymnasts who are very dedicated to gymnastics and really want to compete at high levels, but they can't because of the facilities."
Building work on the Government's new £8m sports facility at Oakfield commenced in August, and there are plans to turn the current sports hall into a dedicated gymnastics facility.
Pictured: Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan, who has responsibility for sport, in front of Oakfield Sports Centre.
Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan, who has responsibility for sport, explained: "The original Oakfield centre will become a dedicated gymnastics facility, and hopefully that will be completed within 12 months."
Constable Jehan explained that this will become the first dedicated gymnastics facility on the island.
"We're working with British Gymnastics to make sure that we get the right layout, the right design, and the right equipment," he added.
He noted that the current users of Fort Regent – Regent Gymnastics Club, and the Special Gymnastics Club – will have the first opportunity for time slots at the new Oakfield facility, but said: "It will be a government facility, so be available to all people to use.
"We'd like to see this facility used as much as possible in the future."
Constable Jehan added: "We're very aware of the benefits of gymnastics in terms of core strength, etc, so we're trying to find solutions – but we can't do everything in one go.
"We're committed to investing in the sports infrastructure, but there's only a certain amount of money we have."
But coaches and parents are concerned that this one dedicated gymnastics facility will not be enough to cater for all the young athletes in the island.
Katrina Painter launched a petition calling for a gymnastics facility to be set up in the west of the island, which has over 450 signatures so far.
Pictured: Katrina's petition has attracted over 450 signatures so far.
"You can't really have three clubs sharing that one gymnasium," she explained.
"The thought of trying to schedule in almost 1,000 gymnasts is just not going to work.
"Having something that is more westernised would be easier for lots of parents who live this side of the island."
Jeannine Carey, chair and coach at the Special Gymnastics Club, added: "I think there's a great benefit in having a [gymnastics] facility out west.
"I don't think there should just be a central one.
"You've got such a lot of the population now out west; it makes far more sense to have one out there."
Pictured: Jeannine Carey is chair and coach at the Special Gymnastics Club.
Ben concluded: "In the ideal world, I think we'd love to have two purpose built [gymnastic] facilities – one out to the east of the island, and one out near the west of the island.
"At the moment, we've probably got a lot of gymnasts giving up because they know they can't reach their potential."
He added: "For tens of years we've been crying out of facility, but nothing's been done."
Although the Government's proposed Budget for 2025 to 2028 only includes specific funding for the Oakfield facility, the draft document suggests that future budgets may feature a more comprehensive sports strategy for the island.
It states: "This Budget provides funding to complete the decant of Fort Regent whilst enabling the development of a new sports centre at Oakfield as replacement venue for clubs and associations.
"This investment is a significant early development that is connected to a wider programme of future investment that will be considered in future Budgets to deliver a comprehensive sport strategy for the island."
The Budget debate is due to begin on Tuesday 26 November.
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