|
Laura Jones was born in Nottingham on the 12th of June 1992 and soon developed into a very active child! It wasn't until the age of 7 however that Laura started gymnastics. She started out with her two older sisters, Emma and Katrina and was always capable of very energetic work outs! It was at here, at Erewash Gymnastics Club that Laura's potential was first spotted. Progressing quickly, it was soon apparent that Laura required greater challenges and it was recommended by her coach that she was moved to a more intense training environment.
After trialling at Notts Gymnastics Club she was accepted into a talented group of girls training under the guidance Of Claire Starkey and Ian Kimes. She started off training three times a week which has since progressed to 5 days, and over 30 hours of training!
Over the years Laura has collected some fantastic accolades both within the UK and in international competition. Most recently Laura helped the Notts team to be crowned British team champions ahead of Liverpool, Huntingdon and Heathrow. At the Junior British championships in 2006 Laura placed 3rd all around whilst also qualifying to all event finals medalling on bars, vault and becoming British champion on beam! Also competing in the 2006 junior European Championships, Laura placed a very respectable fourth on beam narrowly missing out on a medal. With such great achievements on her favourite piece of apparatus, Laura is known to many as "Beam queen"! This well deserved title could also be put down to her innovative work on this apparatus, including being the first GB gymnast to compete a punch front half and being the only British gymnast to currently compete a triple twist dismount.
Hoping to improve her skill repertoire further Laura is currently working on flick to full twisting tuck back on beam, pike Yeager and a toe-on Tkatchev releases on bars and hopes to be able to compete 5 tumbles on floor by the end of the year.
Laura lists her favourite gymnasts as Olympic champion Carly Patterson, and world champion Vanessa Ferarri, and would one day like to follow in their footsteps as she dreams of wining a medal in the London 2012 Olympics. Laura is a beautifully elegant and determined gymnast and trains in the perfect in environment with her team mates and great coaches to achieve her goals.
Laura lives with her parents, Jackie and Glyn, her two sisters, and her younger brother. Laura also lives with three pet parrots, one of whom can sing as well as two German Sheppard dogs called Sheba and Marcus.
Laura attends Rushcliffe School, which is on the same site as Notts Gymnastics Club, so there isn't any travelling involved from school to gym. This year Laura will take her GCSE examinations and we wish her the best of luck with her results. This will also be a great test of her organisation as she trains for a couple of hours before school three times a week, and then 3:30 - 7:30/8:00pm every week day except Thursdays which is a day off along with Sundays.
Like most girls her age, Laura is a shop-a-holic and when she's not in the gym loves to hit Nottingham's fabulous shops. She also loves buying leotards and owns over 60!! As well as this she enjoys going to the cinema with her friends.
| 
