YOUNG gymnast Maddison Hamer has had an extremely busy month competing at novice level.

The Goytre Fawr school pupil who trains at the Valleys Gymnastics Academy in Oakdale competed in the South Central regional novice in Penybont where she took gold on the beam and was placed fifth overall.

Following this she competed in the Welsh National Novice Competition in Cardiff's National Sports Centre of Wales. This is the first time Maddison has made it to a national finals and she took joint fourth on bars. It was a high level competition with 19 of the best in the four regions in Wales competing. The South central team were placed third overall.

After having a week of practicing new routines Maddison went on a trip to Cornwall with 20 of her fellow gymnasts to the Callywith open championships in Bodmin on the weekend of November 2/3.   On the Friday Maddison turned 11, so she had to compete against the older age group, but she shone through with a fantastic competition taking joint third on vault, silver on floor, gold on beam, gold on bars and gold overall, thus crowning her the Callywith Open Champion for 11 plus level six. Her team mate Elise Edwards took overall silver. 

Maddison is now back at the gym club training and learning new moves for her grading in April 2014.