Euan in the medals

Gymnastics

Ashford gymnast Euan Cox enjoyed both team and individual success when he competed for England in the 2016 School Games at Loughborough University.

The 15-year-old, who lives in Singleton, won team gold as well as taking silver medals in the rings, parallel bars and high bar.

He also got to attend a mentor session with Scottish gymnast Steve Frew, who competed at five Commonwealth Games, taking gold in the men’s rings in 2002 at Manchester.

Cox, who attends Norton Knatchbull School, admitted the whole experience had been fantastic and he had particularly enjoyed being part of the Athletes’ Village.

The Pegasus club member said: “The atmosphere was amazing, I have never been to an event with so many athletes in the same place at once. We all stayed on campus and ate in the Athletes’ Village and this was where I loved blending a smoothie using only pedal power on a bike!

“We were introduced to sitting volleyball by a Scottish wheelchair tennis player and we also went to a mentor session with Steve Frew, who taught us to have our individual goals for each event.

“We also learnt about clean sport and won prizes in the ‘100% me’ programme.”

He added: “I would have liked to have had time to watch some of the other sports but they were on at the same time as my training or competitions. Lots of the other teams and volunteers came to watch us compete though.”

The gymnastics competition was open to youngsters aged 12-18 in full- time education and England were pitched against Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Each nation had six members, all of whom competed all six apparatus with the top four scores to count.

England triumphed with a score of 321.75, putting them more than eight points ahead of Scotland.

Cox, who is part of the national training squad, posted one of his highest scores of the year, 79.250 to finish fourth in the all-around competition

Around 1,600 youngsters competed in the games which featured 12 different sports – athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, hockey, judo, rugby sevens, swimming, table tennis, volleyball, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis.

There were also disability events in athletics, fencing, swimming, table tennis, cycling, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair

tennis.