HAREFIELD GYMNASTICS - Key Persons
Amber competed as a base in a women's trio and women's pair as a competitive gymnast for many years. Since gaining her coaching qualification she is now coaching both recreational gymnastics and our younger squad gymnasts. She achieved much success medalling at the British Championships and regional competitions. Amber has been with the club from a young age and has been coaching for the last few years.
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Head
- Our Welfare Officer
Our Welfare Officer, Anita Bedwell can be contacted via our email address: hgaoperations@gmail.com
Anita is our Head Coach. She has coached artistic and acrobatic gymnastics for over 25 years and joined Harefield Gymnastics when the club opened. As well as her extensive coaching experience, Anita has a sports degree, is a qualified sports injury physiotherapist and also currently works as the ‘school sports co-ordinator' for the Watford and Hertsmere Partnership. Before this Anita was a primary school teacher for 12 years.
Emily began her coaching career in 2017 following her retirement from competitive gymnastics. Emily has competed as a base in a women's group and has many years experience. Emily holds her level 1 coaching qualification and coaches our younger gymnasts as well as playing a significant role in our general gymnastics classes.
Fran has a wealth of experience and has been coaching since she was 14. She spends most of her time coaching our NDP gymnasts and has her level 2 coaching qualification and working towards her level 3. As a very successful gymnast herself Fran competed at both the English and British Championships and trialled for the GB World and European team. She has won medals at regional, national and international levels.
Janice trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Arts and was a scholarship student at the London Studio Centre. She has been teaching and choreographing for over 20 years. Once a professional dancer herself Janice teaches our gymnasts Jazz and Contemporary among other disciplines. Janice has been working with us since March 2018 and brings a wealth of knowledge to the club. She is instrumental in the choreography of routines and works with gymnasts on expression and performance for competition.
Kathryn is a former performance gymnast who has been with Harefield Gymnastics since she began competing at the age of 10. Kathryn started her coaching career at the age of 14, when she began to coach on a voluntary basis while still competing at an elite level. Kathryn has extensive experience of competitive gymnastics, competing at local, national and friendly international level, in both a women's pair and women's trio. An experienced gymnast and qualified coach, Kathryn started coaching her first squad at the age of 16. She has since developed her coaching experience and now coaches a number of our recreational classes and squad groups.
Natasha Maxwell is the Director of club, overseeing the strategic and coaching development. Her team of coaches includes a number of former championship gymnasts who provide a wealth of knowledge, expertise and experience, backed up with British Gymnastic qualifications.
Natasha began her coaching journey with us in 2019 following her retirement from competitive elite gymnastics. Natasha has competed as a top in a women's group and more recently as a base in a women's pair. Natasha is a level 2 Coach working with our younger gymnasts.
Nicola is a senior coach in artistic and sports acrobatic gymnastics. She has over 24 years experience both squad and general gymnastics having started her coaching career at the age of 15. As a competitive gymnasts herself, Nicola competed and meddaled at international level, competing for the Great Britain Tumbling Team. Nicola is a qualified physiotherapist and has worked at various private and NHS hospitals as well as local clinics. She now run her own practise.
Rachael is a senior coach and has been associated with the club since it was set up in 2006. Rachael was one of Harefield Gymnastics's elite performance gymnasts, having moved to Harefield Gymnastics at the age of 14. She went on to compete as part of the Great Britain national team, winning gold at the European Championships. Rachael has a degree in Sports Science, is a qualified nutritionist and is a full time secondary school PE teacher.
Ventsi is an international, high performance coach for acrobatic gymnastics and has been coaching gymnastics for over 31 years. Ventsi has been instrumental in coaching gymnasts to achieve medal success at both European and World Championships, during his long career as a coach. He also achieved great medal success himself as an acrobatic gymnast, collecting over 30 individual medals at European and World Championships and at World Cup level. Ventsi is also an assessor for British Gymnastics coaching exams and a great asset to the Harefield Gymnastics Coaching Team.
Once a professional dancer herself Victoria takes all our squad gymnasts for ballet. She works with the gymnasts on technique and spends time helping to choreograph and polish competition ready routines. Victoria is a fabulous asset to the club and has been working with the gymnasts since March of 2018. Her attention to detail is world class and her love of ballet evident in her work with the gymnasts.