This week, as part of the visiting sportswomen programme, St Swithun’s Junior School, Winchester welcomed GB gymnast Kelly Simm to talk with the girls in Years 3 and 4. Kelly talked briefly about her career before dazzling the children with a video of herself in action. She then answered questions before taking some of the classes for a gym conditioning session.
Interesting questions included “Do you ever get dizzy?”, “Do you have a lucky leotard?” and “Because you have been doing gym for a long time do you still need a coach?”
Some of the older gymnasts in the school also met Kelly and were allowed to wear the latest addition to Kelly’s medal collection; the bronze medal from the recent Gymnastics World Championships in Glasgow.
Kelly is the third GB sportswoman St Swithun’s Junior School have welcomed since July. Other visitors were GB hockey player Emily Maguire and pentathlete Zoe Davison.
Director of sport Roger Marshall said “These occasions could be the spark that ignites a lifetime of participation in these young aspiring athletes. To see their faces light up when talking with Kelly and holding her world championship medal was priceless. This is what the St Swithun’s Junior School philosophy is all about.”