Congratulations to William, a Jack Petchey Award Winner!

William started gymnastics at the age of 3 and has progressed up through recreational, club, regional and national level, this despite having a heart condition (hole in the heart) from birth that meant a significant amount of his first 18 months were spent in hospital and continued check-ins with Brompton Cardio Specialists. William was always throwing himself around as a toddler, and as both parents had also been gymnasts, the sport seemed an obvious choice to channel his energy. William's training times have steadily increased as he has progressed in the sport with him now training 5 days (totally 23hrs) per week (including school holidays) at his club in Ipswich, which also involves significant travelling time for each session. In addition to this, William attends regular Regional Squad training and competitions on Sundays throughout the year. William has consistently won or medalled in regional level competitions throughout his career so far and represented the East region in all the National level competitions for the past 4 years, winning team medals and qualifying for a 'Reward Squad' weekend last December in Lilleshall with the GB coaches. He and his coaches are now targeting a Great Britain squad trial and place within the next 12 months. This training and competition schedule requires a huge commitment and dedication from William, not only to his gymnastics, but also to his schoolwork ensuring that his homework is completed on time in the few spare hours that he has during the week, which can mean completing some tasks in the car whilst travelling to training or competitions.