World Cup Winner in Brentford

Bel Dillon and partner win Vegas Acro Gymnastics World Cup

Bel Dillon, a Year 7 student from Brentford School for Girls started acro-gymnastics relatively late, at the age of 7 years old (acro refers to acrobatics, a type of gymnastics performed on a hard floor).

Bel attended a summer camp at Richmond Gymnastics club, having never tried gymnastics before and immediately got the bug and knew this was the sport she wanted to compete in. Following the summer camp, the coaches at the club knew Bel had the potential to be a top performer. Following a conversation with her parents, Bel signed up to regular training.

Since starting her journey, Bel has been working tirelessly in preparation to be selected for trials to represent Great Britain in the European and World Acro-Gymnastics Championships later this year, something that we all hope that Bel will achieve.

Bel has an extremely busy schedule, having to maintain the daily expectations of a 12 year pupil as well as fitting in a gruelling training schedule. Bel and the team currently trains six days a week, for four hours per session. Bel is working extremely hard with her partner, to ensure she is in top condition in order to meet her dream of representing Great Britain.
Bel is an extremely conscientious and organised student, who takes her studies seriously and somehow makes the time to take part in the full extra-curricular life of the school.

Forward 5 years and Bel is competing all over the globe for her club. Early this year, in January, Bel travelled to the Scottish invitational tournament in preparation to compete for Great Britain in the European championships, in Israel in October 2019. Bel recently travelled to Las Vegas in America, in March this year, to compete for her club in the Vegas Acro Gymnastics World Cup.

The competition began on Friday with various heats over a long weekend from Friday through until Sunday. Bel had been working incredibly hard and the results saw her and her partner move through the heats to the final. The final saw the partnership put on an almost flawless performance seeing them go on to achieve 1st place.

On her return to school, her extremely proud class mates, approached their Tutor and Head of Year to hold a party to celebrate Bel's success.

Bel continues to maintain her focus and tough training schedule and competes in the Belgium International Acro Cup for three days, starting on Friday 12th April in further preparation for the Great Britain team selection.

All at Brentford School for Girls are so proud of Bel and her achievements to date, wishing Bel and Richmond Gymnastics club the best of luck in the summer competitions and looking forward to celebrating even more success with Bel and her family in the future.

May 10, 2019