Demi Watkins - British Championships
The British tournament competition which was held at Fenton Manor, Stoke, took place on Saturday 29th March and Sunday 30 th March.
When I woke up on Saturday morning I was feeling quite nervous but excited at the same time as I was moving up to a new age group category for the 13-14 girls tumbling, there was 8 other people competing against me in our group.
When I arrived at the arena I had to register to enable me to compete. I then had to wait until 3:30pm until I was able too warm-up and compete.
We were allowed a 15 minute warm-up in which it gave me the chance to see my other opponents. Sometimes if my tumble runs don't go right in the warm up I get a little anxious as to whether or not they will go right in the competition.
As I am diabetic I have to check my blood sugars regularly to ensure they are in the right ratio which is meant to be between 4 and 7 and they were just right for that day.
My running order to compete in was number 5. We have to complete 2 tumble runs which have to include 8 elements and have to land without falling. Overall I finished in 1st position after doing 2 excellent runs and landing them. I was very pleased with myself and so were my coaches as these are the scores that go to other bigger competitions i.e. the World Championships and the Europeans.
I had to return again on Sunday to take part in a final round to decide the medals,
As I finished first I was up last to compete and I was a little bit more nervous this time as I had to see all the other opponents go first.
Even though I fell on my bum in my first run I still managed to finish in 4th place, by only point three away from bronze medal.
I was really annoyed with myself a I know that I can do it and unfortunately it just didn't happen for me this time round. My coaches were still very proud of me and I have dusted myself off ready for my next competition which is the Bulgarian Open May 2008.