We have ‘Club Champs’ at the end of term which is going to be a lot of fun in celebration of every child’s progress, effort and dedication.
With the planning of club champs, we’ve been working hard as a team at Flair HQ on ways to continually build into our methodology the most consistent and balanced ways in which we can encourage each and every member in nurturing their gymnastics journey.
And this got me thinking about the HUGE amount of encouragement I received from my coaches when I was a gymnast but also the encouragement that I received (and continue to receive) from my awesome MUM in support of my gymnastics journey as a child.
Allow me to explain how the combination of my mum’s encouragement and that of my coaches allowed me to go on to work on a really scary project that used to send shivers of fear down my spine when I was child…
That show is called ‘Doctor Who!!’ ….
Have you been watching the new series that returned to BBC 1 on Saturday 19th September? This new series stars Peter Capaldi as the doctor and he is the twelfth ever ‘Doctor Who.’
I was lucky enough to work on ‘Doctor Who’ in 2005. It was the opening episode of the new series and the episode was called ‘Rose.’ It starred Christopher Eccleston as ‘The Doctor’ and Billie Piper as his companion. I played the character of an ‘Auton.’ The Autons were robots that resembled shop mannequins, animated by the Nestene consciousness as soldiers. They were very scary looking and just the kind of thing that would get you hiding behind your sofa as a child.
Richard (Stunt Auton) with ‘The Doctor’
I had worked with Christopher Eccleston (The Doctor) before on the movie ‘28 Days Later’ back in 2002. In the scene in Doctor Who, Christopher had to throw me over his shoulder into a burning pit of lava and Billie Piper came swinging into the scene on a rope and kicked another stunt Auton over into the pit too! We had to fall about 25 feet onto an air bag and did the stunt around 4 times… It was a lot of fun, BUT the vision in the latex heads was restrictive and very hot.
‘Doctor Who’ has such a massive fan base that even now I (and the other stunt performers) receive the occasional fan letter asking for signed photos of our character in the show as an auton which I find quite strange but I always do reply!
I used to watch ‘Doctor Who’ when I was growing up and loved Jon Pertwee as the Doctor ‘on repeats’ as I also used to watch him as ‘Worzel Gummidge’ when I was a child. BUT the Doctor of my real childhood was Tom Baker and then Peter Davidson who is currently appearing in ITV’s documentary ‘Sugar Free Farm.’ I was fortunate enough to have worked with Peter in a comedy for the BBC.
I had no idea that the NEW ‘Doctor Who’ would be such a success, BUT the build up was amazing and I knew there was such a love and following for the show, so it was exciting to see it do so well and I am really pleased that it is still going today.
Funnily enough I had also worked with Billie Piper before, way back in 1998, the same year that I joined the British TV and Film stunt register, when she released the pop single that first made her a star called ‘Because we want to.’ Who remembers that catchy tune? Own up now – Did you buy the record? Billie became the youngest ever artist to debut at Number 1. She was only 15 years old! I was one of her backing dancers on the pop video. As you can imagine, Billie was a very determined and focused young lady with a clear idea of where she wanted to be even at that young age. She had a natural star qualityabout her. She trained at Sylvia Young’s Theatre School which gave her a good all round background in singing, dancing and acting. She can now be seen in the top TV series ‘Penny Dreadful’ where she plays ‘Lily.’ I think she is a great actress and it’s brilliant to see her career go from strength to strength.
If your child shows a natural talent from a young age, it’s so important to nurture and encourage that talent to flourish by making sure they attend regular classes and giving them lots of hours of practice. That way you are giving them the best chance of success for the future and lots of happy and exciting times ahead. I’m so glad that I put lots of work in as a child with all my gymnastics classes. Those classes were the building blocks which led to my future stunt success and I really enjoyed the whole process of learning and getting better and better.
I know that I am possibly preaching to the converted since you are perhaps a Flair parent (if not, why not!) or are involved in the gymnastics world (if not, come get involved) … So, please please continue to encourage your budding young gymnasts, your children and each other and together we will reach our full potential. I owe so much to my mum who continually supported and guided my journey as a young gymnast, and my mum still is my biggest cheerleader.
To join a Flair Gym Club and start your gymnastics adventure book online here > www.ukflair.com/clubs
Or just call us on 01483 654440
Best wishes
Richard
Flair Gymnastics Founder & CEO