Gym-tastic accolade for UCLan student

A University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) student is limbering up to join the Great Britain Aerobic Gymnastics squad and has set her sights on representing her country.

First year dance student Freya Abrams is the only senior gymnast from the North of England to make the 2022 GB Performance squad and has ambitions to represent her country at the Aerobic Gymnastics European and World Championships next year.

It is the first time the 18-year-old, from Hesketh Bank, had made the GB team following success at events this year, including online competitions and the British Championships in September.

Freya said: “I’m really happy and my family are very proud. It will be a new experience that I want to learn from and I’m aiming for a top five finish at the events.”

The former All Hallows Catholic High School and Cardinal Newman College pupil has been a gymnast for as long as she can remember and began to focus on aerobic gymnastics around the age of seven. The sport is performed on a sprung wooden floor with senior routines lasting around one minute and 30 seconds.

She said: “I love the aerobic discipline as it’s a combination of many skills including strength, fitness and flexibility. It’s a growing sport that I hope will one-day feature in the Olympics.”

Freya juggles training at least four times a week at LK Aerobic Gymnastics in Southport, for around four hours each session, with her University degree in dance, performance and teaching.

She added: “I’ve always been interested in dance and it certainly plays a role in my gymnastics. Through my dance training at UCLan I am given more freedom and can experiment with freestyle routines, whereas a gymnastic routine is very structured. It’s a nice contrast.

“It’s hard work and involves a lot of commitment but it’s absolutely worth it.”