Paul Hall, Huntingdon Olympic Gym’s coach, will once again be the top man when it comes to coaching the Great Britain team at the 2012 London Olympics. Paul has agreed to write a blog about his experiences for The Hunts Post. Here is his first instalment.

IN just under one year’s time the Olympic circus will trundle into town and the community of Huntingdon will, I hope, be glued to their TV sets watching and supporting our local gymnasts in what will be the biggest event of their lives.

Of course, there is no guarantee that Louis Smith, Daniel Keatings, or Luke Folwell will be going, as they are all now embarking on a gruelling year of selection events where up to 12 gymnasts are fighting for potentially just five GB places.

The support of our local club and community will be essential in helping our gymnasts to focus on the job ahead, and it was wonderful to see so much energy at our own Olympic countdown event at the weekend.

Over 60 local children created their own torches and then, led by our Olympic aspirants, made a lap of the field, spurred on by ‘Chariots of Fire’.

You only needed to close your eyes for a few seconds to be transported to the final lap of the marathon down there in the Stratford stadium- wonderful!

The guys now have a few weeks of training in Huntingdon before heading off to Lilleshall in Shropshire for national training and a selection event at the end of August that will form the GB team for the vital World Championships to be held in Tokyo in October.

We need to finish in the top eight teams in order to guarantee a team of five for London next year.

Watch this space....

Paul Hall