Personality Profile
didn’t have to go to every lesson. It felt a bit strange at first but everyone got used to it.” However, secondary school (Oakwood
Grammar) was a different proposition. His teachers wanted to protect his academic interests rather than see him gamble his future on sporting success that might not come to fruition. “They knew I was taking a gamble,” says
James. “If gymnastics didn’t work out and I had no GCSEs, I’d be in a bad place. It took many meetings and leters between my parents and the school, but we worked together to get results from both gymnastics and the academic side of things.” His time at secondary school was the toughest
of his life. As a teenager he struggled - he missed not going to town with his mates because training trumped everything. And in the gym, while other boys were being selected for teams at 12 or 13, James wasn’t. “It’s not that it wasn’t geting anywhere,” he
says. “It was just very slow progress. Tere were many times when I really wanted to jack it in. But I think perseverance makes a good athlete. Not necessarily the desire to win, but the desire to improve every day. So I just wouldn’t give in.”
James Hall Career Highlights: 2015 British Championships all-around bronze, 2017 European Championships all-around bronze, 2018 Commonwealth Games (Team England) team gold, high bar silver
His tenacity paid off and, at 15, his first
international landed him in second place in the all-round. Today, making the Olympic squad is his main goal – and his punishing training reflects that. “Te things we do with our bodies to push
our performance that litle bit further,” he says. “I can’t remember the last time I woke up and didn’t ache. It takes your whole career to perfect your technique and yet you can lose strength in a mater of weeks if you’re not careful.” It’s this reliance on being at peak condition that
makes James, and other 23-year-olds in his line of work, keep an eye on retirement. Te physical demands of the sport mean most male gymnasts quit by the age of 28.
“I don’t really want to go into coaching.
I love imparting my wisdom, but it’s not really what I want to do forever – I think I’ll have had enough of gymnastics by the time I retire,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to join the police. I plan to volunteer for the Specials (Special Constabulary) towards the end of my career and, hopefully, that will get my foot in the door. “I couldn’t imagine doing a nine to five
office job after tasting this for 20 years, whereas policing is different every day. “Gymnastics has taken me to great places
and, as long as I can say I gave it everything, whether I make the Olympic team or not, I gave it my best.”
C
ourtney Tulloch’s childhood gym classes were never intended to be the
first steps on the road to international success. His mum, Gloria, thought they’d just be a good way to help her “hyper, skinny” son “vent some energy” and stop “bouncing off the walls”. In fact, for the youngster growing up in
Romford, workouts in the gym never had the allure of the football pitch. And yet today, the Maidstone-based
23-year-old has secured a raft of global plaudits for his almost superhuman gymnastics prowess… as well as a spot on the BBC’s Question of Sport. “Before I started, I knew nothing about
gymnastics,” says the Manchester United fan. “Everything was football. Of course, I was
8 Mid Kent Living
happy to give the gym a go but, like most boys, my heart was set on football. “Te gym made me realise there are so many
other sports out there. It wasn’t just a straight choice between going into football or geting an office job. “You have to follow your passion, not just fall in with the crowd. Tat’s what worked for me.” Te young Courtney, like so many aspiring gymnasts, was a regular face on the circuit and at national training camps. Tey introduced him to contemporaries who would one day make up the international squads that would form such a crucial part of his later life. And, most importantly, they led to a chance meeting with Ionut Trandaburu – a coach at Maidstone’s Pegasus Gymnastics Club. “Today the club’s one of the best in Britain,”
says Courtney. “At the time we were in a small gym in Bearsted, it wasn’t one of the best – a bit cramped – but I’d met Ionut at a training camp and we really connected well. “So, when my Romford coach left
gymnastics and I had to find a new club, training with Ionut seemed the obvious move.” Initially, young Courtney and his barrister
mum tried to trek regularly between Maidstone and Romford. “It was an hour and a bit to training, so aſter
a hard day at work, mum would pick me up from school and then we’d go straight to gym and she’d just wait there, there wasn’t time to go back home or anything, so she’d wait until I’d finished and then we’d drive all the way back,” he says. But the family realised the commute wasn’t
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