Who We Are

For further information, see Committee, or Contact Us.

 

June Walden – Honorary President

June’s team from Newbridge Prep competed at the first Championships in 1979. The same year she started the Wulfrun Gym Club. She moved to teach at Daneshill School, starting both the Mid-Southerns and The Trinity competitions, and latterly taught at Castle House School, where she founded the ISA National Championships, co-founded MISGA championships, and resurrected BISGA in 2000. June was the first Technical Director of GISGA 1994 – 2014. She initiated the GISGA 2Piece championships in 2009 and served as the ISGA chairman 2014 – 2024. In 2014, GISGA became co-ed at the November 2Piece Championships. The following year the association changed its name to ISGA and introduced the boys 4Piece Premier Championships, plus a further tier of competition for the girls – 4Piece Challenge Cup.

 

Marion Charafeddine

Marion Charafeddine – Chairman & Technical Director

Marion was elected to be the Chairman of ISGA from September 2024. She has been an elected committee member since 1999 and served for many years as the Judges’ Convenor. In 2015 she became the ISGA Technical Director. In this role she has comprehensively re-designed the rules of the Girls’ Premier 5Piece competition and since 2014 has written the rules for the girls’ and boys’ 2 Piece and 4 Piece championships in conjunction with the committee. All rules are revised on a four year cycle. Marion was instrumental in putting a team together to initiate the first Judges’ Training Course in 2018 to enable senior gymnasts, teachers and coaches to become qualified ISGA judges. She, along with other committee members, continues to run similar courses. For many years, she coached the gymnastics squads at the Royal Masonic School (RMS) for competitions, achieving much success in ISGA and BSGA national championships, and ran her own Gymnastics Academy at the Royal Masonic School until 2023. At present she continues to coach at two local ISGA schools, Maltman’s Green School and St Mary’s School, Gerrards Cross. Marion became a coach and then a qualified judge following her introduction to the sport through her two daughters becoming successful gymnasts at Maltman’s Green School. She loves seeing children develop their skills and confidence through their progress in gymnastics, from the beginner stage through to a high level.

 

Verity BoulgerVerity Boulger – Vice Chairman & Judges’ Convenor

Verity has been Vice-Chair of ISGA since 2014. She had been a regular judge at GISGA competitions for many years and Head Judge on the Vault. Verity was Trophy Secretary between 1995 and 2014, keeping tabs on the many perpetual trophies which are re-awarded by GISGA every year. In 2016 she took on the role of Judges’ Convenor, being responsible for obtaining good judges for each event. Verity first became involved with the Association in 1984, bringing in her teams from St Christopher’s School, Burnham-on-Sea, where she was a PE teacher. Her teams competed until her retirement from teaching. She became a qualified gymnastics judge and has continued this voluntary service at competitions to this day, both for ISGA and other organisations. Alongside her work with ISGA, Verity is kept very busy with her involvement in the British Schools Gymnastics Association (BSGA). She has been a member of their Executive Committee for more than twenty-five years. She served there also as Trophy Secretary, for over 20 years; and in more recent years she has been their England Representative.

 

lindy-mcnallyLinda North – Competition Secretary

Linda became General Secretary in 1999 and helped to organise GISGA’s annual event, the 5 Piece national championships. Since then the number of competitions has quadrupled and the Association (now ISGA) has become co-ed. Linda relinquished her role as General Secretary in 2018 to concentrate solely on organising the four major championships now on offer, working closely alongside host school organisers. She currently teaches at St. Faith’s School, Cambridge, having previously worked at St. Mary’s, Hampstead and The British School of Brussels. She was at Farrington’s and Stratford House School when she joined the Association in 1994. Linda is also a qualified judge. She loves helping, advising and encouraging new schools as well as those already established. She is passionate about developing boys’ competitive gymnastics in ISGA.

 

suzanne-riminiSuzanne Rimini – Administrator:  General Secretary & Treasurer

Suzanne is a qualified coach and judge. She recently stepped back from running the gymnastics squads at St Mary’s School, Hampstead. She was elected to the Technical Committee in 2015 assisting both the Technical Director and Judges’ Convenor. In 2017 she became Assistant General Secretary. She took over in 2018 as Administrator combining the two demanding roles of General Secretary and Treasurer. Suzanne is an invaluable member of the committee. She is happy to advise new schools with ISGA rules and any other aspect of the association.

 

 

helen-le-pageHelen Le Page – Trophy Secretary (5Piece & 2Piece)

Former gymnast and then teacher/coach at Port Regis School, Highfields School and now Guildford High School. Helen became the Trophy Secretary for the 5 and 2 Piece competitions in 2014 and is always on the lookout for individuals, families and schools to donate trophies. She also co-hosts I.S.G.A. and  IAPS competitions with Head of Gym, Tara Oxley.

 

 

Trudy SmithTrudy Smith – Technology & Competition Support

Formerly a gymnast at Stamford Junior School under Libby Craig and now a classroom teacher there. Trudy has been involved in our championships most of her life. She is now a successful coach, has organised and hosted numerous competitions, is a co-founder of MISGA.  Her mother, Glenda Exton, is our former scorer.  Trudy’s daughter Lottie has been an individual GISGA and IAPS champion and Scotland’s Senior Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Champion – 2023.

 

 

Emily Burman

Emily Burman – Development Officer

Emily has been a classroom teacher at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Girls School, Elstree and is a highly respected gymnastics High Performance Coach and a Judge.  Since 2000 her girls have quietly made their way to the fore taking a number of I.S.G.A. titles. In 2002 she founded and now runs the EJB Gymnastics Club for girls and boys. She has served on the Committee since 2014 and hosted a number of our competitions. As Development Officer Emily has held annual workshops for teachers and coaches and is also a member of the team which promotes Judges’ training days. During the pandemic in March 2020 Emily has moved to giving interactive coaching and judging courses on-line.

 

 

Jo Cox – Website Assistant Editor

Jo was a member of the British National Woman’s Artistic Gymnastics Squad. She trained at Cray Valley GC, Orpington, and Ladywell GC, in Lewisham. Jo has been coaching for 32 years she formerly worked at Holmewood House School, and has been at Kent College, Pembury since 2008.  She is also a qualified judge and a mum of two girls.

 

 

Zsolt Csorba – Boys Gymnastics & Archivist (2Piece & 4Piece)

Zsolt teaches gymnastics at Port Regis School, near Shaftesbury in Dorset, helping both boys’ and girls’ teams to achieve their best possible results at schools’ competitions, following in the long tradition of Port Regis gymnasts. He heads up the Boys’ squads. He will be working with other committee members to build up the boys’ sections of ISGA. He is also a regular, qualified judge at ISGA championships, BSGA events and other artistic gymnastics competitions. His involvement with gymnastics goes back
to when he was a six-year-old. He started competing when he was nine years of age, only hanging up his gymnastics shoes at the age of twenty two. He moved to the UK in 2006 from Hungary to begin coaching at Port Regis. Zsolt is a keen archivist and is interested in the history of ISGA Championships and its predecessor  competitions, held ever since 1979. He will be in charge of the 2Piece and 4Piece Girls’ and Boys’ archives. Zsolt was elected to the ISGA committee at the AGM in April 2024 to serve from September.

 

Taylor Eden – Trophy Secretary (4Piece) & Archivist (5Piece).

Taylor is a former gymnast, a qualified artistic gymnastics coach and a judge. She has been the Head Coach at Streatham and Clapham High School since 2014, which is the school she herself attended as a pupil from 2000-2007. Taylor is also Assistant Head Coach at Gemstones Gymnastics Club, which is a family run club that was formed in 2014. She enjoys bringing her teams to compete in the ISGA Championships and is interested in the history of the organisation, its competitions and results. She will be keeping abreast of the Girls’ 5Piece archives in the future. She has set time aside to assist with the 4Piece Championships, taking charge of the trophies and helping with the presentations. At the 2024 AGM, Taylor was elected to join the ISGA Committee with effect from September 2024.

 

 

 

 


claire-pocock

Claire Pocock – Principal Scorer

Former parent and now the Principal Scorer at the majority of our competitions.  Claire is the author of our computer scoring programme and happy to instruct people wishing to purchase it.  Claire was also Manager of the new I.S.G.A. website and the Committee Minutes Secretary.  Claire’s daughter, Nicola,  a former ISGA gymnast, is now one of our judges

 

Akintunde Akinlalu – Website Manager

A Data Analyst, Python Developer and passionate about everything IT. With over 9 years experience in the health sector, he uses his skills in the sphere of business development, process improvement and quality management. Akintunde holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and an MBA with major in Strategic Management.

 

Maisie Cox – Assistant Editor