CEO Update | Christmas 2025
As we wrap up another incredible year for Scottish Gymnastics, I wanted to share some highlights that reflect our values in action across the community.
Inclusive
Gymfest is always a highlight of the year but this year we celebrated 40 years of Gymfest! This inclusive display event for all ages and abilities was created to reward gymnasts with medals, not scores. They and their coaches could share their gymnastics skills, artistry and creativity with family and friends. We enjoyed hearing your memories and welcomed friends young and old to celebrate the 40th birthday along with the nearly 2,000 participants.
In partnership with British Gymnastics Foundation, we donated £10,000 to the hardship grants programme to benefit more gymnasts in Scotland. These grants are used to help gymnasts stay involved in the sport through times of significant financial difficulties. We will open applications again in the new year so please keep an eye out for news in our Springboard newsletter and on social media.
Our club satellite programme allowed three clubs to expand their activities in their community and remove the barriers to participation. They were awarded grants of just over £20,000 to help their projects. These included creating a new venue in an area with no sporting opportunities; setting up preschool classes in a different and more diverse community; and starting a disability gymnastics programme in a local school. We have now expanded this programme to become the club development programme. This opens up more varied routes for clubs to reach new communities and change lives through sport.
It was great once again to support a para gymnastics team to attend an event in Finland as we continue to work with other nations to support the development of para gymnastics.
Supportive
We strive to support clubs with all aspects of their work and 2025 saw new and existing support provided.
The club culture development programme was new for 2025. This supports leaders in coaching and non-coaching roles to enhance and develop the culture within their clubs. We’ll be running the programme again next year so watch out for opportunities to get involved.
Changes to Scottish legislation meant that many more roles required membership of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. This affected judges and board and committee members. We provided information and updates to all clubs to help with these changes. We also developed and delivered a free safeguarding training course specifically for judges.
In partnership with British Gymnastics, we launched the club funding portal. This is an easy-to-use search tool to find local, regional and national funds and help them to enhance funding applications. Additional income could contribute to developing current or additional activities or capital costs for facility projects and equipment. This was a great addition to the Gymnastics Buying Group we launched last autumn to support clubs in reducing their running costs.
Along with British Gymnastics we further enhanced club support by launching a new class-management system. JustGo for Clubs is available free of charge helps with class management and bookings, tracking attendance, emails and more. We will share clubs’ experience of the system in the new year to help you understand how it could work for you.
Our team has been meeting and working with clubs to help navigate these opportunities and support the clubs with their aspirations.
Aspirational
From Gymfest to the World Championships, Scots have continued to represent at all levels of the sport and across all disciplines. We have again seen the commitment and aspiration of members across the community with gymnasts, coaches and judges representing Scotland and Great Britain on the world stage.
The Summer Extravaganza was a first for many reasons. This was an event for beginner level gymnasts who had perhaps not competed before across different disciplines. We used the Caledonia Gladiators’ venue for the first time which proved a hit for competitors, coaches, spectators and staff. More bronze level gymnasts were involved in the Winter Extravaganza and we’re looking forward to next year’s events.
We launched a new learning hub for coaches, gymnasts and parents which members and clubs can subscribe to at a fraction of the non-member cost. Brilliant Basics is a vast set of video and written resources to help you through the gymnastics development journey. It includes discipline technical skills, physical preparation, and behavioural tools to help with resilience, co-planning, and more. We’ll continue to add new content, with rhythmic and TeamGym videos coming in the new year. The free mental fitness resource and handstand resource give you an idea of what’s on the platform.
For those families wanting to follow live scoring during competitions, we simplified things this year. You only need to head to the Scottish Gymnastics website and click on the flashing button to see what’s happening. Live scores remain on the site until we publish the verified results on our results page.
2026
We have lots to look forward to next year, especially with the Commonwealth Games returning to Glasgow. We wish the gymnasts vying for a place in Team Scotland all the best in their preparations for the remaining selection events. The first of these is the Scottish National Artistic Gymnastics Championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow – tickets are on sale now.
We will continue to consolidate our support across programmes and increase direct engagement with clubs to ensure we fulfil our strategic aims and deliver what you need. We have been supporting the governing bodies are running on empty campaign. I am involved in speaking to the Scottish Government as part of the CEO forum. We are urging them to use the upcoming budget to deliver on their election pledge to double the annual funding for sports. We feel this is necessary for continued levels of operations and support for our members.
On behalf of the staff and board of Scottish Gymnastics, thank you for your continued support and involvement in gymnastics. I wish you and your family all the best for the festive season and the new year. We look forward to sharing 2026 with you.
Doc McKelvey
Chief Executive Officer