Welcome to Birmingham Flames..                                        

Alison Last, Head Coach at Birmingham Flames welcomes you to Birmingham Flames Gymnastics Club. The Club, which was established in 1988, is based in the Munrow Sports Centre in the University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham and provides gymnastics training for girls of all ages and for boys aged 3 - 7 years of age. Gymnasts of all abilities and experience are welcome. 

When do we train? 

How do I register my child with Flames Gymnastics Club?

Our Saturday morning sessions are organised for children aged 3 – 7 years.  They are run on a ‘first come first served’ basis, and take place on Saturday mornings from 10 -11.00 a.m.  Sessions cannot be pre-booked, so you just turn up and take a place in the queue to register each week.  If you wish to bring your child / children along to join in, please arrive by about 9.45 a.m. as the sessions are very popular and we have between 45 and 55 spaces available each week dependent upon the availability of our volunteer coaches.

The costs for each session are £3.50 per child, paid at the start of the session.  Each child will require British Gymnastics membership (arranged through the Club) which varies in costs according to whether you take the temporary or annual membership option.  If you wish to bring your child / children to the Saturday morning sessions you do not need to confirm beforehand, you can just turn up any Saturday (except any Saturday at or between Christmas and New Year when the Club does not run recreational sessions).

The Club also offers evening sessions for girls aged 6 / 7 years upwards – sorry we do not specialise in boys’ gymnastics and cannot offer places for boys.  There is a waiting list for these girls’ sessions (approximately 9 months).  Please contact the Club to arrange this by emailing Alison Last, Head Coach at gymnastics@flamesgymclub.org.uk or phone / text 07973 209 630.  Please note, it is unlikely that calls will be answered immediately due to work and coaching commitments, but please do leave a message and your call will be returned as soon as possible.

The Coaches 

The Club has a team of volunteer coaches who are all either already qualified or who are working towards their qualifications. New coaches are constantly being recruited and trained. Go to the Coaches page to find out more about our Coaches.

How do gymnasts move from recreational to competition squad sessions? 

Gymnasts are observed during recreational sessions, and coaches are always on the look out for potential competitive gymnasts. If the Club believes a gymnast has ‘what it takes’ one of the coaching staff will approach the gymnasts parent and talk about the next stage.   

Our successes 

We are very proud of our success since we were established in 1988, when the Redditch and Bromsgrove Club was forced to close following the untimely death of its head coach John Reeves. 

The Club started out based in Kings Norton, but moved to the University when a new specialist training facility was built. The gymnastics training facility at the University offers foam pits and all specialist gymnastics equipment for men and womens gymnastics. You can see images and find out more about the Slater Gymnastics Hall and the Munrow Sports Centre at www.bham.ac.uk 

Here is a site map to help you find us..               Its the building marked 30 on the map.

Since we began, the Club has grown from strength to strength, from just handful of coaches and a small number of gymnasts, to 28 coaches and approximately 150 gymnasts. 

We now have 28 gymnasts in our competition squad, of which 14 are in the Metropolitan County squad and 7 in the regional squad. Our gymnasts regularly represent the Region in National Gymnastics competitions. 

Alison Last is one of the coaches in the West Midlands who are responsible for organising the County and Regional Squads –for more information about either of these squads; please contact Alison via the Club email address: gymnastics@flamesgymclub.org.uk  

Our rules

We don't have many rules, but those we do have are important to us! Here they are:

1.    Parents please bring your children to the door of the gym, children are not to be dropped off or collected from the car park

2.    Jewellery must not be worn during training, this includes earrings, so please make sure you remove your jewellery before you start training.

3.    Please do not train in trousers or shorts with a belt, zip or metal fastening, these damage the bars

4.    Please try to arrive on time for training, we have quite a short warm up, so if you are even 5 minutes late, this affects how ready you are to train.

5.    Hair must be tied up off the face and shoulders - this includes fringes which can fall over the eyes and interfere with ability to see and ability to concentrate. It can also be dangerous for coaches who may catch their fingers in loose hair. Hair bands with sharp teeth (the current trend to wear plastic headbands!) are not to be worn, again they are a hazard we can do without in the gym.

6.     Parents are very welcome to watch, and there is a viewing balcony for doing so, but please keep the noise on the balcony to a minimum - you'd be amazed how the noise travels, and how hard the coaches have to work to keep their gymnasts attention.

Contact us 

If you want to chat to someone about the Club, or wish to visit Flames Club whilst training, please email: gymnastics@flamesgymclub.org.uk and a member of the coaching staff will contact you.