A HEXHAM teenager has continued his impressive gymnastics career despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Jonny Henderson has faced a difficult 12 months following the first national lockdown that came into force last March, but the youngster has trained harder than ever despite the restrictions that remain in force.

“Last year, just before the lockdown happened, we did the world trials which was great to be a part of,” said Jonny.

“But since then we’ve seen a lot of cancellations and events I was set to take part in have been moved or delayed because of what’s happened.

“To keep us all going, our group all trained together on Zoom and we also teamed up with some other gyms from around the world.

“Working with gyms from Ireland, Belgium, Canada and even Australia has been amazing to be honest. We’ve all worked on specific things during each session, so it’s all been a huge help.”

The teenager, who has represented Great Britain in competitions abroad in recent years, went on to add just how different things have been for his training schedule since last March.

“The biggest thing I think we’ve done as a group is just try and keep things as ‘normal’ as possible,” commented Jonny.

“It’s not been easy - when we were able to return back to the gym in July, things were of course different but I think we’ve all adapted well.”

Although Jonny and his teammates were able to return to training last summer, he admitted it took a few weeks to actually get in to the swing of things when they were allowed to continue.

“That was tough, it probably took us two or three months to get back to where we were before the pandemic, but I think we’ve all done really well,” said Jonny.

“When we were all at home, it meant I could focus on specific areas of my training - for example with my strength and flexibility - so when it was time to return to the gym I was as about as ready as I could be.

“This year hopefully I can attend the GB trials again. It’s something I really want to be a part of!”