TORFAEN Academy of Gymnastics has enjoyed a successful 2017 and the club has been nominated for a number of prizes at the 2018 South Wales Argus Sports Awards.

We revealed last week that eight-year-old Chloe Brown is up for the Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

And the Torfaen Academy has also been nominated for Community Club of the Year, while Holly McKenna is up for the Coach of the Year prize.

The Academy is a club run by volunteers and aimed at getting children active and becoming part of a team.

They cater for children aged two and above, many of whom come from low-income families, and the volunteers make sure that gymnastics classes are accessible for every child.

In 2017 the club entered six young gymnasts in to their grades and gained a 100 per cent pass rate, with one gymnast passing her elite compulsory level 4.

Two young gymnasts travelled to Barnstaple to compete in the Gymstars Open competition in the summer against other gymnasts from all over Wales and England.

Callie Williams, aged seven, came overall third while teammate Chloe Brown was crowned the overall champion!

Chloe, Callie and seven-year-old Seren Croke were all selected to be part of the Welsh National Development Squad and train in Cardiff once a month.

Chloe has also been selected to train with the national squad three times a week.

It is just reward for the hard work of head coach Holly McKenna, who has been nominated for an award by parent Holly Norman.

She said: “Holly is an amazing coach and an amazing role model to all her pupils.

“She really loves all the children and helps to get the best out of each individual.

“My little gymnast struggles with confidence and she really has brought her confidence out so much.

“She’s helped her learn new skills and I couldn’t ask for anything better. She is such a wonderful person.”

For a full explanation of each awards category visit southwalesargus.co.uk/sportsawards – nominations close at 5pm on Friday, January 19, 2018.

The award ceremony will take place at Chepstow Racecourse, home of headline sponsor Chepstow Racing & Events, on March 14.