A Bournemouth based gymnastics coach has received two nominations at this years national gymnastics awards.
Katie Wilford is in the running for the ‘Transforming Lives through Gymnastics’ and ‘Love to Move – Hazel Green’ accolades at the 2025 staging of the ceremony.
Wilford first began her involvement in the ‘Love to Move – Dorset’ programme during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading online sessions during lockdown, and today regularly leads classes at local care homes.
Wilford shared her motivation for helping the community through gymnastics:
“At all levels of gymnastics activity, from little ones starting off with their first forward roll all the way to what I do with Love to Move, it’s really important that everybody gets the opportunity to move, and be healthy, be strong, and feel good about themselves.”
“That’s what gymnastics programmes bring, no matter who their target market it is.”
“It focuses on what people can do, rather than what they can’t do.”
And on being nominated for the awards, she added:
“Being nominated as a finalist for these awards by British Gymnastics is really special, actually.”
“I’ve been working hard on getting this programme out to as many people as I can, because I really believe in it.”
“Over the last three years or so I’ve seen the benefits every day, so to be nominated, it shows me that they can see the benefits too.”
There were a record breaking of nominations submitted in 2025, with British Gymnastics describing the awards a way of ‘Recognising exceptional people and organisations that help keep gymnastics enjoyable, safe and open to everyone, making a positive contribution to individuals, local communities and wider society.’
The winners will be revealed between the 29th January-4th February, with several awards announced each day.
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