Local teen eyes gold

By Uriah A. Kiser

Published: July 2, 2008

STAFFORD — A children’s sleepover has led to a local teenager’s chance to compete for a possible spot at the Olympic games.

Brandon English, 18, of Stafford had his eyes on Olympic gold as he prepared to compete in a final competition set for July 1 in Kansas City, Mo. It would help determine who would represent the United States on the trampoline in the Olympics.

English said that he is rated sixth out of eight gymnasts competing in the final, and that he has worked both day and night to get to this point.

“I need to jump really clean and consistent,” said English.

A win here would move him closer to the Olympic games, but probably would not put him in them this year. English said because he missed one of the four finalist competitions, he is 20 points behind the other U.S. competitors.

Facing that reality while striving for his best, he said the 2012 Olympic games are a better shot for him.

It has been no easy task getting the Colonial Forge graduate to where he is today, according to Toni English, the athlete’s mother.

Toni English and her husband Eugene English work at Eddie’s Repair Shop on Courthouse Road, a business that has been in their family for more than 40 years.

Sarah English, the couple’s 14-year-old daughter, is following in her brother’s footsteps as a tumbling gymnast.

Raising money and traveling to competitions has been a family-wide undertaking.

“Though we want to be there, sometimes we have had to just send the kids to the completions alone, with just their coaches,” said Toni English.

The competitions the teens compete in are not just around the block. Most of the world championships have been in Europe, with another competition coming up for Sarah English in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Most of the money raised to allow both teens to travel to competitions has come from private donations, small corporate sponsorships and from the family
business.

Toni English that her family has always been active in sports, and that they have always encouraged outdoor activities.

“Brandon was riding dirt bikes when he was five,” she said.

His love of gymnastics started when a friend invited him to a sleepover at Novak’s Gymnasium in Dumfries more than 10 years ago. While there he was
jumping around on the trampoline. When the gym’s owner, trainer Jadi Novak, saw him having such a good time, he asked him to come back the next day.

“I guess he saw that I had good balance and good strength,” said Brandon English.

The two have been working together ever since.

Like his younger sister, he trained as a tumbling gymnast until the age of 16. He made the switch to the trampoline because it was an Olympic sport. He
knows that the Olympic games accept only the best 16 competitors for the sport, and he plans to work hard to make 2012 a reality.

After returning from Kansas City, English will be back in the gym to continue his nearly three-hour per day workout sessions and compete in at least three more gymnastics world championships over the next four years.

“It’s one thing to win at the Olympics against 16 others, but when you compete in the world championships, you compete with hundreds all over the world,” he said.

At press time, the results of the competition in Kansas City were not yet known.