A NEW home has not yet been found for the Jersey Special Gymnastics Club – three months after it was forced to leave the sports hall at Greenfields.
The group, which enables children with special needs to participate in gymnastics, had been based at the Five Oaks site for more than a decade.
It had to move out in July after the Jersey Care Commission said that the facility should be made exclusively available to the youth at the secure home.
Paul Patterson, chair of the Jersey Sports Association for the Disabled, said ‘positive’ discussions about the future of the club had since taken place with Assistant Economic Development Minister Lucy Stephenson, who holds political responsibility for sport.
‘I formed the impression that she genuinely wanted to help. Nonetheless, we have nowhere to go at this stage,’ he added.
‘Higher self-esteem, more confidence and social interaction are all boxes that are ticked [by the club],’ he continued, adding that the prospect of being left without a home was a ‘devastating blow’ for the club’s athletes and their families. ‘If the gymnasts have nowhere to train, then they will either find other sports or give up,’ he said.
He added that the club had helped to facilitate the sporting careers of some high-level competitors, including multiple-time special gymnastics champion and gold medallist Alex Buesnel.
Deputy Stephenson said: ‘It remains an ongoing personal frustration for me that the Jersey Special Gymnastics Club is yet to find a new home.
‘It is an important local institution which has not only turned out some exceptional Jersey athletes who have competed – and been very successful – on the world stage but which also provides important physical exercise and enjoyment to its gymnasts, respite to their families and is a much-loved community for all those associated with it.’
She pointed out that the club was a private organisation and that there was ‘no requirement’ for the government to provide it with facilities but said that a number of ministers had ‘made it clear that they want to help find a solution’.
‘Several options have already been explored, and I’m grateful to Jersey Sport for their help, but as yet the right location has not been found,’ she said.
‘It may be necessary to find short-term premises for the club while a long-term home is found, but I am hopeful that, by working together, we can find a solution that enables these athletes to return to training as soon as possible.’
