A former elite level gymnast from Hucknall has set up her own recreational gymnastics club in the town to coach the next generation of enthusiasts for the sport.

Kat Bramley began recreational gymnastics at the age of six before being poached by Notts Gymnastics in West Bridgford at the age of seven.

She made it on to the England team at the age of 13 and continued to represent her country until, on her 18th birthday, she suffered a crippling knee injury which ended her professional career.

Even more cruelly, Ms Bramley had secured a prestigious scholarship to study at Temple State University in America but this was inevitably cut once the injury occurred.

The horrific injury, which was essentially four separate injuries in one, included her snapping her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and tearing her Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL).

"That was a real tough one," said Kat speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News.

"To be fair it's only really in the last year or two where I've come to terms with it because gymnastics was my life.

"I went through all my rehab; I just went straight into coaching. I've coached at various different clubs, I've seen the way different people coach and train the children, it was a bit of a rollercoaster."

Now aged 24, Kat has just started her own club 'Wildkatz gymnastics' and runs 13 classes across Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays. All of her classes are held in the hall at Kang Han Combat & Martial Arts Academy on the corner of Beardall Street, which she describes as a "great space."

On starting her own club, she said: "The ethos in gymnastics is sometimes not very nice, the culture, and I really want to be a part of that change. I want to put the fun back in gymnastics.

"For me and my club one day I'd like to do competitive gymnastics but for the time being I just want to see the kids enjoying it. I want to see positivity, I want to see happy faces, I just want it to be a really fun and positive environment, because growing up and doing gymnastics the place I was, wasn't always fun, it was more like a job."

Such was the level of dedication required to compete at the highest level, Kat found herself juggling school commitments and anywhere between 30 and 35 hours of training a week. This left her little time to socialise with her friends and occasionally battling to stay awake in the classroom such was the rigour of her schedule.

As already alluded to, Kat is keen for her sessions to be based around the enjoyment of gymnastics. However, this doesn't mean that she will never introduce any elements of competition to her sessions or stand in the way of those who are good enough to, and most importantly, want to, enter competitions.

"If the kids get really really good at my gym, and I'm not doing competitive gymnastics, I will send them to a club that I know, and I've actually worked at before, which I kind of want my club to be a feeder club to, so the kids do get a chance to be competitive. For the time being I don't want to be competitive I just want it to be fun."

This doesn't mean that Kat won't branch out into the world of competition once her business is more established.

"I could do recreational competitions. I am qualified to take children to national competitions. I've worked with elite gymnasts for most of my career. If we do competitions, they will be fun ones."

The first week of classes began last weekend and already five of the classes are fully subscribed. She described the sessions as running "really smoothly," and found the whole experience "fabulous."

For more information about Wildkatz gymnastics visit their Facebook page here. For all enquiries contact Kat via email on [email protected] .