National success for Hercules | Taranaki Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Taranaki

HERCULES Swart of Stratford came back with good results and a silver medal from the New Zealand Gymnastics National Championships held in Hamilton recently.

In the first day of Hercules' competition, he scored a high 13.4 on the vault to put him in the third position overall and, despite stiff competition went on to perform well in the final rounds of both the vault and parallel bars.

On top of his admirable personal ranking, Hercules also came back with a silver medal from his team work with Waikato a province he has been representing since June of this year.

Hercules' career in gymnastics started in Stratford where he spent many hours training at the TET MultiSports Centre and he attributes his personal success to the skilled guidance of Bronwyn Cleland, who helped him build on his 2006 National Championship performance of fourth overall.

Hercules nearly didn't make it to the national competition, having had to withdraw from the Secondary Schools National Championship only a few weeks earlier due to a broken toe.

However with perseverance, dedication and excellent support from friends and family, he managed to come back, perform well and add further credit to his name.

The Taranaki team was made up of members from all around the region, with Stratford being represented by the talented Louise Lang (Level 6) and Summergrace Oliver (Level 5).