Yorkshire Gymnastics
Association Ltd
Brief history of YGA Ltd
YGA was founded in 1898, 10 years after the BAGA and it was one of the first to register with the BAGA. (The FIG was founded in 1881)
Many of the first gym clubs were established in schools and especially in public schools. The first discipline was Men’s Artistic(MA) followed closely by the Women’s Artistic(WA) These disciplines have for many years been a part of the Olympic Games.
George Whiteley, a senior lecturer at Carnegie College, is credited with the formation of the English Schools Gymnastic Association in the 1960s. George was an influential member of the BAGA BOC as treasurer and also greatly supported the YGA BOC until his death.
When YGA was initially formed all disciplines met at one BOC meeting. Originally it was only MA and WA and what is now GG which was mainly involved with gymnaestrada events displays and workshops. At this time trampolining was under the control of the BTF and it was not until 1999 that BG took over trampolining.
As more clubs joined the association, mainly girls clubs, it was suggested that WA should form a technical committee and this was the first of the disciplines to form a Technical Committee(TC) that we currently recognise now. However all financial matters were through the BOC and it was not until the 80s that WA were allowed to have their own competition account.
In 2008 the General Gymnastics formed its own TC and began to run competitions in floor and vault for boys and girls. The WA later decided not to run F&V competitions. As competing at a lower level clubs asked for more 3 or 4 piece competitions to be held on the more basic elements. 2015 the GG opened their own account.
In 1974 Rhythmic Gymnastics(RG) held their first courses but it was not until 2019 that they formed their first TC.
In 1975 tumbling and Sports Acrobatics were introduced by the BAGA and they later formed their TC and became increasingly popular as a discipline.
Team Gym was introduced in about 1995 and is becoming increasingly popular as a discipline. This year we formed a TC in this discipline
As the number of clubs has recently increased,
many clubs purchasing or renting their own facilities,
disciplines have their own TCs and accounts under the YGA BOC. In 2019 YGA Ltd, was established with its own Articles and Terms of Reference for the TCs. The BOC has its own Executive committee comprising the chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer. All chairs of TCs are Directors attending BOC meetings elected by their member clubs with their own accounts and the Regional Welfare Officer.
As far as our knowledge extends the first chair in our memory was Richard Walshaw, followed by Ken Fidler, Max Sime, Mike Talbot and currently Christine Bowker. Originally chairs were members of the BAGA BOC. Now the chair is a member of the English committee. As a region we adopt a democratic approach allowing all member clubs to be part of decision making and attend meeting of the TCs to which they are affiliated. As a BOC we thank
Alec Smith as treasurer for 60+ years and Judy Clark who
was secretary for 40+ years.