A LOCAL gymnast has been selected to represent Great Britain at the highest level possible for a junior gymnast.

Mason Parker-Groves of Okehampton Flyers is set to represent his country at the Double Mini Trampoline (DMT) World Championships in Nanjing, China later this year.

Mason first entered British Gymnastics nationals at 10 years old, and with an immense amount of hard work and commitment, has climbed from the lower national rankings to the top of his age group.

Now, the teen will be on the international stage in China and at the Loule Cup in Portugal, where he has been called up for England, making the events his first Great Britain selection for DMT and his first trampoline national squad selection.

To qualify for the World Championships, gymnasts have to attend and compete in designated world's selection events. Mason was the only British DMT gymnast in his age group to hit the difficult World Championship qualification score at a selection event this year, achieving 0.8 points above it. This means he is now number one in the Great Britain 13-14 boys’ DMT team. He also progressed to hitting the difficult secondary world score in trampolining for the first time at the English Championships in July.

Commenting on the young gymnast’s success, Mason's coach, Vicki Pritchard, said: "Mason is extremely committed. Qualifying not only for the Great Britain team, but also for a national squad in a second discipline, is a huge achievement.

“He has been working at his execution, time of flight, horizontal displacement and landings for the upcoming internationals, and has been continuing to increase his difficulty, with complex double double passes for DMT and seven double somersaults including multiple twisting doubles in his trampoline routine.

"Training and competing at this level takes a huge amount of dedication and many personal sacrifices. It also takes a lot of commitment from gymnasts' families.

"Mason's success is inspiring to our local community. It shows our current and future gymnasts that, with hard work and perseverance, they could also achieve high level goals."

However, despite the excitement surrounding Mason’s selection, it hasn’t come without its challenges, with the teen and his family now looking to fund the opportunities.

All Great Britain and England places are self-funded, with all costs including travel, accommodation, GB and England kit, training camp fees and other related costs falling to families. To represent Great Britain and England at these two internationals and maintain Mason's squad places, it will cost his family around £5,000. Without external financial support, Mason won’t be able to compete at the World Championships or the Loule Cup.

As a result, a GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help raise funds so that Mason can compete at the World Championships and Loule.

So far, more than £500 has been raised for the cause, however, the campaign is aiming to raise £1,800, with Mason and his family having expressed how grateful they are for everyone who has supported the fund so far.

Donations can be made via: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-mason-represent-great-britain-at-dmt-worlds