A YOUNG Bury gymnast received the perfect birthday present when he was selected for British Gymnastics’ 13-strong junior squad – and his coach has tipped him for the top.

Jack Chamberlain, who trains at Bury Gymnastics Club, celebrated his 15th birthday on December 15, and amongst the cards landing through the letterbox was a very special letter indeed.

The Elton High School pupil has been selected for Team GB's junior squad, which picks the very best gymnasts in the country based on their potential at world and European level.

Paul Hockwart, who coaches Jack and the club’s other gymnasts, says the 15-year-old is one of the finest he’s seen.

“Jack’s level of determination was something that I had not seen before,” said Hockwart, aged 34, whose previous coaching role was as understudy to his father.

“He’s very determined – he goes home and he puts on YouTube to see what other gymnasts can do, and to see what he can do.

“That was something that was there from a very young age, too.

“If Jack maintains his position over the next couple of years, I would say he’s probably going to be a Great Britain gymnast.”

The letter has sparked a busy period for Jack, with the British Championships taking place in Liverpool in April, all with a view to the next big venture, 2018’s European Championships.

With Jack studying for his GCSEs alongside six weekly training sessions, life is very much a balancing act, but as his father, Tim Chamberlain, testifies, he is no stranger to hard work.

“Jack was delighted with the selection and is very excited by the opportunity that he has earned,” said Tim.

“His progression to the junior national squad is the culmination of a lot hard work and commitment and he is very much looking forward to a new set of challenges.”

Bury Gymnastics Club, based at Goshen Sports Centre, is getting used to similar success stories like Jack’s, with a stellar production line in place.

The club has had five other boys – Joshua Binns, Finlay Dunne, Lazarus Benjamin, Harley Spann and Joe Feery – earn call-ups to British Gymnastics development squads at a younger age group.

But rather than any sort of magic, the secret to Hockwart’s success is much more prosaic.

“We have got the second highest number of boys in the squad in the country, which for a little town like Bury is fantastic,” he said.

“We have got a state-of-the-art facility funded by Sport England which opened up four yeas ago – it’s one of the top training centres in the North West.

“The parents play a big part, bringing them to training, then it’s the determination and commitment of the coaching team and the gymnasts themselves.”

Theo Seager sparked that success as the first young gymnasts to make it into the Team GB squad from that Bury production line.

He was coached by Hockwart’s father, also called Paul.

Seager retired in 2014 after his chances of Commonwealth and Olympic glory were cut short by injury, but he has been an ever-present inspiration at Bury Gymnastics Club.

“These boys were inspired by what he can do, so he was a good role model, he was kind of on his own but now he’s been joined by the rest,” said Hockwart.

“I started coaching in my teens, I have been at it a long time – I was the understudy to my dad, so I was around Theo.

“We managed to get a good team together, and the plan was just to get more and more high quality gymnasts.”

After the success of Team GB in London 2012, securing a bronze medal for the first time in a century, the boys from Bury Gymnastics Club could well follow in their footsteps.