Published: Wednesday, 24th June, 2009 1:45pm

Alloa gymnast joins Britain"s elite squad

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AN ALLOA youngster has been doing cartwheels, handstands and backflips after making it into the British gymnastic team.

After excellent displays at recent British Championships in Ipswich and Newcastle ten-year-old Shane Currie has been selected for the British Elite Performance Squad, based at Lilleshall in England.

The Sunnyside Primary pupil was picked for the team after picking up an indivdual silver medal and for also being part of a Scottish team of three who won gold in the UK wide contest.

Shane told the Advertiser Sport, 'I was quite surprised to make the team - I thought it would be just for the winners of the individual gold medal.

'I enjoy doing gymnastics, I train five days a week and at the moment my favourite event is the pommel horse.'

Shane, who trains with Alloa Gymnastic Club, says his ambition is to follow in the footsteps of his hero Daniel Keatings and make it to the Olympic Games.

His mum, Lisa said, 'He started in gymnastics when he was five.

'From the time he was a baby he was always tumbling along and we took him to a class at the Speirs Centre where he was doing things like cartwheels without even being taught.

'We took him along to Alloa Gym class and the national coach noticed him at quite a young age.'

She added, 'As well as training with Alloa, for the past three years he has been training in Glasgow, Falkirk and Largs with the Scotland squad.

'Now he"s in the British team he will be going down to England once a month to train there.'

He may be a young star in the making but Shane"s face may already be familiar to many people in the county after he starred in a television advert around Christmas time about car emissions.

Shane performed gymnastics during the ad which was shown on STV.

His family are currently looking for a sponsor for Shane to help cover some of the cost of training, travelling and competition fees.

If you are interested in helping Lisa can be contacted on 01259 214652.

Shane added to his medal collection when he took part in the Scottish Championships in Perth at the weekend.

He won the overall under-10 Scottish title, having secured the best total score from the six individual events.

Shane also came top in most of the individual disciplines at the championships.