ESPRIT Gymnastics’ Deb Hows says having two of her gymnasts at the Commonwealth Games showing the best of their abilities is the ‘ultimate goal’ for a coach.

Last week it was announced that Stephani Sherlock would be joining Laura Halford at the Commonweath Games in July. Halford, will be competing for Wales and Sherlock will be representing England, with Hows joining her as part of the coaching staff for the English rhythmic gymnastics team.

Unlike her club charges, Hows has experience of international competition before, having previously been involved with Olympic and other international team events, though she has not been part of the Commonwealths prior to her recent call-up.

Speaking to the Advertiser Hows put the pride of gymnasts call-ups ahead of her own recogntion for the considerable amount of work she does for her charges.

“Laura and Stephani I’ve been coaching for a long time, the ultimate goal as a coach is to help them both reach the best of their abilities,” she said.

“I’m incredibly proud of Stephani and Laura as I’ve worked closely with both of them. It’s a proud moment for me, with both of them (at the Games) as their (club ) coach. It’s what being a coach is all about.

“Though they train together when they compete it’s individually against each other anyway so that is not new.

“I think it comes down to a lot of hard work and dedication on their part, once they’re competing it looks easy but it’s years of both girls giving up their time and working and working with complete dedication.”

Even though Hows has experience at this level of competition she is still energised by being directly involved at the Glasgow games.

“I’ve coached the English teams for a few years and been away as a Great Britain coach to the Olympics but this is my first Commonwealths.

“It’s even more exciting having now collected the kits and tracksuits for the Games.

“I’ve been coaching the team for the last few years on and off. We go into training camp in Barcelona, as part of preparation for Commonwealths, then we get a week at home before the Games start.”