Meet the Commonwealth Champ at our All-Star HQ

We’re a team of superstars here at the Beth Tweddle Gymnastics (formerly Total Gymnastics) Headquarters - but some of us have medals to prove it! Our Sales Executive, Jeff Hynds, was a Bronze Medallist in Judo for Northern Ireland at the 1994 Commonwealth Championships.
Here’s a bit more about Jeff, his experience at the Championships and his Bronze medal win…

Jeff first started Judo at the tender age of 7 because his uncle was a Judo coach and his passion grew from there. As well as Judo, Jeff also grew up playing rugby and Gaelic football.

The 1994 Championships were held in sunny Malta, and Jeff’s favourite memory of the whole event was his sister Wendy, flying over from her home in Berlin to see Jeff scoop the Bronze medal.

Jeff said he learnt skills in Judo that prepared him to excel as our very own Sales Executive, “Being self-motivated and having strong determination for a goal is definitely something I transferred from Judo to my work ethics now.

I lost in the first fight at the Championships which meant I knew I had to win every fight after that to get the Bronze, and that dive and focus to reach my goal is something which has stayed with me in all aspects of life.”

Jeff still teaches judo now and again but says most of his energy is now taken up playing football with his two sons, 8 year old Ruadhan and 6 year old Caidan.