weekend for a camp and mini-meet at Le Club Artistique de Gymnastique Gadbois.

The camp is designed to fine tune the girls' skills in preparation for the upcoming season.

Meanwhile, a judged meet will be held on Sunday at Le Centre Gadbois, after which the contingent will get a chance to tour the city.

"The Montreal trip offers the gymnasts a great opportunity to concentrate on improving their skills and to compare their performance to that of other gymnasts,'' said Henry Cox, president of the Bermuda Gymnastics Association.

"Conversing with French speaking coaches and other children will also be a challenge and of interesting experience.'' The latest venture follows tours of Russia in 1994, as well as several to the United States for similar camps and competitions.

Seven of the current group also took part at the US National Championships in Florida back in June.

"In order for our Bermuda gymnasts to be the best that they can be it is necessary to work with and compete against other aspiring gymnasts as much as possible,'' said Cox. "As there are no other competitive gyms in Bermuda this requires a fair amount of travelling.'' The Bermuda Gymnastics Association will be holding its first international meet in February.

It is hoped that some 250 gymnasts from Bermuda, US, England, Canada and possibly Argentina will take part and the event become an annual affair.

Among those travelling with the group will be head coach Walid Mustafa and assistant coach Andrew White.

GYM DANDIES -- Bermuda Gymnastics Association will be sending a team of 21 competitors to a meet in Montreal this weekend. Among them are (from left): Laura Murphy, Nikia Manders, Sasha Christensen, Kristina White and Maria Darby.