A dream has come true for 13-year-old Hayley Robson of South Durham Gymnastics Club, Spennymoor.

She's been chosen to represent Great Britain in the 14th Stephan Boltizatr Women's Artistic Competition which is being held in Croatia this weekend and it will be her first international.

Hayley, a pupil at St. John's RC Comprehensive School in Bishop Auckland, said: "I couldn't believe it when I was told.

"I'm very excited."

She travels to Croatia this morning with clubmate, 13-year-old Amy Fossheim, who is competing in her fourth international and club coach Rachel Wright will be the British coach for the second time.

The three of them make up the Great Britain party for this competition.

The South Durham club's other coach, Nicola Preston said: "There are only 12 girls from the whole of the British Isles in the British Junior National squad and three of them are from this club. Besides Hayley and Amy, Leoni Jenneson is also the squad.

"National Coach Zoltan Jordanev is very pleased with how the girls and our club is developing. All the girls are close friends but when one moves ahead the others try to catch her up which shows a good competitive spirit.

"They are all working hard towards the Junior European championships which will be held in Holland next year. It is a huge honour for our club to have Hayley, Amy and Rachel representing Great Britain."

Dedication is needed to get a place in the National Squad and Hayley trains five nights a week at the South Durham Club aswell as spending one week a month under the guidance of Zoltan Jordanev at Lillishall. At Lillishall Hayley trains three hours every morning and afternoon for seven days and is given guidance on diet.

The competition in Croatia will involve exercises on the floor, bars, vault and beams and whichever exercise Hayley performs the best one is the one she will compete on in the final on Sunday.

Hayley added: "The floor is my favourite exercise, I do a dance, a run, and a round-off, then I finish with a double somersault and twist."

The final word belongs to Hayley's excited mother Wendy Robson, who said: "All the hard work Hayley has put in is starting to pay off. She copes very well with all the training and her school work and we are all very proud of her."