2007 News Archive
Gymnast Of The
Year Awards
At
part of the 2007 Christmas party, Phoenix GC held its very first awards
night. This we plan to make an annual event. To mark being the club's first ever
representative and World and European Championships, Wayne Healy received a
special award of achievement. The annual award winners in all categories were
hotly contested and gave the coaches some very difficult decisions to make. The
coveted prise of "Gymnast Of The Year" went to Rory Caffrey for
the progress he made over the last 12 months culminating in his senior
international debut at this year North European Championships. Hugh Allen
won the Intermediate Gymnast award, Adam Crossan the Junior Gymnast award with
David Ryan winning the Best Beginner award. Additionally Geoff Rellis was named
our new Club Captain. Congratulations to all our winners.
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2007 Barbórka Cup
As
part of their preparations for the 2008 Junior European championships, Geoff Rellis and
Rory Caffrey travelled to the
Barbórka Cup in Zabrze, Poland on December 1st.
This Under 18 international competition featured gymnasts from throughout Europe
including Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania. Both performed well with Geoff scoring
an all-around score of 62.9 and finishing 9th on vault. Owing to injury
Rory competed four pieces scoring a total of
46.1. This included pommels where he competed Magyar for the first time to
finish 11th on this piece of apparatus.
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2007 North European Championships
Geoff Rellis and Rory Caffrey both turned in some fine performances as part of
the Irish Men's Team at
North European Championships held in DCU October 6th, 2007.
The Irish team was completed by Chris O'Connor (Douglas GC & Tolworth GC). Geoff finished 14th on vault whilst Rory had the honour of doing the
cleanest P. Bar routine of the day. Well done boys! Additionally it was
Wayne Healy's first outing as national team coach. Andrew Healy judged
at the event. Kirsten Ennis, Ciara Palmer and Hugo Kieran were all competition secretaries.
Adam Smith was event marshal; Luke Coward a floor runner; Tom Dillon helped with
IT - thus a big Phoenix
GC involvement at all levels. A big thanks to all the parents and gymnasts who
came along to support - it was great to see so many Phoenix T. shirts in the
audience. OB Sports had a short broadcast from the competition on their program
on October 29th, if you missed it you can catch some of the action at
OB Sports.
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2007 World
Championships
Wayne
Healy of Phoenix GC was part of the Irish team at the 2007 World
Championships held in Stuttgart in September. The team was completed by
Luke Carson and Mathew Cosgrove both of Salto GC in Belfast. Ireland competed at
7:00 pm on Monday, September 3rd. Competing alongside the likes of
Jordan Jovtchev of Bulgaria, the Chinese and Belarusian teams Wayne turned a
fine performance with a personal best score on Parallel Bars. Congrats to Wayne
on his performance! This completes a hat-trick of performances at major
internationals (2006 Euros, 2007 Euros & 2007 Worlds) where Wayne has gone clean
on all pieces competed. Following The World Championships Wayne retired as a
competitive gymnast immediately taking up a role as one of our national coaches.
This competition also marked Tom's last outing as a national coach as he decided
to concentrate his future efforts on club activities.
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Coaching staff changes
for the new season
Unfortunately
Lisa Hunt has had to return to the UK in September. We wish Lisa and her son
Owen all the best for the future and we extend our thanks to her for all her
hard coaching work over the last three years. On a brighter note, just returned from Leeds is our Club Captain Wayne. Wayne, who has graduated from
college and has represented Ireland at both World and European championships,
will be coaching our seniors moving forward and will add his vast experience to the club. Ciara
Palmer who also coaches in Old Bawn will be part of the
coaching team this year. Additionally German Kourevlev has joined the club as a coach.
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2007 Club Training Camp - Largs
Seventeen
gymnasts and five coaches from Phoenix Gym Club attended the club's 2007
training camp in Largs from July 2nd - 6th 2007. Additionally
two gymnasts from Old Bawn along with Ciara their coach and two gymnasts from
Excel along with Killian as coach also attended. A good week was had by all with
many gymnasts learning or perfecting new skills under the guidance of guest
coaches Mike Talbot (Mr. T.) and Pat McGrath. Gymnasts owe a big thanks to coaches Adam,
Andrew, Lisa, Kirsten and Tom without whose work the camp would not have happened.
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2007
NDP Championships
Owen Hunt of Phoenix
represented Ireland at the 2007 NDP finals in Newcastle over the May
bank holiday weekend. Owen
performed very well finishing 45th in the Primary 3 section where he
competed against almost 60 from throughout the UK, most of whom are training six
days per week. Alongside Owen was Adam Smith who was making his international
coaching debut!
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2007
European Championships
Wayne
Healy represented Ireland at the 2007 Europeans in Amsterdam. during April 007. Despite carrying a
serious shoulder injury Wayne performed very well. He competed on Floor, Pommels, P.
Bars and Vault. His top score was 13.65 on vault. Four clean routines no falls
with an excellent double back dismount to finish on P. Bars . The official website can be
found at 2007 European
Championships
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2007
National Team Championships
Phoenix GC finished second
for the second year running at National Team Championships on April 21st
in the National basketball Arena in Tallaght. Despite a number of injuries
(Geoff - foot and Wayne - shoulder) the team consisting of Wayne,
Geoff, Rory Hugo, David and Stephen performed very well, however a small number
of falls cost us the overall title which was won by Salto GC from Belfast. Well done boys!!
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2007
Appenzeller Shield
Eighteen gymnasts from Phoenix GC took part in the Appenzeller Shield
on March 25th 2007 in Olympian GC. This is a regional Level 2-5
competition with the Appenzeller Shield being awarded to the gymnast with the
best combined score on Floor, Vault, P. Bars and High Bar. John Fleming from
Phoenix won the Appenzeller Shield with the gymnasts from the club winning 10
medals in total comprising of four gold, five silver and one bronze. Well done
all!
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2007 Celtic Cup
Four gymnasts from Phoenix GC were part of the Irish squad that too part in the 2007
Celtic Cup held in Lisburn on February 24th, 2007. This is a
junior international between Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. At
Under 13 we had a solid performance by Luke Coward in his very first Celtic Cup.
Following a weeks preparation in Leeds prior to the competition, the Under 17
Irish team made up entirely of Phoenix Gymnasts had some excellent performances
finishing third... 18 clean routines with no falls and personal best scores for
all. Geoff Rellis scored 65.1 finishing 10th, this included a score
of 13.7 on vault - the second best vault of the day. Rory Caffrey scored 60.15
finishing 12th whilst Hugo Kieran scored 55.75 for 15th
place. Also making his international debut as an official was Andrew Healy who
was coach with the Under 13 team and a judge in the senior competition. Well
done all!!
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Newly Qualified
Judges
Andrew
Healy and Adam Smith completed a Club Judging course in January 2007 in Cork.
Both have passed their exam and will now judge for the club at regional,
national and international competitions. This brings to three the number of
qualified judges in the club. Congrats to both!