2009 News Archive
Gymnast Of The Year
Awards
Our Annual award were during our Christmas Party. This
year more than ever the coaches had some difficult decisions to make.
Robert Farrington won The Gymnast of the Year Award. Robert made his international debut earlier this year at Celtic Cup and turned
in an excellent performance. He won a silver medal at the 2009 Salto
Open December underlying his outstanding progress this year. Robert also been
selected on the 2010 Celtic Cup squad.
Shane Lyndon won the Elite Squad Award. In 2009 he won the Appenzeller Shield and won
gold at Level 3 Under12 National Championships. He was recently selected on the 2010 Celtic Cup
squad. Illya Babkin won the Junior Squad Award,
aged 8 he took silver at level 4 Under 12 at this year's Appenzeller Shield
Competition. Mathew Jennings won the Minor Squad Award
a medallist at Level 2 in the Appenzeller Shield Competition he narrowly missed out on a medal
at National Championships. Simon Mullen won our Best
Beginner Award for the most improved of the gymnasts who joined during
2009.
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2009 Salto Open
Congratulations
to all our medal winners at the Salto Open held in Belfast in December 2009. Ten
gymnasts took part with the boys winning SIX medals. It gave our Level 6 and 7
gymnasts a chance to test their routines in advance of the final Celtic Cup trial in
January 2010. At Level 7 Luke Coward won Silver. At Level 6, a great performance
by Robert saw him win Silver in what was his first competition competing
voluntary routines on all six pieces of apparatus. David and Shane, both competing
voluntaries for the first time, went clean on the three pieces they competed. At
Level 4 James Jennings won bronze at Under 10. At Level 3 Seamus Rossingol came
first at Under 12 with Kevin MacEnri and Dominic Henry-Hayes taking first and
second respectively at Under 10. Well done all!! A big thanks to Wayne, Rory and
Alison Halpenny (Portlaoise) who travelled as coaches.
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2010 Preliminary Celtic Cup Trials
The
2010 Celtic Cup will be held in Wales in February. Preliminary
Trials for the Irish Celtic Cup squad were held in Salto GC in November 2009.
Eight gymnasts from the club attended. All acquitted themselves well with SIX
being invited to take part in the final Celtic Cup trial in January 2010.
Congratulations to Robert, David, John, Shane and Leo who were selected on the
Under 13 squad and to Luke who was selected on the Under 17 squad. Jani and Adam
whilst not making this year's squad showed that they are in line to make the
squad next year. A busy few weeks lie ahead for the boys as they prepare for the
final trial and possible Irish Team selection.
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2009 Northern European Championships
Geoff
Rellis, who is currently training in the UK, represented Ireland at the North
European Championships in Cardiff in November 2009. Owing to new FIG age
restrictions Geoff was the only person on Ireland's men's team. A good
performance by Geoff saw him qualify for floor final. Well done Geoff!!
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Coaching changes for the 2009/2010 Season
Rory
Caffrey has recently joined our coaching team and will focus on our younger
junior gymnasts. He is a veteran of several internationals including Junior
Europeans, North Europeans and Celtic Cup and was our club gymnast of the year
for 2008. Rory will be a great addition to the coaching team.
Unfortunately due to work and music commitments Adam Smith's involvement this year has
been seriously curtailed. Adam was part of our original coaching team when we
set-up in 2004. Many of the gymnasts Adam coached won medals at regional
and national level and some went on to compete at NDPs in the UK, a competition
which Adam attended as Irish Coach in 2007. We would like to thank Adam for all
his time and effort over the last five years and hopefully he will be able
to resume coaching with us in the near future. Also, due to college commitments Ciara
Palmer is unable to coach this year. We thank her for her commitment over the last
couple of years and wish her the best with her studies.
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Phoenix GC adopts Irish Gymnastics Code of Ethics
Phoenix
GC has adopted the new Irish Gymnastics Code of Ethics. The code is based on and
fully compliant with the Irish Sports Council's "Code of Ethics and Good
practice for Children and Vulnerable Adults in Sport". The Irish
Gymnastics Code of Ethics document can be down-loaded
here. Over the last few months our child protection team (Ciara Winkleman
and Rachel Hussey), Carmel Healy, Tom Dillon and most of our coaches have all attended training in
this area. Arising out of the code adoption there will be some minor policy and
process changes that may impact parents and gymnasts. We will keep parents
advised of any such changes.
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New addition to Judging Team
Hugo
Kieran, a former national squad member who represented Ireland at Celtic Cup,
has decided that he would like to sit at the other side of the judging table. In
August 2009 he attended a judging course in Belfast and successfully obtained
his Club Judging award. This brings our number of judges to four.
Congratulations Hugo!
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2009 Club Training Camp in Largs
Our 5th annual training camp in Largs
was held during the first week of July 2009.
Eighteen gymnasts and six of our club coaches travelled to Largs on July 6th
for the five day training camp. Three gymnasts and two coaches from Old Bawn
also travelled. A great week was had by all with our guest coaches Mr T. and Pat
McGrath commenting on how much the standard had improved over previous years.
Many of the gymnasts learnt new skills with everyone working hard. For the first
time in many years the rain stayed away which meant some Nardini's ice-cream
could be enjoyed after training! A big thanks to everyone who helped make the
camp a great success.
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National Squad Structure Revamp
The
National Squad structure was revamped in June 2009. Provisional squads were selected
based on past national and international competition results. Congratulations to
the twelve gymnasts from Phoenix selected, namely :-
- Senior Elite :
Geoff Rellis & Rory Caffrey
- Junior Elite :
Luke Coward & Robert Farrington
- Junior Development :
David Ryan John Binchy & Leo Kurevlov
- Under 12 Development
: S. Lyndon, J. O’Connell, C. Winkleman, A. Crossan & D. Halpenny
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2009 Level 2-4 National
Championships
The
Level 2-4 National Champions were hosted by Phoenix GC. On May 17th.
Almost 80 gymnasts from around the country took part in what was the largest
Men's Competition this year. A big thanks to all our committee members, coaches,
judges, parents and senior gymnasts who helped run the event. Seventeen
gymnasts from the club took part, many in their first National Championships.
The club won six medals (1 Gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze). At Level 3 Shane and Jani
won gold and silver respectively at Under 12, Gareth took silver at Over 12. At
Level 4 Adam and Curtis won silver and bronze respectively at Under 12 with Conor taking
silver at Over 12. Our Level 2 boys also did very well narrowly missed out on
medals. Well done boys!!
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2009 Level 5-7 National
Championships
The
Level 5-7 National championships were held in Cork on May 8th & 9th 2009. Five
boys from Phoenix GC took part and all performed very well especially since they
had all skipped a competition level this year. At Level 5 Over 12 Ciarán
McCormack took silver missing out on gold by just 0.05. At Level 5 Under
12 where there were 15 other competitors David Ryan and Leo Kurevlov finished 6th
and 7th respectively, both improving on their Appenzeller Shield
scores. At Level 6 Robert competed on the full pommel horse and did an excellent
floor routine finishing 5th overall. At level 7 Luke Coward placed 5th
overall. He placed first on vault competing his handspring full twist for the
first time. Travelling with the boys as coaches were Wayne and German.
Adam travelled as judge .
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2009 Appenzeller Shield
Shane
Lyndon won the 2009 Appenzeller Shield becoming the fourth Phoenix GC winner in this event.
Phoenix GC hosted the Appenzeller Shield on Saturday, April 4th. This
Regional Level 2-5 competition is one of the largest boys events held in Ireland
every year with 35 gymnasts taking part this year. Twenty of the gymnasts were from Phoenix
GC. Our club won 12 medals (5 gold, 3 silver and 4
bronze) winning medals at every level - a great performance from the club. See our Roll of Honour page for
more details. A big thanks to our coaches, judges, helpers (coaches, judges,
competition registration, door keepers, equipment set-up/dismantle and scorekeepers) for helping make this event a great
success.
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2009
Celtic Cup, Scotland
Robert
Farrington from Phoenix GC was part of a successful Irish Under 13 team which
won bronze team medals at this year's Celtic Cup, held in Scotland on
March 28th. Wayne Healy travelled as coach. This was Robert's first
time on an Irish team! Several weeks
of hard training including two control competitions in Belfast paid off. Competing on Floor, Rings, vault and
Parallel bars, Robert went clean on all pieces for an excellent International
debut! Daniel Fox from Douglas GC won Ireland's first ever individual gold medal
at the event.
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2009
Junior National Squad Selection
Junior
National Squad trials were held in Douglas GC Cork in January 2009. Congratulations
to Robert Farrington (U13), David Ryan (U13) and Luke Coward (U17) who were all
selected for the Irish junior squad. Additionally Robert got selected on the
Under 13 Irish team for the Celtic Cup in Perth, Scotland at the end of March.
This will be Robert's first ever international. Wayne will travel to Celtic Cup
with Robert as Irish Team Coach. Well done Robert!!