Latest News
2010
Celtic Cup
The
2010 Celtic cup was held in Cardiff in February. Four gymnasts from Phoenix GC
were on the Irish Team, making up almost half of the men's team. After several
weeks of hard work, the boys all did the club proud. At under 13 Robert Farrington, competing in his
second Celtic cup, was the best of the Irish gymnasts competing on all six
apparatus and performing some excellent routines particularly on parallel bars.
David Ryan competing in his first international did four pieces and had
Ireland's top score on floor. Shane Lyndon also in his first international,
competed on three pieces, top scoring on vault. At Under 17 Luke Coward competed
on three pieces which included a top-notch vault. Congratulations to the four
boys and to Wayne who travelled with them as Irish coach.
Back to Top
2010
Celtic Cup & Europeans Championships Trials
The final Celtic Cup trials were held in Belfast in January 2010. Six of our
gymnasts who had previously been shortlisted the Celtic Cup panel took part with four making the final team.
Congratulations to Robert Farrington, David Ryan, and Shane Lyndon who are on the
Irish Under 13 team and to Luke Coward who was selected on the Irish Under 17
team. John Binchy and Leo Kurevlev also performed well and were unlucky not to
make the Under 13 team this year but both have put down firm markers for the 2011 team.
Celtic Cup will be held in Cardiff in February. In addition to the four boys, Wayne
Healy will be travelling as Irish coach.
The preliminary trial for the 2010 European Championships were also conducted alongside the Celtic Cup trial. Geoff Rellis, who is currently training in the UK, was selected on a five man senior squad. Final team selection for Europeans will take place in March.
Back to Top
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.
Back to Top
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.
Back to Top
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.
Back to Top
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!!
Back to Top
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
Adam which 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.
Back to Top
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.
Back to Top
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!
Back to Top
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.
Back to Top
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
Back to Top
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!!
Back to Top
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 .
Back to Top
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.