New Term Reminder!

Our new Term starts on 6th

February

New Club Logo As we entered our 31st year, and an exciting next phase in our clubs development, we decided it was time to look at our our clubs identity and logo. Over the years, we’ve been served by many logos, some of which you will be familiar.

World Championships 2009 In October, Sarah Wedel & Aimee O’Driscoll travelled to London to compete at the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships. The two Douglas Girls made up two thirds of the Irish Womens team, and were accompanied by Judge Mairead Kavanagh, and coach Tim O’Donovan. We’re really proud of the two girls, and the hard work continues, with Sarah off to Lisburn on 30th January to guest at the Northern Ireland Championships.

New Committee The AGM of Douglas Gymnastics Club was held on 11th November, and a new committee was elected as follows. Chairperson: Rachel O’Byrne Vice-Chair: Ian O’Flynn Secretary: Marie Duggan Treasurer: Carol Dalton Development: Jeff Fox Events: Mairead Kavanagh Technical: Debbie McDonnell Child Welfare: Bernadine Fox Committee Members: Ally Hayes, Tim O’Driscoll, Tim O’Donovan We also have a number of subcommittees operating in the areas of PR, Development, Events, and Technical. A sincere thanks to all those who atteneded our parents information meeting and AGM, and to those who volunteered to be on the management committee or one of our subcommittees. If you have any questions about our club, or suggestions about how we can make it better, please do talk to one of us.

Club Newsletter – January 2010

The initial club logo from 1978, just had the words “Douglas Gym” A pictogram of a girl in handstand was added in the mid-80’s, and this logo has remained on our club tracksuits until now. In the early 90’s, the club adopted a logo with a picture of both a boy and a girl to better reflect what we did, and used the full name of the club. This became or official logo for our website, letterheads etc, but we felt the time was right for a re-vamp.

The clubs colours have always been black and white, but we decided to also add 1 more colour, and we choose green, representing the traditional colours of Douglas Village. After reflecting on lots and lots of potential designs, we finally choose our new logo in November. You’ll already have seen it on the new line of club kit we have begun stocking, and our new tracksuit will also have the logo, when it is ready in the next few weeks. We’ve also begun to use it on our club communications and our website. We hope you like our new logo, and that it will become instantly recognisable around Douglas, around Cork, and even Ireland, as we head into our next 30 years.

Aimee O’Driscoll

Sarah Wedel

Sarah was first up to compete, and was on Beam, Floor and Vault. A few wobbles on beam, but all in all a solid performance from the Douglas team captain.

Aimee was competing on Floor, Vault, and Asymmetric Bars. Just back from injury, Aimee battled hard to put on a great performance with very solid routines. The girls finished up in 89th & 90th Positions out of 146 competitors from all corners of the globe.

Northern European Championships - Wales The 2009 Northern European Championships took place in Wales from 7th-9th November. This annual competition sees 11 nations from North and Western Europe fight it out for Team, All-Around, and Apparatus titles. Representing Douglas, was Sarah Wedel and Sarah Buckley. It was Sarah Buckleys first senior international event and she was selected for the team based on her Assymetric Bar skills. Sarah Wedel had a great competition, and qualified to Beam final, which was a great achievement, placing her 6th in Northern Europe on the Balance Beam. Intermediate Team Championships On 15th November, Douglas sent a team to Skerries, Co. Dublin to compete at the Intermediate Team Championships. The Douglas team was made up by Fiona Buckley, Caoilfhionn Collins, Aoife Cullimore, Julia Cussen, Bronwen Cruise O’Shea, Meg Haugh, and Hannah Hayes. Congratualtions to all the girls who performed well at this tough competition. Gym Closures As you know, we had planned closures on 20/21st November, as well as 27th/28th November, in order to facilitate the Douglas Communty School Annual Play. Unfortunately, due to the flooding in Cork, and subsequent school closures due to water supply issues, the play was postponed a week, which had a knock on effect for us also and we had to take an unplanned weekend off. We held an additional class on Sunday 13th December. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. Christmas Party We held our annual Christmas party on 19th December, which went down a treat for parents and children alike. We hope you all enjoyed the day. We also ran a toy-appeal and had a donation box for St. Vincent dePaul at the coffee shop - many thanks for your generous donations. Christmas Raffle We ran a Christmas raffle, which raised almost €1000 for the club. Many thanks to those who purchased lines, and those who donated prizes – and congratulations to the winners!

Douglas Inter-Club Friendly On 31st January, Douglas will play host to one of the biggest competitions we’ve ever held, when over 200 gymnasts from around Cork City and County will compete in a friendly inter-club competition we’ve organized. Over 90 gymnasts from Douglas will take part. Southern Region Level 1 Finals The Southern Region Level 1 Finals will take place on Sunday 24th January in Cobh Gymnastics Club. Douglas has 26 gymnasts taking part. Best of luck to all the girls! Representing Douglas, are Meg Ryan, Kim Morrissey, Aisling O’Flynn, Emma Power, Emily Whitaker, Caitlyn O’Neill, Naoimi Neirink, Clodagh Hennessy, Hannah Healy, Laura O’Sullivan, Edaein Samuels, Ciara Lynch, Abbie Barry, Rachel Sweeney, Holly Barriscale, Julie Connolly, Sadhbh Gash Ruby, Katie Gowan, Leah Son Slattery, Molly Neill, Laura Gowen, Catriona Crowley, Olivia Tiernan, Niamh O’Mahony, Emiily O’Mahony and Sinead Roe. National Level 7-10 Finals The National Level 7-10 Finals will take place in Dublin on 7th February. We have 5 girls taking part. Best of luck to Hannah Hayes, Fiona Buckley, Meg Haugh, Julia Cussen & Aoife Cullimore. European Championships The 2010 European Championships take place in Birmingham from 19th April to the 2nd May. We currently have 5 gymnasts undergoing the trial process. On the mens side, Chris O’Connor, Adam Dalton, and Daniel Fox, are working hard for a place on the mens junior team, whilst, on the womens side, Sarah Wedel and Aimee O’Driscoll are trialling for a place on the Womens Senior Team. The team announcement is imminent, so stay tuned for more updates!

Calendar January 24th Level 1 Regional Finals Cobh 30th Northern Ireland Championships Lisburn 31st Douglas Inter-Club Competition Douglas February 7th National Level 7-10 Finals Dublin 7th Celtic Cup Trials (Girls) Dublin 14th Level 2-6 Regional Finals Douglas 20th/21st Celtic Cup Wales 28th National Level 1 Finals Dublin March 7th National Team Championships Douglas

Christmas Training Camp From 28th to 31st December, we had exclusive usage of the sports hall at Douglas Community School, so we were able to set up all our equipment, and run an intensive training camp for our recreational and elite gymnasts. The gym was running from 10am to 4pm every day, with fun, games, and even a bit of hard work taking place! Many thanks to all of those who took part, and we hope you found it worthwhile. We are also hoping to run an easter camp, and will let you know ASAP if we are. New Tracksuit & Club Kit In December, the first batch of our new hoodies, tshirts, and bags arrived, and we had a sample of our new tracksuit. No doubt you’ve seen some of the new kit on some of our gymnasts. We’re also very happy with our new tracksuits, and we hope to have the first few for sale within the next few weeks, emblazed with our new logo! We still have some of our old tracksuits in stock, and are donating all of these to the Chernobyl Orphans fund. Grading System In our last newsletter, we wrote about our new grading system. We have 14 grades in total, from gymnasts who have just started out with the club, right up to our elite gymnasts. Each grade has about 25 different skills or tasks that the gymnast must complete to progress onto the next grade. This will be a continual assessment grading system, and gymnasts will be presented with a 'graduation' token following successful completion of the grade. We will be kicking off this grading system from 6th February New Term Our new term starts on 6th February. Fees will be due from that date. Many thanks for your support. Celtic Cup The 2010 Celtic Cup will take place in Cardiff, Wales on 20th February. The boys team has been selected, and Douglas has half the national team with Chris O’Connor, Adam Dalton, Daniel Fox and Ryan Gettings. The girls panel has yet to be selected, but battling for a place on the 7th February will be Sarah Buckley and Niamh Rana. The Celtic Cup is an annual junior event for the Celtic Nations of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man. (more info in next newsletter)