For more images of this and other courses, go to the 'Gallery Page' on our website.

What a fantastic weekend this was!Roy Surplus and Hazel Coates joined forces to share their wealth of knowledge in the field of GMPD (disabilities gymnastics). The two day course brought children with various conditions to Twisters GC in order to give coaches the opportunity to have first hand experience in working with them. Many thanks to Sean and Cahir for their patience as our coaches tried to take all the information in! This course is absolutely invaluable to all coaches and we believe no club should be without at least one coach who has undergone it.

Our NEXT GMPD course will be on 24th and 25th May at ABBEY GC in Newtownabbey. If you are interested please send application forms to us ASAP.

For more images of this and other courses, go to the 'Gallery Page' on our website.

Well done to our fifteen candidates from the Enniskillen area who took part in our Level 1 General gymnastics coaching course at the Lakeland Forum in February. Enniskillen have been crying out for a gymnastics course for quite a while now so it was great to finally give this enthusiastic lot the opportunity to take part. What a good laugh the weekend was! With limited young gymnasts to demonstrate the moves - the candidates were more than willing to give everything a try themselves. There certainly were a few stiff backs by day two, but all agreed it was well worth it. There might well be a demand for adult gymnastics classes in the Enniskillen area in the near future... Candidates are due to be assessed in July and hopefully will move straight on to the level 2 course which will commence in September.

Cheerleading Course

Looks like our first ever Cheerleading course will be held at the Joey Dunlop Centre later in the year.This promises to be great fun - keep an eye out for conformation of exact dates!

Abbey GC are preparing for another term of fun and learning. This term they will be focusing on the new British Gymnastics Award Scheme. This new scheme consists of 8 awards which will allow all gymnasts to work towards! Alison McMullan stated, "As we are aware each child is an individual and development through these awards will depend on each child's capabilities, determination and attendance." Gymnasts will be presented with awards attained at this year's display which will take place from Monday 16th to Saturday 21st June 2008.

Congratulations Squad Gymnasts...

Abbey GC competed in the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championship at City of Lisburn Salto, on Saturday 16th February. This was a highly successful competition for the squad of 7 achieving 17 medals between them. Junior squad members demonstrated elegant floors routines and strong vault performances in the level 5 category. Performing a powerful handspring vault to win gold was Ashlin McCourt (10), she remained confident on floor placing 2nd and finished 1st overall. Also highly successful was Kirsten Eatock (9) placing 2nd on Vault,4th on floor and 2nd overall, just 0.6 behind Ashlin. The 7&8 years age group was represented by Hannah Morrison (7) who's strong handstand flatback vault placed her 2nd and finished in 3rd place overall and just missed out on a medal on floor. Abbey's 2 senior members performed fantastic routines and pulled off many newly developed skills. Sophie McCoo (Level 3 age 12) caught the eye of many on the floor performing two new tumbling passes;round-off,backflip,full twisting straight back and front somersault immediate round-off,backflip, tuck back somersault. A delightful performance winning her another gold medal. Nicole McCourt (12) is one of the squads newest members was the most successful, winning an outstanding 5 gold medals in Level four. This was Nicole's first competition at level 4 having recently qualified from level 5. All Abbey gymnasts performed brilliantly and made their coaches and parents proud. Well done to the squad and keep up the good work!

Join Abbey...

More spaces have become available in some classes at Abbey. Be sure to secure your place! Children of all ages and abilities are welcome.

GNI are planning to run a series of Adult Gymnastics and Mother and Toddler Gymnastics Workshops, please spread the word throughout your club and get back to us with a list of names of those interested.

There are still places on our Men's Artistic Gymnastics course which will run on the 15th, 29th and 30th March. The course which was initially due to run at Abbey GC has now been changed to Salto, Lisburn.

Contact the office for more information.

Trampoline News

Boyd Cathcart took 3rd place in U.13B Open Event
Colum Miskelly took 3rd place in U.19boys Open Event
Kerry Hempill took 3rd Place in U.11G Closed Event
Nikita Gardner took 4th Place in U.19G Open event
Scarlett O’Brien took 4th place in U.15G Open Event
J oy Montgomery took 5th Place in U.19G Open Event

European Championships in Odense, Denmark in May 2008 James Barr (18yrs), Joy Montgomery (15yrs) and Boyd Cathcart(12yrs) – all from Antrim Phoenix Trampoline Club have been selected to compete for Ireland in the Senior and Junior European Championships

Irish Gymnastics National Squad – 2008 The following Northern Ireland performers have been selected onto the Irish National Squad:-

SENIOR SQUAD - Ashleigh Barr, James Barr, Colum Miskelly, Joy Montgomery,Ciara Neary, Kelly Skinner, Amanda Morrison, Vincent Walsh

JUNIOR SQUAD – Sarah McMullen, Scarlett O’Brien, John Mawhinney, Boyd Cathcart, Aedan Neary, Emma law

Development Squad – Nicola McKenna, Lauren Leonard

WROCLAW CUP - Poland James Barr, Ashleigh Barr, Joy Montgomery and Boyd Cathcart are off to complete in the Wroclaw Cup in Poland 5-9th March 2008 – Results to follow!!