The National Basketball Arena was the focus of all of the action for the 2018 Dublin Primary Schools’ Mini Basketball League finals this week, as over 1,000 children took to the court for a big festival of basketball.
Throughout the finals, 1,110 children played in the games, with 76 children officiating and more than 2,000 supporters on hand to cheer them all on.
76 school teams were clustered in local groups, and then were ranked in their cluster and paired for the finals in Tallaght. The Dublin Primary Schools Mini-Basketball League finals use the 4v4 format with teams of 12 players and six periods. All children participate in two periods per game. This format encourages more fundamental movement learning opportunities. All children are awarded a participation medal and the winning schools are presented with a trophy. Two children from each school act as scorekeepers and timekeepers.
This educational approach to sport and physical activity is very much in keeping with the Primary School PE Curriculum and the newly published National Sports Policy.
Team Ireland arrived home from the 10th World Elite Women’s Championships in New Delhi, India yesterday to a hero’s welcome.
Kellie Harrington claimed lightweight gold at the tournament after topping the 60kg podium following five wins in eight days at the Indira Gandhi Stadium.
The St Mary’s BC (Dublin) orthodox thanked all for what she described as phenomenal support during the competition.
Ireland finished in 6th spot in the medals table in India.
Head coach Zaur Antia and Dmitry Dimitruk were working Ireland’s corner in New Delhi.
Image: Kellie Harrington with St Mary’s BC and Irish coach Noel Burke at Dublin Airport today.
The full rundown on the performance of the Irish team was as follows. Well done to everyone involved
51kg Ceire Smith (Virginia) (Last 16)
57kg Michaela Walsh (Monkstown) (Last 16)
60kg Kellie Harrington (St Mary’s) (Gold)
64kg Amy Broadhurst (Dealgan) (Q/Finals)
69kh Grainne Walsh (Sparticus) (Last 16)
75kg Aoife O’Rourke (Castlerea) (Last 16)
Team manager: Bernard Dunne
Coaches: Zaur Antia & Dmitry Dimitruk
Physio: Muireann Harte
Gymnastics Ireland’s annual gala awards night took place on Saturday night in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Dublin.
200 guests took to the red carpet for the JLT Gymnastics Ireland National Awards for a night that saw 29 recipients being honoured at this celebration of another hugely successful year for the sport of gymnastics in Ireland.
The award winners came from clubs through to international stars and professionals of the sports industry. These awards are an acknowledgement by Gymnastics Ireland of the success achieved and hard work put in by those making a special contribution throughout the year in the development of the sport in Ireland.
The categories were wide ranging and rewarded representatives from both the competitive and participation bases within Gymnastics Ireland. A few highlight winners of the night were Irish international star senior gymnast Rhys McClenaghan who was awarded ‘Gymnast of the Year’ for a second consecutive time after his 2018 Gold medals for Pommel-horse at the European Championships in Glasgow and at the World Cup in Mersin.
World Youth Olympic Games finalist Emma Slevin was awarded the ‘Rising Star’ of the year and senior gymnasts Andrew Smith and Adam Steele were awarded a special recognition award for their many achievements on the international scene.
Media professionals from the Sports Industry including RTE Deputy Head TV Sport, Cliona O’Leary; RTE Sports Broadcaster, Evanne Ní Chuilinn; Free-lance print and online sports journalist, Cliona Foley and Sunday Independent Sports Editor, John Greene, were also recognised for their support and continued coverage of gymnastics in 2018 with a Special Recognition Award.
MC on the night, Joanne Murphy from Tri Talking Sport, kept the guests entertained throughout, including Mary O’Connor CEO of the Federation of Irish Sport; Shane O’Connor, Athletes Commission Chair and Board member of the Olympic Federation of Ireland; Karen Coventry, Director of Sport, Special Olympics; Sinead Galvin from Galvin Sports Management and Roddy Guiney, chairman of public relations agency, Wilson Hartnell, and Chairman of the Federation of Irish Sport.
A special tribute was made in memory of gymnast Aoibhe O’Connor from Cork Acro gymnastics club who sadly passed away earlier this year. Aoibhe was one of the first gymnasts involved in the Gymnastics Ireland GymABLE programme when it was launched last year. Aoibhe’s involvement and contribution to the programme has left a positive impact on the gymnastics community and in her club, which will forever remain.
Here is the full list of award winners:
Coach of the Year – Club: Flavius Koczi – Janz GC
Unsung Hero: Vincent Diffley – Janz GC and Aisling Kenna – Old Bawn GC
Non-Competitive Club of the Year: DP Gymnastics Club
Display Club of the Year: Douglas GC
Inclusive Club of the Year: Tie – Wexford GC and Coolmine GC
Club Innovation Award: Arklow GC
Competitive Club of the Year: Leader GC
Gymnast of the Year: Rhys McClenaghan
Rising Star: Emma Slevin
Coach of the Year – International: Tie between Luke Carson – Rhys McClenaghan’s personal coach andSally Batley and Giacomo Camiciotti – Emma Slevin’s personal coaches
Young Coach of the Year – National: Matthew O’Connor
Club Governance Award: Excel GC
Club Social & Digital Content Award: Phoenix GC
Safe Club of the Year: Gorey GC
Special Recognition Award: Mairead Kavanagh – Ireland’s first official elected to an international governing body as elected to the UEG Women’s Technical Committee
Special Recognition Award: Lisa Boyle – for judge support for the Gymnastics Ireland events and performance programmes in 2018 for the Acrobatics discipline
Special Recognition Award: Adam Steele – Finalist at 2018 FIG World Cup in Mersin
Special Recognition Award: Andrew Smith – Finalist at 2018 FIG World Cup in Mersin
Special Recognition Award: Aoibhe O’Connor – In memory of gymnast Aoibhe O’Connor who was an inspiration for everyone and whose involvement and contribution to the GymABLE programme has left a positive impact on the gymnastics community and in her club, which will forever remain.
Special Recognition Award: Will Banthorpe – Adams Steele’s personal coach
Special Recognition Award: Sergey Sizhanov – Andrew Smith’s personal coach
Special Recognition Award: RTE’s Cliona O’Leary(Deputy Head TV Sport) and Evanne Ní Chuilinn (Sports Broadcaster)
Special Recognition Award: Cliona Foley (free-lance print and online journalist)
Special Recognition Award: John Greene (Sunday Independent Sports Editor)
Statement in relation to the launch of new Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund as announced by The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross T.D. and the Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin T.D.
Applications are being invited for funding under the new Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The fund will be open for applications until April 2019 and a minimum of €100m is being provided. The new fund will initially focus on the requirements and development plans of National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Authorities.
Minister Ross said “2018 has been a phenomenal year for Irish sport and we are determined to provide the necessary investment to ensure this success continues. The establishment of the LSSIF confirms the commitment expressed in the National Development Plan and the National Sports Policy 2018 – 2027 to increase investment in sporting facilities across the state. This fund offers tremendous possibilities to develop high quality sports facilities and I have no doubt there will be a huge level of interest across all sports and all regions.”
Minister Griffin said: “This is another important day for Irish sport. Decisions to provide Government funding for large sports projects were previously made on an ad-hoc basis and there wasn’t any mechanism to apply for funding. This new fund represents a transparent and competitive process whereby all sports organisations and local authorities can apply. Apart from the obvious health and social benefits, the projects that are ultimately awarded grants under this new fund will also provide a significant economic benefit to their respective areas.”
The main features of the scheme are as follows:-
• The scheme is initially open to applications from National Governing Bodies (NGBs) and Local Authorities (LAs).
• The scheme will consist of two streams. Stream One, which is aimed at smaller NGBs and Local Authorities, will help fund the development of proposals to tender stage. Stream Two will assist applicants to bring projects from tender stage to completion.
• The scheme will require a minimum contribution of 30% from applicants toward the cost of any works/design.
• The scheme encourages multi-functional sports facilities that will serve more than one sport. Sharing between sports, NGBs and LAs is encouraged and such projects will be viewed more favourably.
• The existing Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme is closed for new applications and any proposed funding for swimming pools will be considered under the LSSIF
The new fund is separate and distinct from the Department’s long-running Sports Capital Programme (SCP). The SCP is focused on smaller capital projects where the maximum grant is €150,000 for local projects.
The full terms and conditions of the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund are available athttp://www.dttas.ie/sport/english/large-scale-sport-infrastructure-fund-lssif
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross and Minister of State for Tourism and Sport were present at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on their areas of Government earlier in the week and put the sporting world on notice that the Government’s Large Scale Infrastructure Fund would be launched for applications early next week.
That will put organisations including Leinster Rugby and the RDS, Connacht Rugby, the GAA, FAI and Cricket Ireland, who have all expressed ambition for new facilities to benefit from this fund very much on notice.
Minister Griffin also revealed that letters of invitation to take part on the Sports Leadership Group who will be charged with putting targets and timetables around the key pillars of the ten-year National Policy on Sport are also en routs or awaiting signature.
This group was originally targeted as being in place within 90 days of the policy launch which would have been October 19th but it is always better to get it right rather than getting it quick and it will be important to get the right representation of different interests within the wider sporting family.
Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Brendan Griffin also revealed that their findings would be reported on “around this time next year, maybe a little earlier” and that the implementation would now extend to over 12 years, reviewable every four in line with the cycle of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Among the other things we learned were that the current round of Sports Capital Grant funding has attracted total bids of €163 million of funding, for a pot of only €40 million and that it would likely be March or April of 2019 when the notification of awards would be made.
“We want to administer this as quickly as possible and get the money out to clubs and organisations but there is a massive administrative job of work to be done.”
“The 2017 applications that were resubmitted could be out before Christmas but that is dependent on a number of moving parts.”
“We would hope that the 2018 applications will be finalised in the spring but there will also be a slowdown in that if there are small anomalies in applications that we will be giving them a second chance to get those things corrected.”
On a question of governance Minister Griffin revealed that of the 76 bodies affiliated to Sport Ireland that 12 National Governing Bodies, three local sports partnerships and one other are already fully compliant with the Governance Code and that it was expected by 2021 that all of the bodies would be fully compliant.
The Baton Twirling Sport Association of Ireland were very honoured to be selected by the World Baton Twirling Federation to host the 2018 European Cup of Baton Twirling.
The event took place in the Sport Ireland indoor arena and the athletics hall was used as a practice area for the 571 athletes from 16 European countries who attended.
There were two days of music tests and training and five days of competition, making it the biggest sporting event in Ireland in 2018 outside of Special Olympics with 500 delegates, judges, officials and coaches also in attendance.
We have put in a bid to host the 2020 World Baton Twirling Championships, and if we are successful will have approximately 23 countries in attendance.
The Baton Twirling Sport Association of Ireland has been recognised as a National Governing Body for sport since 1989 and is a founding member of what is now the Federation of Irish Sports.
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