Irish squad members Niamh Hutchinson (2020 Olympic Start Squad) and Jessica Knatchbull (Development A Squad) travelled to Renmore Gymnastics Club in Galway on July 25th to spend four days training alongside two Olympic gymnasts. Accompanying the girls were coaches squad coaches Sharon, Jamie, Bex, Aideen, Caoimhe and junior coaches Rebecca and Caoimhe.
Two time British Olympian Hannah Whelan, London 2012 Olympian Rebecca Tunney, 2012 European finalist Charlie Fellows and up and coming British Junior Olivia Williams travelled to Ireland with their coach Claire Duffy to train for the four days ahead of their World Championships trials. Claire acted as a camp coach along with esteemed choreographer Daniela Nanova, a former Bulgarian Artistic and ex – Olympic Rhythmic gymnast.
The girls trained for 6 hours a day, with a short half hour break. They worked on Bars, Beam, Tumble Track, Vault, Bar Shaping and Choreography. The City of Liverpool gymnasts trained alongside the Irish gymnasts for most of the rotations, with Tunney and Whelan often stepping out to offer some coaching advice. Niamh had a few tips from Hannah on how to nail her aerial on beam!
The coaches also had some learning to do, meeting with Claire Duffy each morning to offer feedback from the previous day. She also conducted a conditioning workshop and a bar workshop. Each coach has come back to the gym with lots of new ideas and thoughts for training.
To conclude the four days of hard work, Hannah Whelan displayed a dance through of her routine for coaches and gymnasts. She had taken the day off training to coach and even with only jumps and leaps, her routine was beautiful. She left many gymnasts feeling inspired.
Well done to Niamh and Jessica for their hard work.
