New Gymnastics Ireland Performance & Technical Team Announced

Irish Sport HQ, Dublin: Gymnastics Ireland is proud to announce our new Performance & Technical team who will work with members/clubs to develop and support the Gymnastics Ireland P&T programme.

The team is made of a group of sport professionals including coaches with expertise in their particular areas/gymnastics disciplines and who have worked within high performance environments with elite athletes & Olympic medallists plus athlete support/health professionals from the Sport Ireland Institute to deliver the athlete support services programme. The team members are as follows…

Gymnastics Technical

• Luke Carson: Head of Men's Artistic
• Sandra Stevenson: Head of Women’s Artistic
• Simon Flannery: Head of Trampoline & Tumbling
• Victoria Pattison: Head of Acrobatics
• Kristina Rangelova: Rhythmic National Performance Coach
• David Roy Wood: Women's Performance Pathway Coach
• Sally Batley: Women's Performance Pathway Coach
• Andrew Smith: Men's Performance Pathway Coach
• Colm Murray: Talent Support Coach
• Mary Murray: Events technical support
• Jay Scouler: Trampoline support
• Wendy Coulson: Choreography
• Jonathan Stevenson: Strength and Conditioning

Sport Ireland Institute Athlete Support Services

• Julianne Ryan: Head of Performance Services & Physio
• Paul Carragher: Physio
• Michelle Biggins: Physio
• Jessie Barr: Psychology
• Emma Saunders: Life Skills
• Strength & Conditioning: Antoine Mobian

The new Performance & Technical team will be responsible for development in key areas such as...

• Delivering informative educational workshops for coaches to include pathway development and support services like nutrition, strength and conditioning, life skills etc.
• Working with existing clubs systems to align to the national system.
• Growing and implementing smart systems for analysing results/performance analysis, gymnast talent identification and ongoing development.

Commenting on the announcement, Performance and Technical Manager Sally Johnson said:

‘Our increased support from Sport Ireland and the Sport Ireland Institute for this cycle is excellent, very much appreciated and well deserved for our gymnasts. It is also great to finally have such a knowledgeable well experienced technical team to implement our High-Performance strategy working to build all the aspects required for a robust High-Performance system. This system aligns all our pathway structures and will support our members through the transition from club to national system ensuring a healthy & enjoyable journey. I look forward to continuing to develop our positive HP culture with this very talented team. Thank you to all involved and of course for the continued hard work of the gymnasts, coaches, judges and clubs.’

Gymnastics Ireland CEO Mr Ciaran Gallagher added;

‘It's great to see the new Gymnastics Ireland Performance & Technical team in place, including our expanded athlete support services programme through the Sport Ireland Institute, with a focus on the Paris cycle and beyond. The pandemic caused severe disruption to our programme development but thankfully now things are getting back in full swing. This programme represents a significant step up in terms of coaching and support services resource for Gymnastics Ireland. There will be an increased focus on the development of good club systems feeding into the national squad system therefore ensuring there is a consistent & clear talent pathway for our young gymnasts going forward.’

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