Volume 1, Issue 2

NOVEMBER 2000

3RD EUROTEAM 2000
REPORT

• 3rd Euroteam 2000 report
  
• Falkirk Fury Success
  

Team Gymnastics is the
fastest growing discipline in the sport and this was proved when over 500 gymnasts from 15 countries descended on the NIA making it the largest competitive gymnastics event ever in the world.

At first a number of the Falkirk gymnasts were
overawed by the occasion and the standard of some of the gymnasts, in particular those from the Scandinavian
countries.
Once training started however the nerves soon went and they concentrated on their own work.
The mixed teams started the competition on the Friday morning and Falkirk and
British Champions Andover made up the British teams making a total of 17 teams taking part.
Falkirk's first event was
Tumble and they were
delighted with an almost
faultless routine and a score of 7.6. However this was down marked to 7.1 by the head judge due to a uniform

violation. Although this was protested and did not count against the team on the other apparatus, it did affect the team spirit. Despite a neat and tidy routine on floor the
sparkle was not there, and their score of  7.05  reflected this. When it was Falkirk's turn to compete in their last event Trampet, they knew that they would need a good score and they did not let the
previous result bother them. They performed a superb
routine scoring 7.65 and 11^th place overall and beating the British Champions by over 1 point, an excellent
performance in their first
International competition.

The controversy over the
uniform deduction still raged at the end of the event and on checking the final results,
although the team would have moved up one place to 10^th, they decided not to protest further in the name of good relations.
This decision was rewarded when the team was selected to

carry the European
Gymnastics Federation Flag at the opening and closing
ceremonies and team captain Derek Callahan handed over the flag to the President of British Gymnastics and on to France the host nation for the 4^th Euroteam 2002
Championships.
The event finished with a
banquet where the Falkirk boys dressed in full Highland outfits were the stars of the evening.
It was an honour to be
selected to both carry the flag and take part in the event and the memories will forever be imprinted in the minds of these Falkirk Gymnasts.
The team was,
Derek Callahan, Julie Deans, Bryce Nimmo, Kirsty McGill, Alasdair Goldie,
Lesley Taylor, Stephen Park, Heather Ogston, Ryan Swinney, Erin Lee.
Travelling reserves
Alastair Mair, Alexis Ure, Alan Mullan, Emma Lambert
Coaches Robert and
Jean Callahan

Just 8 weeks ago Falkirk
Teamgym were informed that they had been selected to
represent Great Britain in the 3^rd Euroteam 2000
Championships in the National Indoor Arena ( home of the "Gladiators" )  in Birmingham.
Last Wednesday morning the team set out from Edinburgh Airport for what turned out to be the event of their lives for most of the team.