Gymnastic club grows by leaps and bounds

Lifestyle –  Judy Murphy meets the people behind an ambitious club that has set its sights on new highs

New Yorker Sam Mariano is explaining her reasons for settling in Galway – but it’s proving almost impossible to concentrate on her. Sam’s story is a good one, but just a few feet behind her head, bodies are whizzing and catapulting through the air, defying every law of gravity.

These flying people are the senior members of Renmore Gymnastics club which began as a small venture some 10 years ago and now has a membership of almost 800 people from toddlers up to adults, who come from all parts of the city and county; the oldest member is in his 60s. 

This club is the reason why Sam, who first came to Galway five years ago, is still here, and it’s easy see why.

For the 35 or so young people at the specially fitted out 8,000 sq foot warehouse in Parkmore on a rainy Saturday morning, the emphasis is on fun, games and, for a minority, competitions. The youngsters are tumbling, rolling, doing headstands, climbing up ropes and performing extraordinarily difficult manoeuvres, which help them develop core strength.

The flags on a wall behind them represent the various countries that their 18 coaches hail from, and it’s like a mini United Nations, with people from such diverse places as the USA, Germany Latvia and the UK.

Senior Coach and driving force behind Renmore Gymnastics Club, Englishwoman Sally Batley got involved 10 years ago, having initially come to Galway for a weekend. Back then, she had a friend who was working with a small gymnastic club in Renmore Hall and Sally visited to help her. Her friend announced that she was leaving Galway to study in Dublin and suggested that Sally, a gymnast and graduate in new media studies, take on coaching the children for a while.

Sally did and was impressed by the talent and commitment of the 50 young members. But she felt it was a shame they didn’t have better facilities. In fact, at that time, the club was in danger of ceasing completely because of problems in finding volunteers to help run it.

“I made the fatal mistake of saying ‘I’ll stay and help for a little while, but I need to change a few things’,” says Sally with a laugh.

Ten years later the club has moved to a much bigger premises and Sally is still here, helping the club go from strength to strength as members take part in national and increasingly international competitions.

Those performing at competitive level make up a minority of members, especially those at the most elite level.

“To compete, you need two attributes,” says Sally. “You need a natural aptitude and also need to be mentally strong and brave because the sport is very hard.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.