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| The Maia Acrobatics Cup 2010 |
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The Maia Acrobatics Cup 2010 was held in Porto, Portugal from the 4th – 7th March, with 221 gymnasts from 5 different disciplines, representing 7 different countries, competing.
The Irish team, consisting of acrobats Emma O’Byrne, Rebecca Holohan and Aine McGoff from Carlow Gymnastics club and their coach Michael Hughes, arrived in Porto on Thursday 4th March and without delay made their way to the competition hall for podium training. The girls were Ireland’s only representatives in the Women’s 11-16 Age Group category, with 17 groups competing, representing Portugal, Belgium, Great Britain, Netherlands, Spain, Russia and Ireland.
Friday 5th March - Qualification day one
The girls were quietly confident in their ability to perform to a high standard, even with the added pressure of live Internet coverage, which saw over 150,000 people log on for the full three days.
The girls had to perform their 1st exercise, Dynamic, and came out firing on all cylinders, finishing with a score of 26.65. This score had the girls lying in 8th position.
Saturday 6th March - Qualification day 2
As the 2nd day arrived, the girls performed their 2nd exercise-Balance. Emma, Rebecca, and Aine continued to push forward by scoring a fantastic 26.75, improving on both their artistry (8.15) and execution (8.60) scores from the previous day.
This fantastic performance left them in 7th place overall, qualifying for the final! This is the first time a group from Ireland has made finals at this competition.
Sunday 7th March - Finals day
For the final, each group could chose to perform either their balance or dynamic routine, and the girls decided to opt for their high scoring balance routine. Once again they gave an outstanding performance lifting their artistry from 8.15 to 8.30. Unfortunately a minor technical error saw their execution score fall by 0.1 from 8.60 to 8.50, finishing with an overall score of 26.80. With such a high standard of competition, this 0.1 error saw them fall from 7-9th place overall.
However the girls were ecstatic to qualify for their first ‘big’ international final. They performed brilliantly throughout the competition with each routine growing from strength to strength, and showed great maturity in dealing with all the pressure - well done girls!!
A special word of thanks to all the coaches involved with the group; Aimi Baker, Michael Hughes and Anne Rennick, who worked tirelessly to make sure all three girls were fully prepared, and of course their parents for all their support – especially those who travelled to Portugal.
Irish Team Acrobats:
Emma O’Byrne, Rebecca Holohon and Aine McGoff – Carlow gymnastics club
Irish Team Coach:
Michael Hughes
FINAL PLACING - 9th
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