CEO Irish Gymnastics: Louis Smith perfect for launching Gymnastics Ireland
Irish Gymnastics has made a move to re-brand itself as Gymnastics Ireland. Ireland’s national governing body for gymnastics took this decision recently, and re-launched itself as ‘Irish Gymnastics’ in the first week of November, this year.
The body has almost 12,000 memberships, spanning nine disciplines, four of which are Olympic.
Olympic medallist Louis Smith was chosen to officially launch Gymnastics Ireland. The launch comprises of a new website by the name of www.gymnasticsireland.com, a Facebook page titled ‘Gymnastics Ireland’ and a Twitter account named ‘Gymnasticsire’.
Leading Irish gymnasts, Luke Carson, Emma Lunn and Aisling McGovern, were also present at the launch to show their support for Gymnastics Ireland.
“I have been aware of what Gymnastics Ireland are trying to do with the sport,” Smith said. “Their results have been constantly improving and Kieran Behan’s World Cup medal in October was a great achievement”.
Smith expressed his excitement at witnessing this re-branding initiative. He is a firm believer in the power of re-branding and said it was the right way to go if the aim was to promote gymnastics as a “cool and edgy” sport.
On the morning of the launch, he also trained a group of young Irish gymnasts. He had only positive words to describe the thriving group of athletes.
“I have worked with some young Irish gymnasts this morning that are aiming for 2016 and there is some real talent here,” Smith said.
According to Smith, along with the provision of right structures to facilitate the gymnasts, attracting new audiences is also necessary.
He was impressed by the new positioning of social media and communications and wished Gymnastics Ireland the best.
Ciaran Gallagher, Chief Executive Officer at Gymnastics Ireland, believes Smith to be the perfect person for this launch.
He explained the decision to choose Smith for the purpose by describing him as not only one of the best gymnasts in the world, but also having a great personality that accurately mirrors the brand personality of Gymnastics Ireland.
Gallagher also contended that viewing gymnastics as a minority sport as wrong. He provided growing statistics to support his claim.
According to him, participation levels of the sport have doubled since 2007, going from a total of 6,000 to almost 12,000. As one of the oldest Olympic sports, gymnastics enjoy some of the highest viewing figures for sports events.
He stressed on the importance of gymnastics, deeming it as the “foundation for other sports like rugby, soccer and GAA”.
He also said that the key elements of gymnastics, such as strength, balance, agility and spatial awareness, are crucial to the holistic development of an athlete.
Ireland’s current standing in the international gymnastics arena does not show promise for the London 2012 Olympic Games. However, Ireland is already aiming high for 2016 and hopes to have gained requisite momentum by then.
Tags: