Team Ireland Sochi 2014

JJBrown79

I've been reading some of the articles about Sochi and was just thinking how it was a pity we don't have any irish athletes (born and bred) going

I know we've got some people competing under the Irish flag but surely we'd be better giving funding to kids who are actually Irish...less of this Irish granny business imo. Do we not have any snowboarders or skiers who actually are from here and could go? Kids who were competing for the US or Britain and didn't make their teams shouldnt just get our funding

Fattes

JJBrown79 wrote: »

I've been reading some of the articles about Sochi and was just thinking how it was a pity we don't have any irish athletes (born and bred) going

I know we've got some people competing under the Irish flag but surely we'd be better giving funding to kids who are actually Irish...less of this Irish granny business imo. Do we not have any snowboarders or skiers who actually are from here and could go? Kids who were competing for the US or Britain and didn't make their teams shouldnt just get our funding

Ignorance is bliss I guess one of the athletes going was born in Ireland. Having competed and trained with him I can assure you, that you will not meet a better representative if Irish sport and our island. He is an amazing g ambassador and a very proud Irish athlete


Only one Irish male resident here currently meets the B standard for the Olympics but is not quite ready and hopefully in 4 years he will be. He has about twice the points of the male alpine athlete selected to go ( the lower the better)

The B standard is difficult to meet and requires huge sacrifices to make it sadly not many Irish athletes are willing to make that sacrifice

JJBrown79

I've no doubt hes a nice fella but that doesnt make it right that he is competing for us. If there was an irish guy with the qualification criteria then he should be going. According to this only one was born here http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/diaspora-olympians-come-into-the-cold-for-ireland-at-sochi-1.1663491
I think we shouldnt be sending non irish. It looks like that snowboarder only said he'd ski for us because it'd be an easy ride. I dont know much about the sports but i presume these kids are getting money off us to do this.

SaraKatie

Snowboarders don't ski. Just saying. Do we even have any born and bred irish snowsport competitors anyway? Just send whoever, they won't even show them on Eurosport probably

JJBrown79

SaraKatie wrote: »

Snowboarders don't ski. Just saying.

My bad!

I suppose it isn't that important. Just occurred to me that the irish taxpayer is probably paying for these kids to compete for us. :eek:

Fattes

JJBrown79 wrote: »

I've no doubt hes a nice fella but that doesnt make it right that he is competing for us. If there was an irish guy with the qualification criteria then he should be going. According to this only one was born here http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/diaspora-olympians-come-into-the-cold-for-ireland-at-sochi-1.1663491
I think we shouldnt be sending non irish. It looks like that snowboarder only said he'd ski for us because it'd be an easy ride. I dont know much about the sports but i presume these kids are getting money off us to do this.

As an Irish snow sports athlete I can conform that they contribute €10-20 themselves for every €1 they receive from the SAI. The International Olympic committee pretty much cover the cost of our athletes participation at the Olympics as a small nation. You mean the Irish times article that spelt skiers wrong and referred to Florence and Conor as Downhill skiers even though neither ski downhill?! The paper of note is wrong there are two born in the island one alpine one Nordic.

Added to that outside of Olympic cycle there is virtually zero funding outside of the SAI covering race entry fees. All your travel, equipment, ski prep and training comes out of your own pocket 99% of the time

As above only 1 athlete from Ireland meets the criteria and is IMHO and that if most people in the know he is not quite ready to go but should be the athlete that will be going in 2018, if they stick with it.

Would you rather we send nobody??? As other than those going that is the option there are no Irish female skiers that meet the standard, and the one Irish male that can is not ready.

In the long term there are a few promising Irish athletes but costs, lack of funding and thee reality that you have to be on snow full time means the options are limited.

The SAI do an incredible job with limited resources and as a friend of 4 of our Olympic party I can not understand why anyone would begrudge them their places. It's amazing how the media have twisted some of Seamuses comments, one of the athletes spent Christmas here with his grandparents and is as Irish as can be, Florence is a super young lady and her and her sis are the only Irish female racers that meet the Olympic criteria

Fattes

JJBrown79 wrote: »

My bad!

I suppose it isn't that important. Just occurred to me that the irish taxpayer is probably paying for these kids to compete for us. :eek:

No they are not!! Nearly All of the SAI funding comes for winter sports through FIS or the IOC.

We spend far more of their own money than anything we receive it's in the region of 99% self funding. All the Olympic costs are meet by the IOC, a large % of training camps are covered under the FIS small nations programme.

Some context the massive grant any snow sports athlete will receive would cover about 50% of their equipment costs and 2 weeks training for a season

teacherhead

JJBrown79 wrote: »

I dont know much about the sports .

says it all really.

Fattes

[quote="SaraKatie;send whoever, they won't even show them on Eurosport probably [/quote]

Oh dear Conor Lyne was a top 55 finisher at the world champs this year in GS he might be worth a sneaky wager on a top 40 finish at Sochi in
GS or slalom.

LeoD

3 posts and each one as dumb as the next.

JJBrown79

Fattes wrote: »

As an Irish snow sports athlete I can conform that they contribute €10-20 themselves for every €1 they receive from the SAI. The International Olympic committee pretty much cover the cost of our athletes participation at the Olympics as a small nation. You mean the Irish times article that spelt skiers wrong and referred to Florence and Conor as Downhill skiers even though neither ski downhill?! The paper of note is wrong there are two born in the island one alpine one Nordic.

Added to that outside of Olympic cycle there is virtually zero funding outside of the SAI covering race entry fees. All your travel, equipment, ski prep and training comes out of your own pocket 99% of the time

As above only 1 athlete from Ireland meets the criteria and is IMHO and that if most people in the know he is not quite ready to go but should be the athlete that will be going in 2018, if they stick with it.

Would you rather we send nobody??? As other than those going that is the option there are no Irish female skiers that meet the standard, and the one Irish male that can is not ready.

In the long term there are a few promising Irish athletes but costs, lack of funding and thee reality that you have to be on snow full time means the options are limited.

The SAI do an incredible job with limited resources and as a friend of 4 of our Olympic party I can not understand why anyone would begrudge them their places. It's amazing how the media have twisted some of Seamuses comments, one of the athletes spent Christmas here with his grandparents and is as Irish as can be, Florence is a super young lady and her and her sis are the only Irish female racers that meet the Olympic criteria

I would rather we sent nobody. I've seen pictures of Florence Bell in articles about her going to the olympics where she is wearing a British uniform which just makes us look like a bit of a joke. What about the McGarry girl? From googling it looks to me like we have alot of skiers who are from the ski club of ireland too, is no one irish good enough? Then just send no one. At least if they are self funded its less bad but I still dont think its great. No offence to them but you should be from somewhere to be on their team IMHO. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=679817798725769&set=a.283191001721786.71023.283012135073006&type=1&theater

Fattes

JJBrown79 wrote: »

I would rather we sent nobody. ...What about the McGarry girl? From googling it looks to me like we have alot of skiers who are from the ski club of ireland too, is no one irish good enough? IMHO. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=679817798725769&set=a.283191001721786.71023.283012135073006&type=1&theater

If we send no one we lose our vote with most winter sports bodies and our influence. We also lose the ability to inspire future athletes. I am on the list you linked and have coached a lot of the younger athletes in it at some point.

Kirsty retired due to time and cost co straits and despite the fact she would easily meet the standard this would probably be her last games and not good for for legacy planning

Young Mr Comford has meet the standard but has some development to do to be ready, that said he is an incredible athlete and prospect for 4 years time.

The B standard is incredibly difficult to meet and require a full time commitment and probably north of 100k of your own funding to consistently achieve it and even more to keep it

You have obviously very little grasp of the realities or how it works so your opinion is uneducated and way of the reality

hawkwind23

would there be any chance of a snowdome in Ireland?
Team GB has a strong team because the kids can hang out in the snowdomes and practice.

even Kilternan is wild pricey , id love my daughter to attend regular and practice but it would cost a fortune!
maybe a start would have incentives for kids to come hang out for pocket money.

Imagine the amount of kids wanting to take it up if Amiee Fuller or James Woods wins a medal or any of the team.
be loads of kids wanting to learn it.

Kilternan is hard to get to and expensive so i think it would put a lot of dublin kids off never mind those from the country.

i think if Ireland wants the same success as team GB then it has to invest in the youth, build a centre in the city or attract the kids to kilternan with bus shuttles and pocket money passes.
bound to be plenty in the pot with them prices for running a dry slope.

views?

Fattes

hawkwind23 wrote: »

would there be any chance of a snowdome in Ireland?
Team GB has a strong team because the kids can hang out in the snowdomes and practice.

Kind off most of the GB Team are full time based in Breckenridge CO for the season the domes were a starting point for them but both Woodsy and K.Summerhays started in dry slopes. Plus Pat has done an amazing job in coaching and leading these kids, even better they have a stream of talent coming behind the current bunch

Snow dome probably wouldn't work here very few of the UK ones are profitable and rely on subsides from secondary income sources and none snowbased activities. Manchester loses 75% of its slope 1 or twice a month for its avalanche ball thing!! And is not hugely profitable it's up for sale for
21 million right now!

hawkwind23 wrote: »

even Kilternan is wild pricey , id love my daughter to attend regular and practice but it would cost a fortune!
maybe a start would have incentives for kids to come hang out for pocket money.
Kilternan is hard to get to and expensive so i think it would put a lot of dublin kids off never mind those from the country.

Season ticket is the way to go!! Other than that it is pricey but it's on a frequentish bus route. We have a thriving freestyle scene up there the limitation is probably the club and financial restrictions

hawkwind23 wrote: »

Imagine the amount of kids wanting to take it up if Amiee Fuller or James Woods wins a medal or any of the team.
be loads of kids wanting to learn it.
bound to be plenty in the pot with them prices for running a dry slope.
views?

All the instructors and staff at Kiltenran bar 1 are volunteers and it is operating at a loss currently! So imagine if you had to pay staff or instructors

hawkwind23

thanks for the information Fattes.

would be great to see loads of the irish kids take up winter sports after Sochi but personally i dont think the prices or transport links are enough to get the inner city kids at it.

only reason im mentioning it is because there will be a surge of interest after Sochi and be great to get people motivated to invest in the next generation!

Fattes

hawkwind23 wrote: »

thanks for the information Fattes.

would be great to see loads of the irish kids take up winter sports after Sochi but personally i dont think the prices or transport links are enough to get the inner city kids at it.

only reason im mentioning it is because there will be a surge of interest after Sochi and be great to get people motivated to invest in the next generation!

The reality is for Alpine or Freestyle if you wanna be good enough to go and be competitive within say 10% of the top
Athletes you have to be on snow full time!

I know for the top British Alpine ski academy's like say Ambition it could be 100K per season for an athlete who is racing!! Here it is all self funded so it comes out of Daddy's pocket for British alpine skiers Chemmy & Dave they have to pay £20,000 themselves per season min!

I know the British freestyle guys very well Woodsy shaved my wife and my initials in is head on our wedding and all but 2 of their Sochi athletes were at our wedding.

They are in the mountains for the winter on Glaciers in the summer and in the gym twice a day

But look at kilternan, no Olympic specials or promotions! And 4 days to go that should tell you what part of the issue is.

hawkwind23

suppose with the money involved it will always remain a rich persons opportunity in Ireland.

im sure there would be world class talent in the skateparks of ireland who with the right facilities could have a chance but the money would kill that off.

i was under the impression of them learning at the snowdomes from watching Ski Sunday

fannymagee

There is hope yet ;-)

http://youtu.be/R3FXvmKNCXQ

dogsears

Nice few articles in today's Cork Irish Examiner:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/other-sports/hurtling-head-first-into-addiction-257607.html

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/other-sports/famous-seamus-going-all-out-in-ancestors-backyard-257609.html

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/other-sports/rossiters-epic-trek-to-realise-sochi-dream-257608.html

http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/features/on-the-slippery-slopes-to-olympic-glory-257507.html

Fattes

hawkwind23 wrote: »

suppose with the money involved it will always remain a rich persons opportunity in Ireland.

i was under the impression of them learning at the snowdomes from watching Ski Sunday

Woodsy, Katie, Andy Bennet, Becky are all Sheffield sharks originally and the snow domes were between that and Breck

Jesus glad the Irish examiner asked my permission to use MY video on the article of Conor from Garmisch last year!! If I wasn't so keen to support him I might be angry!!

CardinalJ

Fattes wrote: »

Woodsy, Katie, Andy Bennet, Becky are all Sheffield sharks originally and the snow domes were between that and Breck

Jesus glad the Irish examiner asked my permission to use MY video on the article of Conor from Garmisch last year!! If I wasn't so keen to support him I might be angry!!

Get onto them for a credit or a few quid.

Fattes

CardinalJ wrote: »

Get onto them for a credit or a few quid.

Anything to help the boy wonder is fine bye me! It's no big deal you can even here me scream him out if the gate ha ha

I love that GS hill but it does not love me

JJBrown79

Looks like other people are unhappy with the team from the comments. At least RTE aren't wasting peoples time showing it seeing as how we arent really sending an irish team http://www.rte.ie/sport/winter-sports/2014/0204/502167-winter-olympics-who-are-the-irish-in-sochi/

And the snowboarder has openly said he's only hitching a ride until he's good enough for his own country: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25968421

Russman

JJBrown79 wrote: »

At least RTE aren't wasting peoples time showing it seeing as how we arent really sending an irish team

So should they show the World Cup in Brazil if there isn't an Irish team there ?
Do you switch off watching all sports if there isn't an Irish competitor playing or competing ?

Fattes

JJBrown79 wrote: »

Looks like other people are unhappy with the team from the comments. At least RTE aren't wasting peoples time showing it seeing as how we arent really sending an irish team http://www.rte.ie/sport/winter-sports/2014/0204/502167-winter-olympics-who-are-the-irish-in-sochi/

And the snowboarder has openly said he's only hitching a ride until he's good enough for his own country: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25968421

If you are relying on uneducated internet commentators to support your opinion it speaks volumes

The motto of the Olympics is Higher Faster, stronger not just scrape the B standard to send someone.

Are the achievements of Irish soccer and Rugby any less laudable because they used athletes born of our diaspora? By your logic Ronan O Gara never have played for Ireland should we erase him and Paul McGrath from Irish sports history as neither were born here??

At Vancouver all if the team bar one was born and bread in Ireland currently we have a talent gap in snow sports I should know I coach our racers and freestyle athletes ( I am Ireland's only qualified freestyle coach)

The reality is parents are not willing to make the sacrifices required for their kids to meet the standards required and until thee do the spots will go to the children of our diaspora who do in an attempt to raise the standard and inspire others.

You know the more you type the dumber your commentary becomes

cormee

Kevin Pearce's father is Irish, born and bred. Don't think he'll be making it though.

I dont know

@Fattes
Of those that took part in the last Olympics and upcoming games that are Irish born & bred, how would they typically have got to that stage?

I’m just interested in how they got into their sport, got good at it and progressed to the stage where they represented their Country, yourself included. Would many have started off from an annual family holiday etc or would there be many that just started at Kilternan and got onto youth teams etc?
A lot of Irish people don’t get into snow sports until they’re in their 20s & financially independent. I’d guess this would be too late to be introduced to a sport and become good enough to be an Olympian?

You sound like you spend a lot of time on the slopes, how’d you originally get into it?

Fattes

I dont know

Of those that took part in the last Olympics and upcoming games that are Irish born & bred, how would they typically have got to that stage?

For Vancouver, Sean O Connor is Irish born and bred and an ex Dublin hurler, he skied all his life as a racer and in his late 30's put his life on hold to get an olympic place he skied to 86 points for slalom.

Kirtsty McGarry's parents owned and operated a ski business in Chatel including teaching so she had lived it all her life. Had access to the top ski instructors in the porte du soleil and great support.

The bobsled girls were all Irish track sprinters who took up bob in the winter to keep them busy, think cool runnings without the Jamaicans

I’m just interested in how they got into their sport, got good at it and progressed to the stage where they represented their Country, yourself included. Would many have started off from an annual family holiday etc or would there be many that just started at Kilternan and got onto youth teams etc?
A lot of Irish people don’t get into snow sports until they’re in their 20s & financially independent. I’d guess this would be too late to be introduced to a sport and become good enough to be an Olympian?

You sound like you spend a lot of time on the slopes, how’d you originally get into it

A lot of the talent comes form kids who ski on holidays with their parents and join the race club at the ski club of Ireland or are kids of members. The problem is plastic limits the ability to race on snow, as the techniques are slightly different and there is no training for steeps and ruts. The reality is with limited time on snow and training on plastic the good ones could meet the olympic standard of sub 140 points.

I came to the game very late! and I am from a freestyle / freeride background, the racing is done for personal development and because it is a horrible challenge and improves my other skiing. The olympic B standard that our athletes have to meet is quite high sub 140 points, Conor Lyne is currently on 62 points for Slalom and 68 for GS which is the lowest any Irish Male alpine skier has been on. He has lived on snow most of his life and has spent the last 2 years training solid to get those points down.

! That should give some context of the challenge there. Currently there is no Irish kids that would meet the freestyle standard for the olympics! It is top 30 in the world get invites there is no B standard. For Alpine skiing there is 2-4 lads that have or could easily meet the Olympic B standard. But not so much for the ladies sadly!

The reality is if you want to ski sub 60 points consistently you need to be on snow from you teens full time.

JJBrown79

Fattes wrote: »

I should know I coach our racers

Nope

hawkwind23

thought the irish outfit was a bit drab.
they looked like a military outfit!

great ceremony though!