Summer Camps 2021
We are delighted to announce our Summer Activity Camps for 2021!
These will run throughout July and August and are a great way for kids to stay active in a fun and safe environment throughout the summer!
We are delighted to announce that this summer we will be running outdoor activity camps!
These have been organised in line with covid-19 government guidelines and through Sport Ireland. The aim is to create a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone involved while maintaining health and safety as the top priority. We can do this through social distancing during our sessions and keeping our groups small.
We are really excited to bring these activity camps to you and create a fun, safe and enjoyable atmosphere for all kids involved!
Location: Scoil Cholmcille Ballybrack
These camps will run outdoors throughout July and August. We are providing Activity Camps for both 7-10 and 4-6 age groups!
The schedule of the activities will run as follows:
7-10 Age Group 9:00 - 12:00pm
4-6 Age Group 12:30 - 1:30pm
‘‘Bar Monkey Camps got our kids back socialising and mixing positively with kids again. They loved the games, had fun and got plenty of one to one instruction with a designated coach in a small group setting. We have already booked a second week!’’
We will have Portable Pull-Up Equipment that we will use throughout each session. This will be cleaned in between each go and all coaches operating this area will wear PPE Gear.
We will have operating procedures in place to protect everyone involved throughout the sessions and these will be sent to you after registration. You will also be required to complete a screening form.
We are really excited to be able to operate classes like these again and we can’t wait to see you all there!
Contact us for more information or click the button below for the registration form for either 7-10 or 4-6 age groups.
Jamie Geraghty Qualifies for the WSWCF World Cup Super Final
On Saturday August 17th our Head Coach and creator of Bar Monkey Jamie Geraghty became the first Irish Person to qualify for the WSWCF World Cup Super Final.
This takes place in Hong Kong on November 23rd and Jamie qualified by taking third place at the Royalbarzz World Cup Stage in Veldhoven, Holland. Jamie taking a place on the podium represents a huge moment for the sport in this country, helping our club and also the calisthenics community across Ireland gain International recognition.
The structure of the competition saw 20 athletes competing from across Europe hoping to earn a spot on the podium and represent their country in the Super Final.
First Round
The first round of the event saw all twenty athletes being given three minutes to perform as best as they could. Judges were then given the responsibility of judging Statics, Dynamics and Combinations. The best ten would then make it through to the second round.
Jamie performed a huge amount of static holds in the three minutes allocated to him. Each athlete showcased their own individual styles, and in the end like any sport it was down to who held their nerve and made as little mistakes as possible. There was tension throughout everyone’s routine but in the end Jamie was able to qualify to the second round, while ten athletes were finished and their hopes of qualifying were dashed.
Jamie’s three minutes saw him perform a 19 move combination on the high bar in his first routine, followed by a static set on the parallel bars and a planche routine on the floor. This would be the start of what would follow as Jamie relied on his statics throughout the competition. In the end he performed well enough to qualify for the second round.
Second Round
The second round was a 1v1 Battle format. Each athlete was given two rounds and each round lasted one minute thirty seconds.
Jamie was drawn against Rico Mesa, a name a lot of people in Ireland will be familiar with as Rico has been in Ireland before as a judge at competitions in the Irish Calisthenics Academy.
Rico had only been given four days notice that he was in the competition so he didn’t have a huge amount of time to prepare for this, but he is a phenomenal athlete and pushed Jamie all the way. Rico is very much an athlete that excites a crowd and is a difficult opponent because he is very unpredictable, you never know what crazy move he might throw out on the day!
There is huge respect for Rico in the calisthenics community and the Irish one in particular, so it was a nice battle between him and Jamie and both showed each other respect and admiration throughout.
One minute and thirty seconds for two rounds is a really difficult test of endurance, particularly for calisthenics and so both Jamie and Rico had to perform as strongly as they could, and in the end the victory went to Jamie. Looking back we think this was mainly due to his strength in static holds and planche in particular.
Jamie had made it to the final five.
Final
The final consisted of the five winners from the 1v1 battles. This was structured so that each athlete performed one minute rounds three times.
At this stage it comes down to endurance and mental fatigue. Throughout the competition a lot of it came down to who held their nerves the best. In warm ups people were throwing crazy moves and then when it came to the actual competition they were missing basic 360s. So by the time the final came around for the final five athletes it got to a stage were they were really conscious of not failing anything.
At this stage, and looking back on performance analysis by our coach Aaron Fitzpatrick, Jamie really relied on his static strength. By the final round he was still able to perform full planche nine times overall, and his statics remained at a really high level. However, it was his dynamics that began to slow down. This just indicates to us something we need to work on for the next competition. Other athletes go the other way, statics die down and dynamics take over. When it gets to this stage it just highlights where an athletes strengths are, or where they consider their strengths to be, because it is such a mental game at this point.
This is when judges begin to have a seriously tough decision, because they know for these final five how much it means to get to that place on the podium for each athlete.
Again Jamie performed consistently throughout with his static holds, again in particular with planche - this was held nine times overall in these final three rounds. This was the move that helped him stand out and earn a place on the podium.
When the decision was made and there was a tie announced for fourth and fifth, there was that moment of elation and realisation of what had just happened. Jamie had placed in the top three. We were going to the World Cup. We had to remain calm until the names were actually called and then it was just pure elation.
An amazing achievement for us as a club, and for everyone involved in the calisthenics community all across Ireland. This represents the most exciting period for Calisthenics in Ireland and we can’t wait to continue to see the development of the sport across the country and where this journey takes us.
Next Stop Hong Kong!
Highlight Video below edited by the excellent Rutger Franke:
For anyone interested in partnership with us and becoming involved in our sport at the most exciting stage of it’s development we have sponsorship packages available in the build up to the World Cup Final in Hong Kong. We have different packages tailored towards business and fitness facilities. Please check the link below or for other collaboration projects please email us: info@barmonkeycalisthenics.com
August Update
Hi guys,
I hope you are all having a great summer!
This is just a quick update going out to let you all know about our plans for the summer and carrying on into September.
If you have any questions on the following just let us know.
SUMMER CAMPS
We have had a great time on our Summer Camps!
We now only have FIVE places remaining for the rest of the summer, this is for Week Six August 6th - 9th so if you are interested in signing up please do so now as this is the last week with availability!
Summer Camp Registration Form
We have had a great few weeks, I have been delighted personally with the turnout and engagement each week. Our groups have really taken to the bars as you would expect and it has also been great to see a lot of new faces and the interaction between all groups. We look forward to seeing everyone else over the rest of the summer!
SEPTEMBER CLASSES
Just to clarify as people have been asking about our classes for September. People who are already registered with us do not need to worry about their place. You are already registered and everyone will just come back to the class they were in as normal - unless we have spoken about moving etc.
For anyone who has just joined over the summer and you are looking to register for September we will be releasing our registration forms mid way through August. It has been great to see the response from new participants over the summer and we are delighted to see that people are looking to continue learning with us.
In the next week or so we will be sending another email and this will have the registration form for classes in September*.
*If you are already a member, I.E in the classes before the summer break, you do not need to re-register.
PARENTS GUIDE
This is also just to inform everyone involved that in September we will be sending all of you a guidebook that will give specific information with regards to the class your child is in.
This guidebook will specifically show you what we are working at each stage or class so that you can see what we are trying to develop with each member of our club. I think this will be really useful and give you all, hopefully, a slightly better understanding of the sport and that you can see what we are trying to develop at each stage and show you our pathway towards developing each person in the sport.
As always if anyone has any questions on the above please just let us know.
Thanks,
Jamie
Summer Update
Hi guys,
We were delighted with the turnout for last weekends Bar Monkey EXPO! Just want to say a big thanks to everyone that was able to make it. I think everyone that was able to attend will agree that the kids who performed in our exhibition were brilliant!
I was very proud of all of them for managing to put on such a brilliant performance, and seeing all the work they put in to prepare. Anyone who has managed to see our exhibitions over the last couple of years will agree that the standard keeps improving every year, which as a club and for calisthenics overall is just brilliant to see, it is one of the main reasons I love what I do as I am always able to look forward and be really excited about the future of the sport and seeing how how our athletes continue to develop and push the sport even further.
I hope that everyone else that was involved on the day enjoyed themselves too and that they were really inspired by what they saw. That is a huge part of the day that makes it really important. We want the rest of our groups to see what level they can aspire to. For anyone involved in our classes what I really enjoy about these days for them is that they get to see another level, whereas in class they only see what they are currently practicing. These days give them a chance to see another level entirely within our sport and they get to see a load of new skills and tricks to hopefully motivate them to continue with their development.
I really hope everyone enjoyed the day!
SUMMER SCHEDULE
4-6 FUNdamentals and 11-14 Teen Programme
Throughout July and August we will be continuing our 4-6 class and 11-14 Teen class.
The timetable for this is as follows:
Monday
5-6PM: 4-6 FUNdamentals Programme
6-7PM: 11-14 Teen Programme
Wednesday
5-6PM: 4-6 FUNdamentals Programme
6-7PM: 11-14 Teen Programme
We have been updated by the majority of you in these classes about your schedule for the summer and availability. If either of these classes are something you would potentially be interested in or know someone who might be just let us know and we can give you some more information on them.
SUMMER CAMPS
We are delighted to announce our Summer Camps to you for this year!
They will take place in St.Columbanus Loughlinstown this year due to renovations taking place in Scoil Cholmcille, and we can't wait to get started with these!
We really enjoy the camps due to the extra time we get with each group, as they get to make new friends, we build better relationships with them and they become more invested in the club. It becomes more than just something they do. We also really enjoy giving them the opportunity to get more time to work on their skills.
For further information on these you can check the link below:
https://www.barmonkeycalisthenics.com/events/summer-camps
Summer Schedule
Hi guys,
I am delighted to finally be able to share with you our schedule for the summer!
We have a lot going on to update you with so I hope you can take a look at this email and that it helps clarify our Summer Plans for you. If you do have any further questions for us please email
info@barmonkeycalisthenics.com or reply directly to this email.
Memberships
For anyone unsure about their memberships throughout the Summer what happens is because we are not in our normal schedule all memberships are paused throughout July and August. This means no payments will be taken from any account throughout these two months. Payment will still be taken from you if your account is set up at the end of June. This covers your place in September. I hope this covers any concerns people had about the payment schedule. Again, if you have any questions around that just let me know.
Evening Classes
This year we have decided to keep a selection of our evening classes running for the summer. This is because our Summer Camps do not cater to every age so we will be keeping the following classes on over the Summer.
- Monday / Wednesday/ Friday 4-6 FUNdamentals
- Monday / Wednesday Teen Programme
- Tuesday / Thursday Competition Group
For anyone involved in our classes with these age groups, including Saturday 4-6 FUNdamentals please let us know if you would like to continue with the classes over the summer or if you would prefer to pause your membership for July and August.
Again just let me know if there are any questions around this.
SUMMER CAMPS
I am delighted to let you know we will be running our Summer Camps in St. Columbanus this year. This is in close proximity to Scoil Cholmcille, based in Loughlinstown and it is due to Scoil Cholmcille being renovated over the summer.
We will be running Eight Weeks in Columbanus, this is also where our evening classes will take place. I have attached the registration form below for the camps. Please get in touch if you need more information around these.
Bar Monkey Summer Camp
SUMMER EXPO
We are delighted to let you know about our Summer Expo!
This takes place on Saturday 22nd June from 12:00 - 4:00pm in Scoil Cholmcille Ballybrack and will be a great day to celebrate all things Bar Monkey!
There will be plenty of time for all our young athletes to come over and take part and show their skills and what they have learned this year as part of Bar Monkey.
We will also have an Exhibition event from our competition group as well as demonstrations from our coaches and other leading athletes from across the country.
We hope you can join us for the day as it promises to be a great day out!
2018 Timetable
Hey everyone,
A big Happy New Year from us all at Bar Monkey!
We are really excited to start the new year and can't wait to welcome everyone back to classes!
With that in mind we just wanted to update everyone on the timetable and when we will be back with all our individual classes.
Saturday January 6th is our official return to classes, so anyone involved in our Saturday Groups we look forward to welcoming you all back then!
Monday January 8th is our return to our normal schedule for everyone in our regular classes.
There is currently a small amount of spaces available in our Thursday 7-10 age group, so if anyone is interested or knows somebody interested in getting involved please just get in touch with us at jamie@barmonkeycalisthenics.com.
We can't wait to get 2018 started and hope that everyone is looking forward to getting back up and running!
If anyone has any questions in the meantime please just let us know.
Thanks,
Jamie
Year 2017 in Review
2017
What a year we have had!
As I am sitting down to write this and thinking back over the last twelve months I am extremely proud at what we achieved this year and so excited as to what we have to look forward to next year!
The best comment I have heard from someone is that if you don't think you are making progress with something then look back on the position you where in this time last year. If I look back on what we are doing now, what our plans are compared to last year we have made an amazing amount of progress.
Class Development
We have developed a full Athlete Development Pathway from the ages of four right up to adults. We have classes six days a week with over 180 involved in those, which is a huge leap up from where we were last year. We were only starting our 4-6 programme and there was obviously no guarantee of it being succesful. Since then we have established two groups and kids have been promoted into our 7-10 group, which is great to see everyone progressing. We have a full pathway of classes, from 4-6, 7-10, 11-14 and Adults, with different levels within those classes. This also includes after-school programmes throughout a variety of different schools, obviously our evening classes, and we are also now involved with dlr sports-partnership, having officially become the only recognised Calisthenics Sports Club in the country!
We now have within our club a full set of Athletes who have competed nationally at the Bar Monkey Festival, which was a fantastic achievement for them and I am still very proud of all of them. They are the first set of kids to compete in an underage Calisthenics Competition in Ireland and that is a phenomenal achievement!
Bar Monkey Festival
Obviously organising the Bar Monkey Festival, which feels like a lifetime ago now, was another fantastic achievement for us, and another fantastic event which opened more people's eyes to Calisthenics and the fantastic level of Athletes that are in Ireland! I am very proud that we have managed to organise something as large scale as the Bar Monkey Festival and it can only get bigger each year. We have extremely exciting plans for next years, and I am sure each year we will just continue to learn more and more, and the level of athletes will continue to improve. When you look at the age demographic of the Athletes involved, not to mention all our underage kids who are improving all the time, then it is only going to be more exciting each year as the standard of everyone continues to improve so quickly!
Bar Monkey Bash
Everyone involved in our club I am proud to say has improved in some way or other, whether that is just through improving their confidence or learning a small skill, I am really proud of everyone who has been involved.
We finished the year off essentially with the Bar Monkey Bash, a fantastic day where the kids that were there got to show everyone who brought them how much they have learned since joining Bar Monkey. It was an extremely proud day for me seeing how much everyone enjoyed showing the skills they have learned and reminding myself that this all started with me training alone in a park!
Again, going from the Bar Monkey Festival in July to the Bar Monkey Bash in December, it was amazing to see the progress of everyone and the increase we had in terms of people participating at competition level! I'm sure everyone who was there would agree that the guys really done themselves proud. It was also a fantastic day for they guys that watched as they got to see another level they can aspire to.
International Calisthenics Cup
Obviously I would have to mention our experience at The International Calisthenics Cup in Eindhoven, where I won! One of the biggest highlights of our year initially just to go over, but then to go on and win was an incredible feeling. It was a surreal out of body experience during the competition and the adrenaline running through you just takes over. But it was an amazing experience and especially with it being our first international competition I don't think there will be one as special. It was a brand new experience, and all it has done is increase our interest in going on and competing again at other international events. This event helped us to put Bar Monkey on the map and it genuinely was an amazing feeling being able to show everyone at the Bar Monkey Bash the trophy. This gives everyone involved belief that they can go and do something like that too and this is why, as I say all the time, I am always so excited about the future. It is amazing for me to say that we as a club have the first three Irish International Athletes as coaches and I know it means we are doing things right and our members are learning from some of the best athletes in the country, which to me is an amazing achievement for all of us involved. I know how much work myself, Aaron and Jamie put in to coaching and our training and it just amazing to see so many others sharing the same interest as us.
What's the plan for 2018 then?
As always, I am excited by the future. Excited by it's possibilites and what we can achieve this year.
As I said, looking back on where we are now compared to last year we are in a stronger position. I want to be able to do the same again next year, I want to look back and see that we have made more progress again. I am now a sports leadership tutor with dlr sports partnership, meaning I will be teaching in secondary schools and hopefully developing more coaches, with the aim that next year we will have more people involved in the coaching side of the sport. Currently we have three full time coaches and two part time.
I am currently deveoping Coaching Programmes that are in conjunction with our Athlete Development Pathway so that this will hopefully lead to more clubs across the country as they are shown how we currently structure our programmes.
We have plas to enter more international competitions and train more internationally next year to gain more experience and bring that back to the club and improve our own teaching by learning different methods and styles of movement.
We have so much to look forward to with regards to our classes as the kids are only improving all the time, and it is obviously hugely exciting to have another year working with them and seeing how far they can progress.
We hope to have more National Competitions for our groups to be involved with and part of, but also not too many so that they can also just focus on training as opposed to just training for competitions. Two completely different styles of training and they have to be balanced accordingly, especially at a young age.
We have plans to improve upon the Bar Monkey Festival again next year, I am sure that the standard will be extremely high and exciting again. We also have plans to introduce team competitions for adult sections, creating more team ethics surrounding training, as opposed to just individual competitions.
All in all, it is just another year to get excited about, another year of working hard, making progress and being excited by what the possibilities are.
I hope you all had a great Christmas and you are as excited about the New Year as I am.
Happy New Year!
Jamie
Bar Monkey Bash Recap
Bar Monkey Bash
What a day!
We had the Bar Monkey Bash yesterday and delighted to say it was a fantastic event.
Just want to say a big thanks to everyone who came along and a big congratulations to everyone who took part and to everyone who participated in the competitions, a huge well done for the fantastic displays that you put on! Everyone involved should be really proud of themselves.
I want to say a big thanks to all of you who were involved yesterday for creating such a positive atmosphere for all the kids involved, it was great to hear them being cheered on and it was fantastic for them to experience that. I thought all of the kids who watched the competitions were terrific and really supportive to all the kids that got involved. I'm sure there were plenty of nerves for the kids competing so it was really great just to see such a positive atmosphere for them.
I'm sure everyone who was involved yesterday will agree there was some amazing talent on show!
What is great about Calisthenics is the variety and individuality of everyone. There isn't one person in our group similar to another, they all have their own style of movements and preferential routines, and I really like that. I think it's important to note that everyone involved has been coached by the same people, and yet they all have such different styles, which is what calisthenics is all about, being able to express yourself through movement.
The full photo album from yesterday can be found in the blue box to your right if reading this on a pc, or at the bottom if on a mobile, it is well worth checking out!
Just to also let people know, we have classes as normal this week up until Thursday. Apologies if you are in our Greystones group reading this, there will be no class this week as the school closes at 11am.
I felt yesterday was a fantastic display for everyone, especially all of the kids, to show you what they have learned throughout the year and to see what else they can learn as they go on. I hope it gave all of the people watching the inspiration to want to continue making progress.
For us seeing how much the guys have improved since the Bar Monkey Festival in July was really rewarding. Seeing more kids step up to competition level since then has also been really exciting for us. We only introduced our Level 2 group essentially a couple of weeks ago and the guys were already confident enough to want to step up in front of a crowd to perform. That is really encouraging for us.
As always, an event like this and with going so well, it has us excited about the future. There was so much talent evident in the room yesterday and it truly does get everyone excited about what we can continue to build.
A massive well done must also go out to the winners of both of our competitions, Luke Murphy in our Under 10s, and Leon Moran in our Over 10s categories. Two great displays from both! A special mention also to our Bar Monkey of The Year Award Winners - Ella Fell, Luke Bailey, Zach McAteer and Riley Colley. All well deserved as the progress made from all of them this year has been amazing!
I really hope everyone who was there yesterday enjoyed themselves and got to see why we are all so excited for the future, and delighted to see so many people part of the Bar Monkey Crew! We have always said that we want everyone to feel like they are a part of something with Bar Monkey, that it is not just a class they show up to but something they associate with, socialize in, and truly feel part of something and share special moments with each other. We have had many this year and it only fills us with more optimism about next year and making everything bigger again!
A big thanks again to everyone for showing up, we hope you enjoyed it, thanks for creating such a great atmosphere and I can't wait to see everyone this week and in the New Year.
Hope you all have a great Christmas!
Thanks,
Jamie
Bar Monkey Bash
We are delighted to announce that we will be hosting an end of year event for all our members!
This will be a fantastic day for everyone involved with us to get the chance to come along, mix with other groups, show their skills, learn some new ones and watch some competitions that will inspire each other to continue improving!
Taking place in our usual location of Scoil Cholmcille, this will be a great day out and a fantastic way to celebrate everything that has been achieved by everyone this year!
As well as open time for people to try their skills on the bars there will be displays, and two in-house competitions in the under 10 and over 10 categories. These will come from a select group of people from our level two group and Competition class, and we know they will showcase all their fantastic skills excellently and will be a great example for the other kids to see!
This will also take place a week after our coaches Jamie, Aaron and Jamie will have competed in the Royalbarzz International Calisthenics Cup in Eindhoven, Amsterdam, so we will hopefully be coming with trophies to show the group! Our coaches will also put on a demonstration for the group on the day.
It promises to be a great day out for all our members and we can't wait to see everyone there!
The schedule for the day will be as follows :
12:00 - 2:00 OPEN SESSIONS
This session will be open to all members to come along and take part. This gives them an opportunity to showcase their skills and learn some new ones with each other. Because of the numbers of participants we will require parents to remain and to be involved with their kids as the coaches will be looking after each separate station. Full supervision from parents/guardians is needed at the event to ensure we have a safe environment throughout the day.
2:00 - 3:00 UNDER 10 COMPETITION
At 2:00 we will begin our under ten competition. This will feature a select group of athletes from our level two group and our competition class. This is an in-house competition to give the group an opportunity to showcase their skills in a more comfortable environment for them that gets them used to the idea of competing.
3:00 - 4:00 OVER 10 COMPETITION
At 3:00 then we will begin our over 10 competition. This again will feature a group of athletes from both our level 2 group and Competition Group to help them get used to the competition environment and for the to get the opportunity to showcase their skills to the rest of the other groups!
We really hope people can come along and stick around for the competitions, to show their support to both groups, I think it is fantastic for the other groups to see what the guys are doing as it will inspire to want to push on and work on the same things. One of the biggest things we push towards each group is to encourage each other, I do like to think that what we are building as a club is a very supportive environment and it would be great for the entire group if there was others there supporting and cheering them on. This is a day that celebrates everything about Bar Monkey and what we have achieved this year, so it will promise to be a fantastic day and I hope to see everyone there!
As always, if you need any further information just contact jamie at jamie@barmonkeycalisthenics.com. Terms and conditions of the event can be found below.
Thanks,
Jamie
Terms and conditions of the event
- Full Supervision from parents/guardians of each attendant is required. This is to ensure the safety of everyone at the event and cooperation of this is much appreciated as our coaches will be stationed at different locations throughout the day. No child under any circumstances can be left unattended because of the nature of the day.
- Photography and videography will be taken at the event only for promotional purposes. If for any reason you do not want to have photos or videos taken of your child please inform us. While you have already filled this out in our members form there may be alternate reasons for an event like this so if there is any issues please let us know so we can inform photographers etc.
- We ask for full cooperation and supportive behaviour at the event. Especially when both groups are performing in the competition. Any negative or unsupportive comments will not be tolerated and may lead to people being asked to leave. We ask for your support in this matter as we know how much a negative comment in a competition environement can have an adverse affect on people.
- If you have any further questions please contact Jamie at jamie@barmonkeycalisthenics.com
Halloween Camp
Where: Scoil Cholmcille Ballybrack
When: Tuesday October 31st - Friday November 3rd
Time: 10:00 - 2:00 Each Day
Cost: €40
We are delighted to be running a Halloween Camp!
Our camps are designed to be fun in a safe environment, for ages 7-10.
With an emphasis on developing Calisthenics Movements at a level suitable to the group, we also encorporate a mix of games for all involved to enjoy. We have variety within the camp to keep interest levels fresh, and we always enjoy the camps as we get a better opportunity to work on more skills with the group as we have a longer amount of time with them.
We have limited availability to ensure we provide the right service. if interested please fill out the application form below.
Places cannot be guaranteed until payment has been made.
For any further information please just contact jamie at barmonkeyevents@gmail.com