Tralee Team Enjoys Experience Of A Lifetime In Taiwan

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Chairman of Tralee International Games Committee, Michael Culloty, describes the Tralee team’s experience at the Games last week…

Tralee and Zhu Wei HS Students

The Tralee team and Zhu Wei HS students pictured during the week.

The 50th International Children’s Games and Cultural Festival in New Taipei City, Taiwan provided 23 Kerry athletes, their coaches and travelling supporters with what can only be described as the experience of a lifetime.

Over 83 teams from around the world gathered to participate in this historic 50th ICG Games and every participant leaves Taiwan with a lasting impression of a wonderful Games, of kind and generous Taiwanese people, especially the young Games volunteers and of exceptional organisation by the host city.

Tralee were represented in soccer, ladies basketball and Track and Field and the delegation arrived in New Taipei on Thursday July 7th to reports of an imminent “super” typhoon, which had enforced the cancellation of a proposed day tour on Friday.

This in itself was an interesting experience as Taiwanese do what they normally do on such warnings – buy food the day before, batten down the hatches and close for the day.

While New Taipei avoided the chaos caused by the typhoon in southern Taiwan, nevertheless the delegation was confined to indoors until late afternoon. In hindsight it served as an opportunity to recover from the 22 hour travel time from Tralee via Dublin and Dubai.

Over the next two days Tralee visited Yehliu Geopark, with its natural geological formations including the iconic mushroom shaped “Queen’s Head, and the National Palace Museum with its world renowned Chinese artefacts; witnessed the changing of the guard at the Marty’s Shrine and visited the Shilan night market, the most famous in Taiwan.

The day included a visit to Taipei 101, until a few years ago the tallest building in the world, from which the views of the city were spectacular, even on a cloudy day.

A visit was arranged to the natural hot volcanic springs at Beitou for an invigorating and refreshing bathe in pools which varied in temperature levels from 25 -45 degrees, after which the delegation visited the seaside resort of Tamsui, and which regrettably was enveloped in a monsoon thundershower at the time of arrival-with rain bucketing down in a manner never experienced in Kerry! The day was saved somewhat by an evening Mongolian BBQ, both an event in itself as well as a fabulous meal.

On Monday the team departed their hotel for Fu Jen University for the Games, and on their way had an official visit to Zhu Wei High School, where they were greeted by the school Principal, teachers and students.

As part of the overall New Taipei City Games organisation Tralee had opened communication with the school children of Zhu Wei, who were designated as “school receptionists” for Tralee ICG, about 3 months prior to the Games through a closed Facebook account and liaison between school staff and the ICG committee.

In the course of the Games these young people would attend all Tralee’s sports events, providing colourful support in green and gold and with banners produced by them at the school, advise on Chinese cuisine, accompany Tralee teams on the Metro and develop close bonds and friendships with the Kerry athletes.

The experience and growth of such close personal friendships, the laughter and fun between these children and the exchange of culture in such a natural and open way will always be a high point of these Games, and friendships are certain to continue over social media in the years’ ahead.

The Tralee delegation quickly settled into their new surroundings at the University and on Tuesday coaches attended Technical Meetings and arranged training schedules for their teams.

The Opening Ceremony was held indoors in the magnificent XingZhuang Sports Stadium and was relayed live on Taiwan television and internet streaming. Highlight of the evening from an Irish point of view was an interview with Tralee team Head of Delegation Paula Henry and the focus of cameras on the Tralee team, with Ireland flags, green and gold faces and hats, all of which brought a huge response from the audience, which included 2,000 of the Games volunteers.

The final 45 minutes of the ceremony featured performances par excellence from the host city in dance, song, beating of the drums, acrobatic displays, traditional costume dance and routines which featured the seven sports of the 50th Games.

The Games Action:

1. Soccer

Tralee 2

Montreaux 4

Tralee opened against Montreaux of Switzerland at 9 am in intense heat on Wednesday morning.

Against a very classy side Tralee were down 3-0 at the half, with Alex O’Connor preventing at least two more. Sean Mc Grath hit the side netting with two shots and this was as close as Tralee came to a score.

Within 5 mins of the restart the Swiss struck again to go 4-0 up and it was midway through the half before Sean Mc Grath pulled two back with clinical finishing, but the comeback never fully materialized as players visibly wilted in the heat, and Sebastian Vasiu and Boki Nikic picked up knocks which curtailed their influence.

Tralee 4

Sopron 1

Game two saw Tralee back in business as they stormed back with a 4-1 victory over Sopron of Hungary.

Book Nikic opened the scoring before the lethal Sean Mc Grath struck for two more. Another Balllyduff man – Paddy O Rourke – completed the scoring for Tralee’s opening two points. Tadg Mc Evoy, Ronan O Shea, Sebastian Vasiu all contributed strongly to the win.

Tralee 5

Taichung 4

Game 3 was most remarkable as Tralee were down 4-0 inside ten minutes.

Things looked ominous at the time, but their never say die attitude and goal scorer supreme Mc Grath coupled with the skills of Seb Vasiu and James Rusk proved irresistible and Tralee hit 3 goals from Mc Grath to cut the gap to 1 at half time.

It was a remarkable comeback. The momentum had visibly shifted and the Tralee tails were up. Sean Mc Grath levelled within 5 minutes of the restart and three minutes later Tadg McEvoy scored what turned out to be the winner.

In the final group game on the following day Tralee outclassed a very poor team from Hadera of Israel to qualify for the semi-final against Szombathely of Hungary that evening.

Semi-Final: The Hungarians scored after about 10 minutes of what was a cagey cat and mouse game and it looked for a long while as if that would be the only score of the game.

Tralee had two good efforts on goal, from Mc Grath and Nikic, but the keeper was not overly troubled.

Half time and a break from the action saw Tralee renew with determination. The pressure finally paid off after 8 minutes when Seb Vasiu and Boki Nikic combined to put Mc Grath in on goal. He finished a difficult volley with aplomb-1-1.

Hungary were stung into action and peppered Alex O Connor in the Tralee goal but he dealt with every attempt superbly, making three outstanding stops.

However they went in front with about 6 minutes to go after a good move and a perfectly placed shot inside the post.

Despite our best efforts they held on to the lead to go to Final, while Tralee would face Montreaux yet again for a Bronze, they having been beaten by Champions Osijek of Croatia, 9-8 on penalties, after a classic 3-3 draw and extra time.

Tralee 4; Montreaux 5. The bronze medal eluded Tralee at the death. Three times in this match the team had come from behind to level it.

Boki levelled at 1-1; James Rusk at 2-2 before half time; Montreal went 4-2 up early in second half  but goals from Boki Nikic and Sean Mc Grath  levelled it at 4-4 with 5 mins to go. It was anybody’s game, with chances on both sides before the Swiss struck the killer blow with just 30 seconds to go.

It was a devastating blow, but the team played superbly yet again to do their home and country proud at the Games.

Basketball

The Tralee team was the first ladies team to represent Tralee ICG at the Games since Tralee’s first participation in the Coventry Games of 2005.

They found themselves in a tough group, which included the eventual Gold and Silver winners, but great performances saw them gain two victories over Taiwanese and Canadian opposition to finish a creditable 5th overall.

Tainan City, Taiwan; 56 Tralee 28: Their opener was against the National High School champions of Taiwan, who would go on to lift Gold.

The team played well in the first half with Rachel Ryan, Ciara Ryan and Millie Luck driving the team but as the second half progressed, and then the stronger panel of the Taiwan side just proved too good.

Rachel hit 8, Ciara 5, Shelly Clifford 4, Millie Luck 7 and Anna Lyons 4 in what was a gutsy performance.

Tralee 40

Keelung, Taiwan 23

Tralee recorded its first victory against another of the Taiwan sides and took control from tip off with Rachel Ryan and Millie Luck dictating the pace.

Ciara Ryan and Shelly Clifford were proving a handful for Keelung on the boards with their distinct height advantage and contributed handsomely to the victory.

Likewise Katelyn Crowe, Anna Lyons and Lyselle O Shea grew into the game and worked tirelessly to help Tralee achieve this result, their first win at the ICG Games.

Scorers: Rachel Ryan 9, Anna Lyons 10, Shelly Clifford 12, Lyselle O Shea 2, Ciara Ryan 5 and Millie Luck 2.

Hamilton 55

Tralee 19

As expected Hamilton –silver medallists-proved too strong for Tralee in the final group game but again the Tralee girls gave a great display, fighting for everything, and battling to the end.

Rachel Ryan had 11 points, Katelyn Crowe 4, with Shelly Clifford, also on 4.

Tralee 42

Waterloo Canada 21

The 5-6th place playoff against Waterloo of Canada saw Tralee score an impressive 42-21 victory, which secures a final 5th place spot in the competition.

The team can be very proud of their efforts and did a good job, and will no doubt learn from this international experience.

Scorers were Rachel Ryan 16, Ciara Ryan 8, Shelly Clifford 8, Katelyn Crowe 2, Anna Lyons 4, and Lyselle O Shea  4

Athletics

The Track and Field team performed to the top of their abilities and, while no medals accrued, there were some outstanding individual achievements and a relay performance in an A Final.

The heat in New Taipei Banjiao Stadium was difficult on all occasions for the Tralee athletes, but despite this, all were either close to or surpassed personal bests.

Cillian Griffin qualified for an A Semi in 100m where he finished 6th:  Basic Oyejambi and Meabh Mc Elligott qualified for 400m B Semi Finals and finished 5th and 6th respectively;

Fergal O Brien, Sean Quilter, Ciara Mc Carthy and Harry Emerson performed strongly in their opening day events but did not progress.

Sean Quilter finished 6th overall on Day two in the Shot Put Final; Dara Courtney finished 5th overall in the High Jump Final and the 4 x 100 Final relay team of Fergal, Cillian, Sean and Basit finished 4th in their Heats, and 6th in the final, a great achievement.

Closing Ceremony

On Friday night all 1500 athletes were taken to the celebrated Sky Lantern Festival in Pingxi, -about an hour from Fu Jen University Games Village – where again athletes were treated to a reduced version of the opening ceremony performances, before participating in the final event of the Games, the lighting and “launching” of the sky lanterns.

Each group of four athletes were presented with a lantern, wrote their wishes on its sides and then, after lighting it, released it into the night sky. It was a sight to behold and a fabulous occasion.

This will go down as one of the best ICG Games experience ever. What was most striking was the manner in which the youth of New Taipei got behind their Games to make it truly “their” Games.

The organisers engaged with every Primary and Secondary school in the city to produce memorable exhibitions of their culture, their tradition, and with over 2,000 volunteers who could never do enough for visitors in a friendly, happy and ever smiling way, coupled with superb transport and sport facilities for the athletes, all combined to make this a truly memorable experience.

It is the support of the local people, the families of selected athletes, and local businesses which enable us to provide these experiences and opportunities for Tralee and Kerry children, and Tralee ICG is most appreciative of every ticket bought, of every euro thrown into a bag pack or a cake sale.

It provides for a never to be forgotten experience of sport and culture for these young children, who never fail to do us proud and who bring Tralee, Kerry and Ireland to the attention of the world. Long may it continue.

The Tralee Delegation:

Soccer: Paddy O Rourke, Sebastian Vasiu James Rusk, Sean Mc Grath (Park FC), Ronan O Shea (Killorglin AFC), Booki Nikic (Inter Kenmare), Alex O Connor (Killorglin AFC), Tadg Mc Evoy (Glin Ballyhahill Rovers). Coaches: Paul Dolan, John Byrne

Athletics: Fergal O Brien (St Brendan’s AC), Cillian Griffin, Basit Oyebonji, Sean Quilter, Harry Emerson (Tralee Harriers), Darragh Courtney and Ciara Mc Carthy (St Brendan’s AC).       Coach: Dearbhail Foley

Basketball: Rachel Ryan, Meabh Mc Elligott, Ciara Ryan,  Katelyn Crowe (Imperials), Anna Lyons (St Joseph’s, Duagh), Millie Luck (Bobcats), (Imperials), Shelley Clifford (Killarney Cougars), Lyselle O Shea (St Paul’s). Coaches: Linda Raymond, Carmelita Ryan

Head of Delegation: Paula Henry

Supporters: Jon and Caroline O Connor, Martin and Caroline Mc Grath, Mary Crowe, Susan and Nora Condon.

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