CALLAHAN’S HALF-TON

Well done: Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae congratulates Doug Callahan on being awarded the Queen’s Service Medal in 2016 for services to trampolining.Picture supplied

DOUG Callahan is coaching the children of some of his early trampolinists.

That’s not surprising, given he’s been coaching for 50 years.

How long will he go on? He’s 76 now; will a third generation of Callahan-trained trampolinists be threatening to burst through the roof?

“I have no plans to retire,” Callahan said after a special presentation commemorating his half-century of trampoline coaching.

“Even though an orthopaedic surgeon has told me I am on crutches for life, I am hoping for a second opinion on a hip replacement. In the meantime, I’ll put up with the crutches and keep coaching as long as I can because I love it.

“Coaching kids makes me feel young. I’ll keep going till I’m 80 and review it from there.

“I am down there (at the club headquarters) seven days a week. All the schools are coming in during the day now. We have certificates for the kids and they love coming back to get their next certificate.”

And, no, the trampolinists are in no danger of hitting the roof of their base at the Electrinet Sport Centre on the corner of Aberdeen and Stanley roads.

After athletes had become accustomed to dodging the rafters of previous club bases, the Gisborne Youth Sports Charitable Trust spent $160,000 to lift the roof two metres, increasing the usable height of the building from eight metres to 10 metres.

That was part of improvements that cost roughly half a million dollars about 20 years ago.

Callahan said his wife Marilyn had been the secretary-treasurer all the way through these formative times.

She also coached, and on world championship trips acted as New Zealand team chaperone.

“If it wasn’t for Marilyn, we wouldn’t have the equipment or the hall,” Callahan said.

“She did the applications for all the grants we got.”

In the same burst of activity, a wall was built to create distinct training areas for the Gisborne Gymnastics Club and the trampolinists. They had earlier joined forces to buy — for $100,000 — the building and land that had once housed the Eastern Bottling Company.

A Williams family trust came to the party big-time to ensure the sporting organisations did not have heavy mortgage commitments.

In the improvements, the whole building was painted and a retaining wall was built, with big piles driven in and tied back to stop any movement of the building towards the Taruheru River.

When Callahan started a trampoline club operating out of the YMCA, he had about 20 athletes.

“Now we have probably 120, and it’s still growing,” he said.

“The trouble is, we need coaches. My coaches leave me when they get to 18 and go to university, and we have to start all over again.”

All this was just background noise as Callahan was taken by surprise at the trampoline club’s annual prizegiving.

Gisborne Trampoline Club chairwoman Sarah Lascelles and committee member Leigh Sheldrake (who competed as Leigh Webster) arranged with Gymnastics New Zealand for the presentation of a special plaque and trophy to mark the 50-year milestone of the club’s head coach.

They contacted previous athletes, New Zealand coaches, administrators and Gymnastics New Zealand chief executive Tony Compier, who attended Gisborne Boys’ High School in the 1980s. They all spoke on video.

Kristen Willock (who competed as Kristen Glover) told the gathering of her experiences as a competitor, culminating in a world championship gold medal and the Gisborne sportswoman of the year award.

And Kristen’s sister Debbie Hutchings, of Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti, presented the prizes.

Trampolining in Gisborne has come a long way since Gisborne Boys’ High School physical education teacher John McFarlane built a trampoline out of steel pipe, canvas matting and truck-tyre tubes cut into strips.

“He got my twin brother John and me into trampoline,” Callahan said.

John Callahan became a New Zealand champion (he’s now retired and living in Tauranga).

Doug was “OK” at trampolining but didn’t set the gym on fire. Instead, he became a national coach. Travelling overseas as a New Zealand coach at world championships was a highlight.

When he left school he went to the YMCA, where Bill Paynter was coaching gymnastics and trampoline.

In 1972, Doug Callahan started coaching at the YMCA.

Sally Bishop was coaching trampoline and gymnastics; Callahan coached gymnastics for a while, shifting gradually into a tramp-heavy focus.

Operating out of the YMCA, they worked together. Callahan started a YMCA trampoline club, and Bishop concentrated on gymnastics coaching.

One day, Bishop suggested a shift to the Moleta Bros building, upstairs, where the snooker hall had been.

Callahan agreed, and the tramps were lifted in (and later, out) on a hoist.

In December 1982 the Gisborne Trampoline Club was incorporated under the Incorporated Societies Act.

Outside competitions provided the incentive for youngsters to train and improve their technique and levels of difficulty.

After an early trip to Auckland showed the Gisborne trampolinists had some way to catch up, Callahan introduced visits by well-performed athletes and coaches. And he, in tandem, was developing as a coach.

Results improved. Trampolinists won titles, brought back medals, posed for pictures . . . Callahan realised the value of publicity if the club was to grow.

“I have 10 albums full of newspaper clippings, right from when we incorporated the club,” he said.

The Moleta Bros building roof proved a problem — trampolinists were bouncing up perilously close to the rafters.

Gisborne Trampoline Club moved its operations to the Gisborne Boys’ High School Assembly Hall.

The club hosted regional competitions, and the growing membership meant a willing band of volunteers in the form of parents eager to help their children achieve.

Boys’ High turned out not to be a long-term solution.

Ian Simpson at ABC Motors offered a building next to the Childers Road Reserve, and that served for a couple of years, until the club outgrew it.

Then came the move to the club’s present location. Sally Bishop and her gymnastic club were already there.

Trampolinists and gymnasts joined forces to make a bid for the land and buildings. The Auckland owner accepted their offer of $100,000.

Doug and Marilyn’s children — Jackie, Dean and Jason — won gold medals at national level, all three won titles at Pan Pacific series level, and Jackie represented New Zealand.

Trampolinists like Glover, Webster, Shane White and Steven Vette were early achievers for the club.

Others, too numerous to mention, trained hard, performed well, won medals and competed at higher levels before — as Callahan lamented — they turned 18, went away for further education and got on with their lives . . . until they came home, had kids and took them to see Doug Callahan at the trampoline club.

He’d see them right.

The catalogue of achievements Doug Callahan has put together in the sport of trampolining is impressive. Among other things —

He is a senior Gymnastics New Zealand coach and is a long-serving judge at national level.

He has been selected as a New Zealand coach for numerous international and world championships.

He was New Zealand coach at the Indo-Pacifics in Bendigo, Australia, in 1989; at the 1992 world champs in Auckland; at the 1994 world champs in Portugal; at the 1999 world champs in South Africa (open coach); at the 2001 world champs in Denmark; and at the 2003 world champs in Germany.

He attended the 2007 world champs in Canada and assisted with coaching as a personal coach.

In 2016, Callahan was awarded the QSM for services to trampolining.

He was a New Zealand personal coach at the 2016 Indo-Pacific champs in Napier; and a New Zealand coach at the Indo-Pacifics in 2017.