Celebration of 50th. Anniversary of the creation of the C.G.A.J.

On Saturday 6th October the Commonwealth Games Association of Jersey celebrated its 50th. Anniversary. A Sports Psychology Seminar was held at the L’Horizon Hotel to start the day and continued into the early afternoon. Adrian Moorhouse MBE (Gold medal winner in the 100m. Breaststroke in the Seoul Olympics of 1988; World No.1 in his event for 6 consecutive years; and Managing Director of the Lane4 Performance Consultancy and the informed voice of Swimming with BBC) and Dr. Jeremy Cross (Island Games Tennis Men’s Singles Gold Medallist in 1993, 1995, and 2001 and Lane4 Senior Consultant) led the morning’s programme with Adrian and Jeremy sharing the session on Mental Toughness, and then Jeremy leading the session on ‘Goal Setting’ while Adrian provided answers to the many questions posed by the group of 24 young swimmers and their coaches. A total of 58 coaches, officials and competitors attending the seminar with representative from the sports of athletics, badminton, boxing, gymnastics, lawn bowls, triathlon, table tennis, shooting, sailing, and swimming. Course participants were provided with a buffet lunch before leaving the hotel and signed copies of Adrian’s book ‘Developing Mental Toughness’ were made available to all.

In the evening, a Gala Dinner took place at Hotel L'Horizon to mark this historic occasion. Over 130 persons attended in the presence of His Excellency, the Lieutenant Governor, General Andrew Ridgway and Mrs. Ridgway together with The Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache and Lady Bailhache. The President of the CGAJ , Martin Hebden, welcomed the honoured guests along with Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Moorhouse. The President went on to welcome the invited members of the Island's media, stating his belief that we are well served by our press, radio and television and that he trusted this partnership would continue to flourish. The President then extended a warm welcome to friends and colleagues from the Island Games Association of Jersey stating that our co-operation with each other is becoming increasingly supportive and in the best interests of elite sport in the Island. Going on to welcome Mr. Derek de la Haye, Assistant Director of Education Sport and Culture, he declared his hope and trust that Mr.de la Haye will continue to fight for the interests of sports men and women in these financially testing times. The President also noted the presence or the Director of Education elect, Mr. Mario Lundy, in wishing him well for his tenure, the President expressed his trust that Mr. Lundy will always offer a compassionate ear to the requirements of the sporting community. Mr. Hebden went on to thank the Hotel, the band and Mr Paul du Feu who had borne the brunt of organization for the evening.

In celebrating the 50 year existence of the CGAJ the President then proceeded to give a brief history of the landmarks. Formed in 1957 under the Presidency of the late Mike Troy and through the initiative of the first General Secretary, Ken Webb. The first Team participation was in the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in 1958.16 athletes took part. The Association has been represented at 13 consecutive Games, Team sizes varying, the largest 35 athletes and 16 back-up staff being in Melbourne 2006.During the 50 years of its existence The Association has had 5 Presidents; Mike Troy, Torty Hubert, Bill Marett, Cliff Mallett and Martin Hebden, and a mere 3 General Secretaries; Ken Webb, Gordon Wright and Alan Cross. Jersey's first medal was won in Perth in 1962-a Bronze medal in Boxing's Welterweight Division by Bert Turmel. The President was delighted to note the presence of Mrs. Ellen Turmel. The Boxing success story continued in Edinburgh in 1986 with another Bronze medal won by John Sillitoe in the Bantamweight Division. In Auckland in 1990, Full bore shooter Colin Mallett won Gold in the Queen's Prize Individual event and Bronze with his father Cliff Mallett in the Queen's Prize Pairs event, a feat which remains unchallenged to this day. Now that the Commonwealth Youth Games is a full component of the Games programme, pride was expressed that Dan Halksworth won Gold and Silver in the two Individual Medley swimming events in Bendigo 2004, and that Lauren Therin won 2 Bronze medals in Discus and Javelin in the same year. The President stated that it was inevitable that some "genuine Jersey" competitors will participate in the Games for other nations, however we celebrate the successes of Simon Militis, Bronze medal swimmer in Manchester 2002 and Becky Herbert, team Bronze with England's Hockey Team in Melbourne 2006.

In conclusion the President said that, whilst it was right to celebrate the past, we must look forward. He declared that this Association exists to serve the young athletes of today and those to follow in the next 50 years and beyond. Our dream should be to see Jersey's athletes gaining their ultimate achievements over a wide range of sports on the world stage. The President then welcomed Adrian Moorhouse, the guest speaker for the evening. A presentation was made to Mr. Moorhouse after he had finished speaking.