Hello Folks,
Let me introduce myself.
My name is Eric Bergin. I live in Ballincollig, Co Cork and I am the Coaching Co-Ordinator in Rebel County Archery Club – which is a great personal honour for me. The potential within Rebel County is huge – there is great energy amongst the club members and in all of our training sessions.
In 2012 my son Ryan (who is also a club member) decided that he wanted to give archery a try, located a beginner’s course here in Cork and asked would I attend the course with him. The decision to join the beginner’s course was the start of an amazing journey for me in the wonderful world of archery. My sporting background was athletics and hence found archery to be totally different from what I was used to – however archery gave me a huge sense of enjoyment and fascination. I was now hooked by archery – this “new” sport for me.
Very quickly I got interested in the coaching part of archery and spend a lot of my early time in archery picking up as much knowledge as I could from other archers and coaches (both locally and at national level). There is a huge body of knowledge and passion for the sport in this wonderful country of ours. My professional life is an Engineer and I love learning and understanding in all that I am involved in – archery is a super avenue for this.
As part of Coaching Ireland’s National Coaching Development Programme I qualified as a Level 2 Tutor – as a Tutor within Archery Ireland I am involved with the design, delivery and review of archery Coach Education programmes. This requires delivering training courses for archery Coaches across the country – this gives me great satisfaction to know that I am helping with the development of the sport in Ireland. It also gives me great exposure to the whole coaching community in Ireland – I am a great believer in the knowledge that can be shared and picked up when interacting with other Coaches and archers.
As an Archery Ireland Tutor and Coach I also work with the National Junior Squad – it is a privilege working with the most talented and hardworking archers in the country and to help them achieve their dreams and see them compete on the world stage.
As a person I like to keep learning – both in a professional capacity and also in my hobby areas. One of my greatest thrills and learning experiences in archery was attending an international coaching seminar in Spain. Over the course of the 4 days I got to listen to, meet with and spend time with some of the best coaches in the world – one of these is the world renowned Kisik Lee (see him below presenting me with my certificate).
Another thing that gives me great pleasure is passing on the knowledge that I have gained (and will continue to gain) and helping people to be the best that they can be – both within sport and as a person in general. I get great satisfaction to see those that I help achieve both on the sporting front but also in life in general. To see people progress and achieve their goals, no matter what level they are at, is amazing – we all have talents and we need to leave these blossom.
Late in 2016 I qualified as a World Archery Level 1 coach and I am now very well positioned to help all the archers that I work with to achieve to their maximum potential. I am very excited to be involved with the fantastic archers in Rebel County – we can all achieve great things together – “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”