Exclusive Q&A ÛÒFrankie Gianoncelli On Fishing, The Barnsley Blacks And Representing His Country At Youth Level
Sportsvibe talks everything fishing with Frankie Gianoncelli, who has had an outstanding year both on a personal note and with his team the Barnsley Blacks.
åÊ
SV: How did you get into fishing?
åÊ
Frankie: I went on holiday with my mum and dad and while I was there I saw someone fishing. We went to Tenerife and I saw somebody doing it off the harbour over there. I went over to the guy, he was English and it turned out that he lived really close to me, around 10-15 minutes away from where I was living. He turned round and said have a go and fish while youÛªre here in Tenerife and I managed to catch a load of fish and straight away I loved it. As soon as I got home I went to the lake and he was there and thatÛªs how I got into it, he mentored me.
åÊ
SV: Is there any particular reason you enjoy the sport so much?
åÊ
Frankie: It is mostly the competition of it really. You want to beat people in the big events when you have hundreds of people watching. You have people either side of you so you want to try and beat them and do well.
åÊ
SV: How proud were you to represent your country through different age groups?
åÊ
Frankie: It is massive. It was a great opportunity, in any sport you are in it is what you want to do, what you want to achieve. It is everything you strive for and it is definitely something I want to do (represent England) in my future career as well.
åÊ
SV: How much practice goes into competing at the high level you do?
åÊ
Frankie: For the big events you practice 2-3 days before the event. You spend a lot of time on the actual venue bet there are numerous hours during the week that you have to spend preparing your kit and making sure that you are well prepared so you have everything covered. You need to have tons of gear ready, thousands of hooks and rigs. It is a lot more complex than people think; it can be a bit crazy at times.
åÊ
SV: YouÛªre part of the top team in Britain and you won three of the biggest titles in UK team fishing last year, how big an achievement was that?
åÊ
Frankie: Yes it was awesome really; it is definitely something that you always want to achieve. That is what drives me at times, team fishing is massive and I have been brought up for it ever since I was around 10. Fishing in the junior teams up until being in one of the biggest teams in Britain is why I do it, why I love to compete in the main events.
åÊ
SV: Is there any particular reason you enjoy team fishing?
åÊ
Frankie: I do like individual fishing, it is really good when you achieve something individually bet when you are part of a team and achieve something like we did last year then it is fantastic. Every time you have a meeting you are talking about it and you have a bigger buzz about it. That is because there are more people involved. Team fishing is definitely my preferred option.
åÊ
SV: What for you would you class as your best moment in the sport to date
åÊ
Frankie: Probably winning the treble last year with Barnsley, but my number one would be when I won a Bronze medal with England. It is the only medal I have won with my country. Being on the podium as a representative of England was massive for me.
åÊ
SV: Do you think SkyÛªs coverage of fishing has helped the sport expand?
åÊ
Frankie: Yes definitely. I think any sort of TV coverage for fishing is massive for the sport in general. Millions of people end up watching the sport and it is great for getting kids involved as well as people that havenÛªt been fishing in a while. It gets them to take up the sport again and creates a mass audience. That helps increase interest once again.
åÊ
SV: What do you think is the best way to get more people involve with angling, as the publicity for the sport obviously isnÛªt great?
åÊ
Frankie: It is a tricky one really. It is very high pressure as personally I think tutor sessions should be massive. Catching your first fish and having a go at the sport is massive. You catch the bug and then you want to have a go at doing it again, all of a sudden then youÛªve been doing it for years and you are a part of the sport. I think in terms of publicity and getting the message out to people of a young age is massive. Having a dad, mother or grandparent that goes fishing is massively important in terms of getting kids involved. Xbox and PlayStation consoles these days make it harder for kids to get involved in sport.
åÊ
SV: What else do you want to achieve in the sport on a personal note, goals for the future
åÊ
Frankie: I have quite a few actually. I want to try and win a big event, something along the lines of Fish Û÷oÛª Mania but I want to continue doing well with the Barnsley Blacks squad. We are actually going out to Slovakia in July to compete in the World Club Championships against 40 other clubs from around the world, so fingers crossed we can do well in that.