As 2011 draws
to a close, Clare Coaching and Games wishes to thank everybody who helped out
in the running of the various activities that have taken place this year. Due
to the amount of help and cooperation that we have received it will not be
possible to name everybody individually in this report, but we would like to
acknowledge the great support that we have received from all clubs members,
club officers, urban board officers, bord na nóg iomaint/peil officers and
county board personnel. This report will give a rundown on all the various
projects that we have been involved in. This year has seen our activities grow
with a lot of new projects and structures being put in place, and the
activities available to our young players has also increased. This year the coaching
and games activities have been overseen by Coaching Officer Eamon Fennessy,
County Games Development manager Seán Chaplin and the Games Development
Administrators John Enright, Peter Casey and Ronan Keane. The following is a
rundown of our year’s activities.
1.
County Go Games Programme
The year started off
with a review of the past years activities. Clubs were invited to give their
opinion on how they felt the programme was running and of any idea’s they would
have to improve it. Into its 5th year now the county go games
programme was run for all children between 7 and 11 years of age in both
hurling and Gaelic Football. The hurling programme ran 5 blitzes for U8’s and 6
blitzes for U10’s between April and August this year. They then gave clubs the
option of continuing at the even age groups or changing to U7 and U9 for the
remainder of the year. Either way clubs were giving the opportunity to
participate in 3 further blitzes at which ever age group they choose, meaning
all players and clubs were afforded the opportunity to participate in 8 blitzes
from April to October this year. At Gaelic Football level the clubs were giving
the opportunity of participating in U8 and U10 activities throughout the year.
There are no odd age groups catered for in the Football programme as the clubs
feel that they are not necessary. The players and clubs participated in 6 U8 and U10 Blitzes in 2011. The Hurling
Programme also outlined activities for U11. These were once off games between 2
clubs. Teams were a maximum of 11 aside and all clubs played games on the last
Monday in August and the 4 Monday nights in September.
2.
U12 Hurling and Gaelic Football Leagues
This year saw the
development of the U12 Hurling and Football leagues following the passing of a
motion at congress the year before. The new system still allowed for clubs to
be placed in groupings depending on strength. The main changes to the system
meant that all teams were now a maximum of 11 aside and that all teams got to
play a final. The groupings were drawn up based on numbers of players
available. This allowed for both club teams to play against the same opposition
on the same night. In both the hurling and football leagues, clubs were asked
to enter 2 teams of 11 aside in the top groupings, a team of 11 aside and a
second team of 9 a side in the middle grouping and just a team of 9-11 aside in
the final grouping. The football league got underway first and the clubs
participated in their 9 rounds of the league before final placing’s were
decided. On the 25th of June in both Clarecastle and Miltown Malbay
GAA Grounds the U12 Gaelic Football league finals were played. Unfortunately due to the clash with the
senior teams’ qualifier v Down, Cusack Park was not available for this day as
originally scheduled. All clubs participated in a final, with 1st v
2nd, 3rd playing 4th, 5th playing 6th
and so on. A great day was had by all clubs. The hurling leagues were organised
under the same guidelines as the football leagues and their finals were held in
Cusack Park and Clarecastle GAA Grounds on the Saturday 23rd July.
Just as in the Football league all clubs played in a final on this day. A
special thanks must go to both the Clarecastle and Miltown Malbay clubs for
their assistance in the hosting of the finals.
3.
Provincial U10 Go Games
The Provincial Go
Games were run on the 24th of September. This programme is a cross
county initiative which allows clubs to either host or travel to clubs from
across the province. This year saw Newmarket on Fergus, Kilmaley, Na Fianna,
Clooney/Quin, St. Josephs Doora/Barefield, Bodyke, Sixmilebridge, An Boithrín,
Clarecastle, Broadford, Scariff/Ogonnelloe and Tulla participate in the hurling
blitzes and in Gaelic Football Clondegad, Corofin, St. Josephs Miltown Malbay,
Wolfe Tones na Sionna, Kilrush Shamrocks, Cooraclare and Michael
Cusacks/Kilfenora participated. The blitzes were 9 aside games in groupings of
4 teams, with each team receiving 3 games.
4.
U12 Croke Park Activity Day
4 Hurling and 4
Gaelic Football clubs from Clare got the opportunity to experience playing in
Croke Park. The clubs were chosen from a draw. Each club that attended got the
opportunity to play against 3 different clubs from the province over the course
of an hour on the pitch; they also received a stadium tour, museum tour and
dressing room tour. The Hurling activity day was held on the 26th
April with Clare represented by Meelick, Sixmilebridge, Whitegate and Cratloe.
The Football day was held on the 27th of April and Clare were
represented by Ennistymon, Kilmurry Ibrickane, St. Senans Kilkee and Corofin.
All clubs reported back that they had a great day, the highlight of course
being playing on the hallowed surface of Croke Park.
5.
U12 Provincial Activity Days.
In a similar concept
to the Croke Park Activity day, clubs from Clare got the opportunity to
experience playing in the 4 main stadiums within the province. The Gaelic
Football blitzes were held in Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney on the 19th
and 20th of July, with Pairc Uí Chiomh also hosting clubs on the 26th
and 27th of July. Doonbeg, St. Josephs Miltown Malbay and Kilrush
Shamrocks attended the Killarney days while Kildysart, Cratloe and Kilmihil
attended the Cork days. In hurling Semple Stadium in Thurles hosted the clubs
on the 09th and 10th of August with the Gaelic Grounds in
Limerick playing host on the 03rd and 04th of August.
Scariff/Ogonnelloe, Broadford, Ballyea, Tulla and Kilmaley attended Thurles
over the course of the 2 days while O’ Callaghans Mills, Feakle/Killanena,
Bodyke, Corofin, St. Josephs Doora Barefield and St. Breckans
Lisdoonvarna/Ennistymon attended Limerick. All clubs were giving a stadium tour
of their host venue and received a talk from a top class inter county player.
6.
Go Games Packs
Croke Park again Made
Go Games packs available for clubs who were participating in the Clare Go Games
Programme at U8 level. The packs where received by the coaching and Games
Committee who in turn raffled them off. Any club who received a pack last year
was omitted from the raffle on this occasion but will be eligible to re-enter
the raffle next year.
7.
Provincial Super Touch
Munster Coaching and
Games hosted the 1st Munster U15 Super Touch blitzes this
Autumn. The group stage of the blitzes
was hosted on 10th September in various venues across the Province.
The super Touch blitzes were 10 aside teams with panels of 12. Each group was
made up of 4 teams; all teams played each other across the day with winning
team advancing to the finals day on September 24th. In hurling Clare
had 2 teams enter the tournament in Smith O’ Briens and St. Breckans
Lisdoonvarna. Unfortunately neither team advanced to the finals day. In Gaelic
Football Clare had 7 clubs represented in Kilrush Shamrocks, St. Senans Kilkee,
St. Josephs Miltown Malbay, Lissycasey, Ennistymon, Clondegad and Kilmurry
Ibrickane. Clondegad and Lissycasey advanced to the finals on the 24th
of September but neither advanced from their grouping to the overall final that
day.
8.
Post Primary Football Project
The Gaelic Football
Post Primary Project continued again this year. From January to June the
project was completing the 2nd year of the project. Year 2 of the
project saw coaching offered to both all 1st and 2nd year
students in the schools involved. From September 2011 the project began Year 3,
which has also included coaching for 3rd year students in the
project. Similarly to last year the project is being run on a divisional basis
in West and North Clare. West Clare takes in the schools of John Boscos
Kildysart, St. Josephs Community College Kilkee, St. Michaels Community College
Kilmihil and Kilrush Community College. They receive their training from James
Murrihy on Saturday or Sunday morning. North Clare schools is made up of St.
Josephs Spanish Point, Ennistymon CBS, Ennistymon Vocational School and Mary
Immaculate Lisdoonvarna. North Clare receives their coaching from Aidan O’
Keeffe and also train on a Saturday or Sunday morning. The third area involved
in the project is Rice College Ennis. Rice College have participated in the
project since its conception 3 years ago and now train every Wednesday evening
after school with their 1st, 2nd and 3rd year
students. Lawrence Healy is their coach for the project. All schools have
commented on the success of the project and the value of the 24 week programme,
12 weeks before Christmas and 12 weeks after.
9.
Post Primary School Blitzes
In conjunction with
the above project Clare Coaching and Games organised a blitz day for all schools
in St. Flannans College in May. The schools present were the West Clare
Colleges, North Clare Colleges, Rice College, St. Flannans College and St.
Caimins. Each school was broken down into small sided teams and they
participated in games against all the other schools present.
On Wednesday 25th June the West Clare colleges
(Kilkee,Kilrush,Kilmihil,Kildysart) took part in the St Flannans Father O
Doherty 1st year blitz Cup and recorded victories over Marist College Athlone,
St Colmans of Claremorris and St Flannans to progress into the final later in
the day.
However in the final they met also unbeaten Connacht 1st year League and
Championship winners St Jarlaths of Tuam who with the aid of a strong breeze
lead 1-7 to no score at half time. The West Clare lads scored 2-1 without reply
midway through the 2nd half to leave a goal between the sides, however
Jarlaths responded in style adding 3 goals before the finish to leave the final
score St Jarlaths 4-7 to W.Clare 2-3.
10. Post
Primary School Hurling Activity Day
On Wednesday 13th April 5 post primary schools brought their first year
boys to St Flannans for a Coaching & Games Day. All the players present
were divided into 8 different teams and were coached on different aspects of
the game, Catching, Striking, Hooking, Blocking & Hand passing. All teams
played 3 conditioned games during the day in order to use the skills that they
had been practicing during the day. A full schedule of the day can be seen
below:
10.00am Players arrived at St
Flannan’s in playing gear.
10.30am First skills session
-Catching
11.00am First match (2 x 10 min
halves)
11.30pm Second skills session
-Tackling
12.00pm Second Match
12.30pm Lunch – All players
should bring their own lunch
1.00pm Third skill
session-Striking
1.30pm Third match.
The participating schools were St Flannan’s, Rice College, St Josephs
Tulla, Scariff Community College and St Caimin’s. In total 131 boys participated. Many thanks to
St. Flannan’s College for the use of their facilities and to all who helped out
on the day.
The coaches present were Barry Loughnane, Andrew
Fahy, Alan Small, Michael Noonan, Nicky O’ Connell, Cathal Chaplin, GDA’s Peter
Casey and Ronan Keane and Games Development Manager Seán Chaplin.
11. Hurling
Development Squads
Under the guidance of
the Hurling Development squad committee comprising of Seán McMahon, Seán O’
Halloran, Brian Quinn, Jim McInerney and James O’ Connor the hurling
development squads began their preparation on a regional basis on the 27th
February. The U14 and U15 squads were broken down into 3 regions. The U14
squads had 5 coaching sessions followed by a blitz in St. Flannans College
while the U15 squads had 6 coaching sessions and a blitz. The sessions were run
over consecutive Sundays. A big thank you must go out to all the clubs who
supplied their grounds for training purposes and to the club coordinators who
took responsibility for insuring that all their players were notified of the
sessions. At U16 level the County was broken down into East and Mid Clare. In
early February they began their preparation for the Munster Divisional
Tournament which takes place over the May bank holiday weekend. On the weekend
of the tournament Mid Clare were hosted in Clarecastle with West Tipperary, Avondu
and City/West Limerick A the other teams in the group. Following some great
performances from Mid Clare they advanced from this group and were drawn to
play Mid Tipperary in the semi Final on the bank holiday Monday in Mallow. East
Clare meanwhile where hosted in Dr. Morris Park Thurles and there group
comprised of Mid Tipperary, East Waterford, Imokilly and themselves.
Unfortunately for East Clare they were knocked out at the group stage and
Imokilly and Mid Tipperary went on to qualify for the semi-finals. Mid Clare
were defeated in the semi-final by Mid Tipperary who I turn were defeated in
the final by North Tipperary.
12. Hurling
Tournament Squads
This year saw 7 teams
represent the county at the annual development squads tournament. At U14 2
teams represented Clare in the Tony Forrestial and Sonny Walsh Tournaments in Waterford. At U15 level the A team
competed in the Carrigaline tournament in Riverstick Co. Cork, while the B team
participated in the 1st Munster U15B tournament hosted in
Clarecastle GAA grounds by the Clare Coaching and Games Committee. At U16 level
Clare enter 2 teams agin, the first in the Tipperary Supporters Club All
Ireland U16 A Tournament and the 2nd team in the Tipperary
Supporters Club All Ireland U16B Tournament. Finally at U17 level Clare entered
1 team in the Eugene Carey Memorial Tournament in Mallow Co. Cork. The full
list of results is as follows:
Tony Forrestial u14 A
Clare 2-8 Limerick 1-6
Clare 2-7 Offally 2-5
Semi-Final
Clare 1-5 Cork 2-8
Sonny Walsh u4 B
Clare 2-13 Wexford 2-3
Clare 0-4 Cork 2-10
Clare 2-8 Kilkenny 4-12
U15 A
Clare 0-2 Cork 2-4
Clare 0-7 Tippeary 2-7
Clare 0-4 Waterford 2-8
Clare 1-5 Limerick 2-12
U15 B
Clare 0-4 Limerick 1-9
Clare 1-6 Cork 0-15
U16 A
Clare 2-6 Dublin 0-8
Clare 0-8 Tippeary 4-14
Shield semi
Clare 1-3 Galway 2-13
u16 B
Clare 3-6 Kilkenny 2-9
Clare 3-8 Tippeary 2-11
Clare 3-15 Galway 2-9
semi-final
Clare 1-7 Cork 3-10
U17
Clare 0-7 Cork 3-15
Clare 4-5 Wexford 1-6
Shield Final
Clare 1-2 Kilkenny 2-16
We would like to pay tribute to all the
mentors who were involved with the squads throughout the year for their hard
work and dedication. Also to all the clubs who facilitated the squads in terms
of training facilities and informing players on arrangements a big thank you to
all involved.
13.
Regional
Football Squads
The Regional football
squads are broken down into 6 area’s, Corca Baiscinn, Cill Cheathair, An
Tuisceart, Estuary Gales, Inis Faugh and Boru. These regions all played an U15
tournament against eachother. The players involved are of 13 and 14 years of
age. This prepares the players for the start of the divisional squads early
next year. The regions all played eachother in a round robin system of matches.
Following the completion of the round robin games, 3 final were played on the 6th
and last week of the tournament. There was a 1st v 2nd
final, a 3rd v 4th final and a 5th v 6th
final thus insuring all players received games over the course of the
tournament. The players will then enter the next phase of the development
structure in January and February next year which arethe divisional squads.
14. Divisional
Football Squads
Following on from the
end of the regional tournament in late 2010, the players were selected to join
the U14 and U15 divisional squads. The players received 7 weeks of coaching at
this stage of the development before players were selected to go forward and
join the 2 development squads which are put in place. The divisional football
squads comprises of 2 regions coming together at an age, catering for up to 100
players at any 1 age group. The 100 players that are present at this stage of
the structure are reduced to around 70 players for the next phase.
15. Football
Development Squads
The 2 development
squads are to cater for North/West Clare and Mid/South Clare. These players
have been selected through the regional and divisional squad structures. These
players will receive training and games to help them develop. The development
squad system is in place for 6 weeks and players are then chosen to represent
the county tournament squads.
16. Football
Tournament Squads
The County Tournament
squads are chosen 2 months in advance of the U14, 15 and 16 tournaments
usually. These squads are then giving the time to train and play games in
advance of their tournament. At U14 level the county enter 1 team into the Jim Power tournament which is held in
Waterford each year. At U15 level we enter 1 team into the Humphrey Kelleher Fé
15 PEIL hosted by Coiste na nÓg Chorcai in conjunction with Coiste Dúiche
Ealla. At U16 level we enter 1 team into the Munster U16 Football Tournament
Limerick. In the Jim Power U14
tournament Clare were drawn to play against Cork 3 and Tipperary. Although the
team performed well during both games, they were defeated in the 2 thus
eliminating them from the tournament. In the Humphrey Kelleher tournament Clare
were drawn to play Rebel Óg in the quarter final of the cup. After a very tight
battle Rebel Óg advanced to the semi final, leaving Clare to face Limerick in
the shield semi final. Clare made numerous changes for this game insuring that
all players who travelled received the opportunity to represent the jersey. In
what was a tough local derby Limerick emerged to advance to the Shield Final.
At U16 level Clare were drawn to play Kerry South in the quarter final. Kerry
South proved too strong on the day and advanced. This left Clare facing
Waterford in the Plate semi final. Clare were far too strong for their
opponents and easily advanced to the plate final where they would face
Corcaigh. After a close firt 30 minutes, Corcaigh mainaged to get a strong hold
on the game for the last 10 minutes and ran out winners. All the above
tournamnets were palyed over the same weekend (July 16 and 17th). As
with the hurling squads a special thanks must go to the mentors who are named
below, and the clubs who helped out throughout the year.
A list of the
Management teams involved with the Development Squads is as follows: U14 – Matt
O Connor (W.Tones) Martin Brennan ( Clondegad) Martin Downes (Naomh Eoin) David
O Connell (Shannon Gaels),U15 – Maurice Walsh (Eie Og) Paul Conway (Kilkee)
Donal O hAnafein (Eire Og), Seamus Clancy (Corofin), U16 – Albert Hardiman
(Doorabarefiled) Brian Considine (Liscannor) David O Shea (Kilrush) Ger Crotty
(Kilkee)
The Munster U17
Championship is run over the course of 4 Monday nights in October. The
championship comprises 4 of the 6 Munster Counties, in Clare, Limerick,
Waterford and Tipperary. Over the first 3 weeks of the championship, Clare had
victories over Waterford and Limerick to go with their solitary defeat to
Tipperary. These results meant that Clare progressed to the final of the championship
in the Gaelic Grounds Limerick on Monday October 31st. The
opposition was again Tipperary. Clare’s performance was by far their best in
the competition and they led Tipperary and after 20minutes of the second half
Clare led by 8points to 5. Tipperary hit 3 points on the trot to level matters
by the 25th minute and where awarded a penalty which they converted
to leave them 3 ahead with 4 minutes to play. Tipperary’s experienced players
many of whom had won All Ireland Minor Medals just 5 weeks beforehand saw them
home on a 1-11 to 0-08 scoreline. This performance however showed that Clare
have the potential to mix it with the best in next year Minor football
championship.
17. Óg
Peil and Óg iomaint.
Each year Munster
hosts a 2 day training camp for the third U14 Hurling development squad and the
second U14 Gaelic Football squad. This year the training camps were held in
C.I.T. Each panel is restricted to 24 players. The two day camp includes
coaching sessions and blitz matches against teams from other counties. All
players received a great deal of experience from the days as the coaches
present are always of the best quality.
18. Primary
School Coaching Programme
Throughout the school
calendar year our GDA’s continue to offer expert coaching in Hurling and Gaelic
Football to all the primary school students in the county. As well as coaching,
a lot of blitzes both internally and externally were organised for the schools.
We focus on the fundamental movements with many of the younger children while
we increase the enjoyment and skills knowledge of the children in the older
classes.
19. Primary
School Blitzes
Go Games blitzes were
organized for 2nd, 3rd and 4th class boys and girls in East Clare at 6
different locations. In total 1039 children from 28 schools participated. Each
child present was put into a 7, 8 or 9 a side team picked at random and all
children played 3 games. On each occasion the running of the blitzes were
greatly helped by the presence of teachers, teaching assistants and parents. A
lot of schools also sent 5th and 6th class children to referee the games.
The blitz venues were Sixmilebridge, Tulla,
Clonlara, Scariff, Wolfe Tones and O’Callaghans Mills. A further series of
blitzes were held from May 9th to 16th at various locations throughout the
county for 3rd and 4th classes only. After the resumption of the schools in
September, Gaelic Football blitzes were held in Ennis and O’ Callaghans Mills
for just over 1000 boys and girls. The blitzes have proved to be a huge success
with the schools and we plan to develop them further over the coming months.
In West and North
Clare blitzes were organised for schools of the same parish on the final week
of their coaching programme. All schools of the parish would come to the local
field and be broken down into small sided teams. Each team would in turn play
3-4 games per blitz before returning to school.
20. Coach
Education – Foundation Courses
Throughout 2011 a
number of foundation courses were held. In hurling courses were run in
Clooney/Quin, Meelick, Whitegate, Tubber, SmithO’ Briens, Tulla, Clonlara,
Inagh/Kilnamona, St. Flannans College, St. Josephs Doora/Barefield x2 and Ruan.
These courses qualified over 250 new foundation level tutors in the county. In
Gaelic Football courses were run in Corofin for all North Clare Clubs
(Ennistymon, St. Breckans, Kilfenora, Liscannor, Ml. Cusacks, Corofin and Ballyvaughan),
Ennis for all Mid Clare Clubs (4 urban clubs, Éire Óg, the Banner, Clarecastle,
Wolfe Tones, Cratloe), St. Josephs Doora/Barefield and St. John Bosco School
for transition years. Altogether over 150 new foundation level coaches were
certified.
21. Coach
Education – Award 1 Courses
In 2011 3 Award 1
Courses have been complete. There has been 1 Award 1 Child Hurling Course
completed in Sixmilebridge. The Course was run over 6 evenings/weekends during
November. In total 31 new coaches participated in the course. In Gaelic
Football an Award 1 Youth course was run in St. John Bosco School over
November, in total only 9 participants attended the course. The final course
run this year was for all VHI GAA Cúl Camp coaches. They attended the 3 full
days training course run in Éire Óg GAA Clubhouse. In total 68 new Award 1
Child coaches were qualified for both sports.
22. Tutor
Training.
This year a course
was run for potential tutors to help deliver the coach education programme in
both hurling and Gaelic Football for Clare. Although a number of people showed
an interest in becoming tutors at the beginning of the year, only 3 people finished
the course and joined the 16 current tutors in the county. In hurling Andrew
Fahey (Whitegate) and Fransie O’ Halloran (Ruan) completed the course while in
football Barry Donnelly (Éire Óg) ws the sole participant from the county in
the course. This means that Clare now have 19 trained tutors in the county 11
Hurling Tutors, 1 Duel Tutor and 7 Gaelic Football Tutors.
23. Coaching
Workshops
Throughout the year a
number of coaching workshops were run by the local GDA’s and outside experts.
In the course of the year 2 circuit training workshops were delivered by Peter
Francis from Sport Ireland, Pat O Shea completed 2 coaching sessions with the development squads, Ronan Keane and Peter Casey ran a workshop
which concentrated on fitness and circuit training for players in the 13-18
year old bracket (youth). The GDA’s courses included 1. Fundamentals (u8),2.
Teaching the Grip and Swing (u8), 3
Striking and Catching Drills and Games (u12 upwards), 4 Coaching the
Tackle (u10 upwards), 5 Wall Ball (all ages) and 6 Attacking and Defensive
Play.
24. Coaching
Conference
St. Flannan’s College
Ennis will once again be the venue for the 4th Clare GAA Coaching Seminar, the
title of which is “Developing the Inter County Player Of Tomorrow”.
The seminar takes
place on Saturday March 19th with
registration from 9am and ending at 2:30pm.
The one day seminar
was delivered by former Clare Goalkeeper and current Waterford Manager Davy
FitzGerald along with current Kerry and Waterford Strength and conditioning
coach Joe O’ Connor , Saoirse Bulfin of LIT and Ger Keane from The Hartmann
International Sports Injury Clinic.
Throughout the day
the following areas were discussed
Ø IDEAS AROUND CLUB & county COACHING
STRUCTURES.
Ø (A) Club Player. Importance and type of
coaching.
Ø (B) AWARNESS of Hurling & Diet, Mental
Preparation, Strength & Conditioning, Injury Prevention
Ø Practical sessions were also conducted
relating to the above presentations.
A disappointing
attendance was present on the day with just over 20 participants. Based on past
numbers the attendance was expected to be between 80 and 100 participants. It
should be noted though that this seminar was a very enjoyable and knowable one
for all who did attend.
25. VHI
GAA Cúl Camps
This year we had 3047
children attend our camps. The camps are run Monday to Friday in 48 venues over
a 7 week period. The camps give the children between 7 and 13 an opportunity to
learn new skills and improve their knowledge of the games while meeting inter
county players as they do.
26. Super
Camps.
Due to the fact that
there is little activities out there for 13-15 year olds throughout the summer,
Clare Coaching and Games advertised 8 Super Camps for the first 2 weeks in
August. 4 hurling camps were scheduled for Sixmilebridge, Clarecastle, Scariff
and Corofin while 4 football camps were scheduled for Gurteen, Shannon,
Cooraclare and Lisdoonvarna. Even though the camps were advertised through the
secretaries of the clubs, the newspapers and the website, a demand did not
appear to be there for them. Sixmilebridge ran with 9 participants, Scariff had
18 participants and Cooraclare had 6 participants. All other camps were
cancelled due to no interest in them. It is not planned to hold these again
next year, but we will continue to examine the possibility of developing an
activity for this age group.
27. Gaelic
Football Promotion Officer
2011 saw the recruitment
of David O’ Brien as a Gaelic Football Promotion Officer. David is a member of
the county senior football panel and also played wing forward for St. Josephs
Doora/Barefield in this year’s county football final. David is a qualified PE
teacher and unfortunately for us was offered the opportunity of becoming the
P.E. Teacher in Ennis Community College this September. During his time with us
David coached in the Primary schools of East Clare and Ennis, he organised
blitzes, ran club visits and developed a link with the regional groups in his
area. It is envisaged that David will be replaced in the early part of next
year.
28. U12/13
Hurling Divisional Squads
This year again saw
the running of the U12 and U13 divisional squads. At U12 level in hurling
coaching and blitzes took place over a 6 week period and incorporated 4
divisions. The players received 3 training and 3 blitz days. In total 125
players participated in the U12 hurling programme. Throughout the mid-term
break in October, the players were brought to Flannans for 2 further training
and games days
29. U12
Football Divisional Squads
In Gaelic Football
the U12 squads received 3 training sessions and finished with a one day blitz day.
In total there were 6 squads and 119 players involved.
30. Easter
Camp
The Easter camp ran
in St. Flannans College this year and 20 children participated in the week long
hurling activities. The week revolved around 3 main area’s 1) Skill
Development, 2) Physical Literacy and 3) Games. Throughout the week the kids
got to participate in exercises and games that were developed to help them
increase their skill levels and also to educate them on how to increase speed,
their jump and coordination while moving at speed.
31. Club
Child Development Programme
The idea for the
Munster Club Nursery came about by the phenomenal growth of the club nursery
system (6 to 10 year olds) over the last number of years in the province. With
the surge of new nurseries there has been an increasing demand for guidelines
and advice on how to set up, promote and operate club nurseries. This Programme
is a direct response to that. Developing a strong club nursery is an important
component of the overall juvenile structure and it is essential that
appropriate resources and training procedures are developed to support the best
possible nursery programme in club. The Munster Nursery Programme compliments
the ‘’Fun Do’’ resource which was launched a number of years ago and this
training and development programme will be an essential tool in supporting our
volunteers in the field. This year the programme was rolled out to
Scariff/Ogonnelloe, Bodyke, Ruan, Ballyea, Lissycasey and Kilrush Shamrocks.
Each club received a minimum of 4 visits (which included presentations and
practical sessions) throughout the course of the programme. Next year it is
planned to double the number of clubs involved in the programme to 12.
32. Club
Visits
Club Visits were carried
out throughout the course of the year. The GDA’s were responsible for making
the visits to each club in their area where they held coaching sessions with
various teams. The GDA’s would also have met with the clubs and helped give
feedback on matters concerning the clubs in relation to coaching and games. The
visits would usually be organised between the GDA and the club coaching officer
or secretary.
33. Poc
Fada
The County Poc Fada
finals were held in Clareabbey on Wednesday 29th June. Owen McCarty representing Newmarket on Fergus
was the sole participant in the U16 Competition. In the senior event Patrick
(Bosco) Cunningham was the victor in a 5 man field. Both Owen and Patrick went
on to represent Clare in Munster Poc Fada held at Thurles Race Course On
Saturday July 09th. Owen finished in 6th place with a
shot total of 23 shots behind the winner Darragh O'Callaghan from
Watergrasshill Cork who finished with 18 shots. In the senior event Patrick
completed the course in 27 shots and finished in 5th place behind
Stephen Brenner representing De La Salle and Waterford who finished on 23
shots.
As we now begin to
focus in on the activities for 2012 we are currently looking at ways to develop
the games going forward. 7 and 9 aside tournaments are being discussed as
options at various age groups following on from the successful 7 aside U15 and senior
tournaments held back in 2010. Another area that we will be focusing on is the
Role of the Coaching Officer, a seminar for all club coaching officers is being
planned for February of 2012, where we hope to help all coaching officers
understand their roles and responsibilities to both the club and county. As we
continue to develop new plans, I would advise any club or individual who feels
that they have something to offer in terms of idea’s or help, to contact the
Games Development Manager Seán Chaplin on sean.chaplin.gpo.clare@gaa.ie. Finally I would like to again extend our gratitude to
all who helped out during 2011, and wish everyone a Happy Christmas and
Prosperous New Year.
Go Raibh Maith Agat,
Eamon Fennessy Seán
Chaplin
County Coaching Officer County
Games Development Manager
