The fun way of nurturing football and friendships

Lifestyle – Judy Murphy hears of a novel new scheme aimed at fostering activity among kids that kicks off this June

A plan to open the gates of Pearse Stadium to youngsters across Galway city, giving them a chance to play weekly games in the GAA’s local headquarters will kick into action this summer.

It’s happening as part of a new initiative, the Galway City GAA Football Academy, which is geared at girls and boys at Under-11 and Under-nine level.

The Football Academy will offer them an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of sporting greats by playing football at the Salthill venue.

Running on Saturdays throughout June and July, the Academy is designed to be a fun experience, it’s free to join and is part of a plan to ‘bring in new blood’ to the City GAA by getting more children and their parents involved in the organisation at underage level. That’s according to David Henry of St James’ Club in Mervue, who is one of the people spearheading the project.

“We want to bring them all in and let them know that they don’t have to be in a club to take part,” he says. “They can come in and play a game, even if they have never played Gaelic football in their lives before.

“We are not trying to train them into County players – fun and friendship is the aim here.”

David points out that in a city of 78,000 people where there are so many other activities on offer, it’s important that young people are playing Gaelic football in order to guarantee that it has a vibrant, healthy future.

And he points out that that the GAA, which dominated team sports in Galway for many years now faces increasing competition from other disciplines such as soccer and rugby, especially rugby. David has no issue with this.

“It’s brilliant that children are playing any sport and the more sport they take part in, the more they will learn.”

The Academy initiative is not about getting people to sign up exclusively with the GAA – but it’s about showing parents and kids what the organisation can offer them.

The Director of the GAA in Galway, John Hynes, had wanted to explore ways of nurturing young talent locally, says David, so when he and Dennis Carr – who is Galway’s Gaelic Games Promotions Officer – approached him with a blueprint for doing this, he was fully supportive.

The city’s four Gaelic football clubs – St Michael’s, St James’, Salthill-Knocknacarra and Fr Griffins-Éire Óg – had a general meeting two months ago about addressing this issue. Fr Griffins-Éire Óg had previously initiated a scheme some years ago with the aim of appealing to youngsters entitled Peil Pal. Delegates at the meeting decided to adapt it and enlarge it to appeal to children from all areas of the city. This new, expanded venture been named the Galway City GAA Juvenile Academy, and will have its very own, specially designed jersey, using the colours of the four participating clubs and featuring the Peil logo.

The Academy will initially be rolled out in the city with the four urban clubs participating in the venture at Pearse Stadium. If it proves successful, there are plans to expand it to Barna and Moycullen.

The Academy is the latest drive by the GAA in the city to attract new, younger members, says David. Coaching programmes in hurling and football are run in primary schools throughout the year, and frequently these result in children joining GAA clubs.

But, for some children, joining city clubs is not possible, explains David. Several of the schools where coaching programmes take place – such as Scoil Chaitríona and Gaelscoil Dara in Renmore – draw pupils from outside the city limits. So, he says, this Academy is the GAA’s way of reaching out to them during the summer and giving them an opportunity to get active.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.