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Launching the ‘Give It A Go’ day at St Pat’s this Sunday were, from left; Health and Wellbeing Officer Fiona Costello, players Eve O’Sullivan, Sarah Greaney, Katelyn Laide and Kayla O’Connor and Coach Norma Flynn. Photo by Dermot Crean
THE benefits of being part of team sports will be promoted at a special recruitment day for girls and ladies at St Pats GAA Club this Sunday.
The ‘Give It A Go’ morning from 10.30am at the club grounds in Blennerville is open to all girls and ladies in the area and beyond, to come along to explore the health and social benefits of playing in a GAA team.
Health and Wellbeing Officer at St Pat’s GAA Club, Fiona Costello, explained the idea behind the event.
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“It was inspired by a project from Cuala GAA teenager with the club, Aisling Nig Ruairc, who wanted to tackle the high dropout numbers in the sport,” said Fiona.
The Dublin teenager started the ‘Keeping Girls Playing Project’ and discovered one of two girls will drop out of team sport by the age of 13 and are three times more likely to give it up than boys are.
“We’re trying to change that statistic and to keep girls in the sport. Coupled with the enthusiasm of St Pats coach Norma Flynn, last year we restarted girls football in St Pats for Under 8 to Under 12s,” continued Fiona.
“Niamh Daly and Martina Dairo have done great work in keeping the minors and junior ladies teams going, but it was fantastic for us last year to see girls who restarted football or joined as newcomers, to enjoy all the benefits of team sport and all it has to offer, both physically and socially for mental health and for physical fitness and skills,” she said.
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Young player Kayla O’Connor has been playing since she was five and now plays with the minor team and really enjoys it. She mentored the Under 10s last year and Fiona said she had a big impact on the younger players.
Eve O’Sullivan and Katelyn Laide started with the Under 12s and quickly developed skills to play in the county league while Sarah Greaney had played with the junior academy when she was younger but joined the Under 12s last year.
“I didn’t really like it when I was younger, but when I could play with all the girls last year I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot of skills and it’s good for keeping fit,” said Sarah.
“If you can keep up a team sport into secondary school you’ve got fitness, you have friendships, responsibilities, a structure, you’re all working towards the same goal,” said Fiona. “Being involved in team sports has so many benefits.”
Norma Flynn began coaching the Under 5s about four years ago and took over the new underage teams with Fiona last year.
“It was a great success last year and they did really well,” said Norma. “We have a lovely community here and we just want to try bring more girls into the club this year. It’s great for their confidence. Some of them were really quiet at the beginning but you could see the confidence growing as the year went on,” she added.
Girls born in 2013, right all the way up to ladies, regardless of their experience, are invited to St Pats on Sunday morning at 10.30am to find out more. For more check out their Facebook page.
