Success doesn’t just happen
Waterford are Allianz National Hurling Champions. Yes! we screamed it from the rooftops. Indeed the media at large were a little taken aback that the Deise would come through for ultimate success. Having been relegated in 2014 it seemed that we here in the South East were expected to be "also rans". That win however was again another confirmation, if indeed required, of all the work being done at club, school, development and intercounty level. Somewhat like the swan swimming. Everything appears to be gliding along but underneath there is a bundle of activity. One of the core areas of the road to success has been the work done by the people in Coaching and Games Development under the guidance of Eoin Breathnach. This week I would like to chronicle with the kind permission of the above Eoin, the GDA staff along with County Coaching Officer Michael Murphy and Liam Cheasty, the activities in May. Perhaps give a flavour to all as to the amount of work/effort that goes into helping build a future for kids within the association. Hereunder are some snapshots of the huge amount of work.
NEWSLETTER MAY 2015
All of us in coaching and games would like to congratulate the Waterford Senior Hurlers and the Ladies Footballers for their recent achievements. Hopefully all of our teams will achieve their potential during the upcoming championships. There will be several players from the various county panelsworking with us in the Kellogg's GAA Cul Camps and who knows maybe a trophy will appear. A full update included in this edition.
KELLOGG'S GAA CUL CAMPS 2015
During the camps we will be picking one boy and one girl from the oldest group in each camp. These children will come to Carriganore on Tuesday 25th August where we will have games against children from the Wexford Cul Camps who are running the same programme.
For clubs who are running a camp for
4-5 year olds during the Kellogg's Cul Camp we will be in a position to sell kits to those if required. The cost of a kit is just 30 euro and includes bag in Waterford colours, camp training jersey and 1/2 zip top.
Clubs running their own summer camps must run a Kellogg's camp at least two weeks before their in house one and also seek permission from County Board and Coaching and Games. We will be putting up a sign at each club gate outlining the date and picture of the kits. In the month of June we will be running some free places competitions on social media, local radio and local newspapers.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The County Poc Fada takes place on Monday 22nd of June in Mahon Falls. Their will be both an under 16 and a senior competition. The course will begin at the car park and will criss cross the river on a number of occasions. Under 16's will commence at 6.30pm while the senior event will begin at 7pm. All entries to GDA's please by Monday 15th June.
Primary Skills County Finals took place last week and was again a huge success with all sixteen schools enjoying the competition. A huge congratulations to winners St Declan's NS in hurling and Scoil Dun Gharbhain in football. Both schools will now go forward to the Munster Skills Final on 17th june.
In conjunction with Waterford Teacher Centre a GAA Summer Course will take place in Colaiste Cathal Naofa Dungarvan from Wed 1st - Fri 3rd July. This is one of eighteen courses taking place across the country and is run by Croke Park, County Board and local Teacher Centres.
CARRIGANORE BLITZES
There are two remaining hurling blitzes under 8 on Saturday 13th june 11am - 12.30pm and under 10 on Saturday 27th june 11am - 12.30pm.
Clubs are welcome to enter as many teams as they wish with all clubs playing 3 games per blitz. Entries please to GDA's or Games manager no later than Monday before each blitz. The GDA's are also running Under 8, under 9, under 10 blitzes across the county in May, June and July on a weekly basis with City League and Town and Country under 11 and under 12.
There is also a huge amount of activity being organised by the individual GDA's throughout the county. Column space will not allow me give all the individual blitzes and club visits organised by Michelle Power GDA Western Division, David Robinson GDA Mid County and John Quinn Urban but feel free to contact the office at Walsh Park or any of the above GDA's for details. Great credit to all the team for their huge committment and work.
HURLING WORKSHOP
On Saturday 18th April Michael Rice, Kilkenny Senior Hurler and coach to St Kierans College delivered a very worthwhile hurling workshop in Walsh Park. Unfortunately the attendance was not quite as good as expected with a number of clubs not sending representatives. Nonetheless those who did attend found it to be of great benefit and our under 15 development squad and mentors who participated in the session found it very beneficial indeed. A special word of thanks to Michael for his work throughout the sessions. No doubt word of mouth will ensure that next time it will be full house for a similar effort.
CROKE PARK ACTIVITY DAYS
Naomh Brid, Ardmore, Cois Brid, Passage, St Mollerans, Kilrossanty, Rathgormack and Naomh Deaglan Thoir will all travel to Croke Park in June for one of the hugely successful activity days. The reports back from clubs who have enjoyed the day out is that it is a fantastic occasion and one that will live long in the memory of the kids who were there.
CONCLUSION
As I said above this is just a flavour of what is happening behind the scenes of success. It is replicated in clubs and schools all over the country. Let's hope the culmination of all this effort will see a Waterford captain bring another All-Ireland over the River Suir in the not too distant future.
