Sean Mc Goldrick

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Sean Mc Goldrick

• Sowing the Seeds for the Future

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Overview

• My Story Key Lessons
• Eoghan Roe
• My Eoghan Roe Story
• Problems/Issues
• Summary
• Questions - Discussion

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My upbringing and Gaelic Games

• Early influences childhood.
• Gaelic and hurling in my primary and secondary
  schools.
• Success of CBS schools led to the foundation of
  St Teresas GAC in 1963.
• Success with St Teresas through underage up to
  senior level into the early 80s.
• Classic combination of Gaelic games in schools
  and access to games including county games in
  Casement Park.
• Weakness in St Teresas setup underage
  neglected and lesson learned in hindsight.
• Having moved to work in NUU in 1973 I continued
  playing with St Teresa until transferring to
  Eoghan Roe circa 1985.

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Lesson 1

• Need for continuous underage coaching

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Eoghan Roe
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Eoghan Roe, ColeraineLocation, Location, Location

• Transferred to Eoghan Roe in 1985.
• At that time the club was struggling to field a
  senior football team.
• Committee was very small and interest in club and
  games was almost non-existent.
• No culture for GAA existed in the area at the
  time.
• Remoteness from main GAA areas.
• Little exposure to Gaelic games in times past.
• Location is less of a problem today.

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Where is Eoghan Roe?
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My Eoghan Roe Story

• Transferred in 1985
• An eye-opener very different environment
• No club facilities Played and coached senior
  team until I was in my mid forties.
• With few underage players coming through no
  pressure to retire.

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My Eoghan Roe StoryEarly Days Underage Coaching

• Little or no underage coaching.
• Attempts to field an U14 football team with
  youngsters who had a very limited knowledge of
  Gaelic football.
• Subsequently, lesson two followed.

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Lesson Two

• Impossible to impart the skills of a game to
  children who are in their teens.

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Lesson 3

• In order to have children playing and choosing
  Gaelic Games they needed to be introduced to them
  and coached from a very young age.

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Building Blocks

• Young people key

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Eoghan Roe and their Primary Schools

• Very different culture to my primary school.
• Little or no Gaelic games in the primary schools.
• Building blocks for a GAA club were non-existent.
  A vibrant club where children can see the games
  being played and primary schools coaching the
  skills.
• Soccer was very dominant.My personal horror
  story Barry

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My Horror Story
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Lesson 4

• Cannot rely on schools, therefore club has to
  start coaching the children themselves from a
  young age.

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Planting the seeds

• Foundations of Eoghan Roe Gaelic Football
  Structures circa 1990.
• A small group of 4 in the club involved.
• Meeting with Terence Mc Williams, advice received
  and decision to proceed was taken

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Planting the seeds - action

• Established our own coaching programme for
  primary school childrenprimary objective was
• To produce a steady stream of players, to ensure
  the survival of Eoghan Roe club over the long
  term.

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Planting the seeds - Plan

• We would go ahead and organise three sessions for
  primary school children in the Triangle area on a
  Saturday morning in the Dominican College in
  Portstewart, concentrating on the P3 to P7
  children.
• We all accepted that running this programme for a
  couple of years wouldnt be enough. The programme
  would have to run for 15 to 20 years in order to
  see a positive result.

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Planting the Seeds - Progression

• GAA was launching Foundation Courses new ideas
  and confidence.
• After this it was a matter of getting on with the
  practical aspects, booking the hall, buying the
  equipment, getting the word out to the parents.
• We hoped that a spin off of our coaching
  programme would be a growth in interest in GAA
  amongst parents and other adults.
• When the children passed from primary to
  secondary school it was obvious that we would
  have to look about organising sessions for
  secondary school children.more coaches required.

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Planting the Seeds - Today

• We run sessions all year round now. We feel the
  need to do this in order to
• Continually bond the children with the club
• Continually develop the childrens skillseven in
  winter time.
• By providing activities for the children we hoped
  also to bond the parents to the club. This had a
  two-fold effect. We did manage to recruit more
  parents into coaching and we also increased the
  number of club members and therefore the number
  of people who were prepared to volunteer to sit
  on the club committee.

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Eoghan Roes Key Ideas

• 1) Bring underage players through to Senior
  teams.
• 2) Coaching goes on all year round.
• 3) Coaches kept informed of all up-coming
  coaching courses and workshops.
• 4) All coaches have to complete the Foundation
  Course and Child Safeguarding course.

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Eoghan Roes Key Ideas

• 5) Coaches PEC checked.
• 6) Coaches stay at one age group.
• 7) Attempt to ensure players always play in their
  own age group.
• 8) Players playing up an age group, are only
  expected to train with their own age group.
• 9) No prescribed way of playing.

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Where are we now?

• Aim still the same as it was with our first
  meeting with Terrence...to develop underage
  players and bring them through to senior.
• Change in environment. The club now commands much
  more respect in the local community and this is
  reflected in that primary schools are much more
  proactive in supporting Gaelic games.
• Vast majority of our teams play in the B
  leagues simply because thats the level at
  which our underage teams can compete.

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Where are we now?

• Over the years we have added Hurling, Camogie and
  recently Gaelic for girls.
• Although these extra games put a strain on the
  need to find new coaches, we decided in the 90s
  that we would strive to provide games for the
  whole family, male and female, young and old.
• Hurling has enjoyed success, however it is a
  challenge to run a successful dual club.

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Where are we now?

• The higher profile of Gaelic football in Derry
  and in our club puts pressure on the hurling.
  Camogie in the club is thriving.
• Continual struggle to keep numbers up under 16
  hurlers this year.

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Cultural Development and Acceptance

• Irish language and dancing lessons in the club
  house every week.
• Ceasefires in 90sliving in changed times.
• More acceptance of Gaelic Games in our area.
• The Gaelic club in the Coleraine council area has
  a higher profile generally and commands a lot of
  respect from other sports clubs and from the
  council itself.

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Eoghan Roe Highlights
Year Event
1958 Eoghan Rua formed
1957 - 1990 Struggled along in the bottom tier of GAA clubs in Derry, through no fault of the people running the club
1990 Establishment of current Gaelic Football coaching structure
1994 Hurling coaching structure introduced
1995 Camogie coaching structures introduced
2003 Ground bought on the edge of Portstewart
2002 Won Derry Junior Football Championship.
2006/7 Won Derry, Ulster Intermediate football titles and lost All Ireland Intermediate title. Promoted to Senior Football
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Eoghan Roe
Year Event
2008 New pitch opened.
2009 Derry Football Division 2 Champions.
2010 Derry Senior football Champions.
2011/12 Clubrooms opened. Irish language and dancing lessons are now running every week throughout the winter. Derry,Ulster and All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Champions.
2012/13 Derry, Ulster and All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Champions. Gaelic for Girls coaching structure introduced. Club Maith Gold Award obtained.
2013/14 Derry and Ulster Senior Camogie Champions. All-Ireland senior camogie semi-final tomorrow. Derry Intermediate Hurling Champions for 3rd time. Eoghan Roe book published And Some Fell on Stony Ground.
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Problems/Issues
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Problems/Issues

• Attracting Children to Eoghan Rua. Need to
  continue the work of building a GAA culture in
  our area.
• Competition from other sports on-going. Do they
  come back?
• Changing lifestyle of children.
• Attracting new coaches.
• Retaining coaches.
• Parents as coaches advantages and
  disadvantages.
• Facilities

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Summary

• Have a long term goal and be prepared for a long
  term commitment.
• Shared Vision -  gather together the people who
  you know share your hopes and start from there,
  no matter how small your group is.
• Put coaching structures in place from
  Fundamentals to adult (LTPD). This may be a
  gradual process which takes years as you increase
  the number of coaches working in your club.
• Outsiders wont do it, must be built by you!
• Develop School Links/Dont rely on Schools or
  county coaches (DIY)
• Think about providing activities for the whole
  family - developing the bond is essential and
  always look for ways to increase the GAA
  community!

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Summary

• Be open to new adult members and utilise the
  abilities and talents of everyone willing to make
  a contribution.
• Encourage club members to attend courses.
• Club Maith accreditation.
• Learn from others.
• Encourage next generation and be prepared to let
  go.