East Belfast GAA

Started by nearlymad, June 02, 2020, 12:53:43 AM

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marty34

Quote from: tbrick18 on August 11, 2022, 02:45:50 PM
Quote from: marty34 on August 11, 2022, 01:30:56 PM
Quote from: tbrick18 on August 11, 2022, 12:05:49 PM
Quote from: Wildweasel74 on August 10, 2022, 10:48:48 PM
Only way Derry City would progress is 10 coaches to cover all Primary and secondary schools. Drop off got to be nearly 80% of children from school age group to senior. Deprived City, so many move away,

80% drop of kids between school age and senior might not be unique to Derry City. I'd guess in most clubs there's a huge drop off post school age. How many minors go on to make it at senior level? Generally if you get 4-5 new players filtering into a senior panel every year you are doing well. One of the major failings of the GAA imo. Social games need to become more prominent to provide for all.

The deprivation factor is a good point. Some kids simply cannot afford the gear/membership fees/travel expenses of getting to training or matches.
Perhaps innovative ideas here to make it easier to participate if you come from a deprived background. Funding for kit for example? Perhaps funding for a club minibus in a city area to pick up and drop off kids to training/matches?
All of this needs someone/or group of someone's within a club to organise and manage though.

Pumping money into it isn't the way to do it.

A proper plan needs to be put together.

Why should Derry City get it above other rural clubs who have their house in order.  People think in rural clubs that the gaa is the only thing.  Not true nowadays - there's loads of of distractions amd the drop out is as high I'd say in rural areas, as it is in city areas.  Fact of life nowadays.

I never suggesting pumping money in was the way to do it, but certainly money will be required. It doesn't need to be millions though.
For example, let say a club was to run a fun day (bouncy castles, ice cream van...you know the craic) to entice people through the doors. 2-3K would go a long way and would raise the club profile and generate a positive perception of the club being there to provide facilities to potential new families and players.
A bus, total guess, maybe 50K? If club got funding for a bus, they could perhaps swell their ranks by running a pickup/dropoff service with the bus.
That's what I mean by innovative ideas.
By involving more people, with the club directly the kids automatically get more access to volunteer coaches as opposed to paid for (usually temporary) games development officers in schools. The ideal scenario is for all of this to be running together over a prolonged period of time. That's where the real issue is I think....its so difficult to maintain momentum as people come and go.

I'd have no issue with East Belfast GAA, or any other club, getting funding provided its funding that is open to all to apply for and it is dispersed in a fair way.

In my mind, the more clubs and people involved across the board the better.

Fair enough TBrick18.

I think a club, through local businesses, should be fit to fund/host days like that themselves.

There's a lot of goodwill out there if people are asked, they'll help out.

Coaches and man/woman power may be where the issue lies. But if a plan is put together in a structured and realistic way, it should work out.

Best thing to do is focus on the underage and plough the majority of resources into it....instead of the senior team.


tbrick18

Quote from: marty34 on August 11, 2022, 05:22:42 PM
Quote from: tbrick18 on August 11, 2022, 02:45:50 PM
Quote from: marty34 on August 11, 2022, 01:30:56 PM
Quote from: tbrick18 on August 11, 2022, 12:05:49 PM
Quote from: Wildweasel74 on August 10, 2022, 10:48:48 PM
Only way Derry City would progress is 10 coaches to cover all Primary and secondary schools. Drop off got to be nearly 80% of children from school age group to senior. Deprived City, so many move away,

80% drop of kids between school age and senior might not be unique to Derry City. I'd guess in most clubs there's a huge drop off post school age. How many minors go on to make it at senior level? Generally if you get 4-5 new players filtering into a senior panel every year you are doing well. One of the major failings of the GAA imo. Social games need to become more prominent to provide for all.

The deprivation factor is a good point. Some kids simply cannot afford the gear/membership fees/travel expenses of getting to training or matches.
Perhaps innovative ideas here to make it easier to participate if you come from a deprived background. Funding for kit for example? Perhaps funding for a club minibus in a city area to pick up and drop off kids to training/matches?
All of this needs someone/or group of someone's within a club to organise and manage though.

Pumping money into it isn't the way to do it.

A proper plan needs to be put together.

Why should Derry City get it above other rural clubs who have their house in order.  People think in rural clubs that the gaa is the only thing.  Not true nowadays - there's loads of of distractions amd the drop out is as high I'd say in rural areas, as it is in city areas.  Fact of life nowadays.

I never suggesting pumping money in was the way to do it, but certainly money will be required. It doesn't need to be millions though.
For example, let say a club was to run a fun day (bouncy castles, ice cream van...you know the craic) to entice people through the doors. 2-3K would go a long way and would raise the club profile and generate a positive perception of the club being there to provide facilities to potential new families and players.
A bus, total guess, maybe 50K? If club got funding for a bus, they could perhaps swell their ranks by running a pickup/dropoff service with the bus.
That's what I mean by innovative ideas.
By involving more people, with the club directly the kids automatically get more access to volunteer coaches as opposed to paid for (usually temporary) games development officers in schools. The ideal scenario is for all of this to be running together over a prolonged period of time. That's where the real issue is I think....its so difficult to maintain momentum as people come and go.

I'd have no issue with East Belfast GAA, or any other club, getting funding provided its funding that is open to all to apply for and it is dispersed in a fair way.

In my mind, the more clubs and people involved across the board the better.

Fair enough TBrick18.

I think a club, through local businesses, should be fit to fund/host days like that themselves.

There's a lot of goodwill out there if people are asked, they'll help out.

Coaches and man/woman power may be where the issue lies. But if a plan is put together in a structured and realistic way, it should work out.

Best thing to do is focus on the underage and plough the majority of resources into it....instead of the senior team.

100% agree with that. Focus on those underage structures make the whole club focus on finding ways to make the children want to go there and take part. Involve the parents in coaching underage teams, work towards getting whole family buy in. Offer up the coaching courses to anyone with an interest.
Those parent helpers today are the fund raisers, coaches and committee members of the future. Over time, if this is all done right, you have a conveyor belt of kids, coaches, committee members and a means to generate the finance needed to run a club. My old club had even offered to pay for a coach to go into the local schools each week....doesn't amount to massive money when compared to the cost of running a club. Say 3 hours per school per week in a town with 4-5 schools. £400 a week would do a lot.
I'd love to see Gaelic coaches going into integrated schools. From what I've seen of the integrated sector, there's not much gaa coached there.
Games development officers can complement this and there's always the ability to apply for funding.
I'd hope the East Belfast club are trying to do this. It might be more difficult for a new club in an area like that to get enough children involved so that underage teams can be set up, so they'll always struggle and will probably be more dependant on funding than larger clubs.
But like I said, no issue with them getting the funding so long as it's through the same channels the rest of the clubs have to go through.

I actually think its a brilliant idea to set this club up. Ignoring the Bryson antics, it give any moderate unionist curious about the GAA the opportunity to go try it out for themselves. It also provides catholics in the area somewhere to go and play the sport they love. There are so many positive things about it and for me, this is what the GAA is about.