Influences on youngsters playing and staying with a defined sport?

[From the Bunker]

Parents
Heroes/Celebrities in the sport
Exposure on TV
Media
Culture of an area
A good coach
A good club
Friends
Natural ability
Opportunities for game time

[Eamonnca1]

Parents
Heroes/Celebrities in the sport
Exposure on TV
Media
Culture of an area
A good coach
A good club
Friends
Natural ability
Opportunities for game time

I remember when I happened upon some Channel 4 coverage of the 1986 Tour de France, a stage that went into Bordeaux. Bit of a flat stage, none of the dramatic mountain passes. I was just amazed at the speed of the riders and how the tactics of the race were playing out. I didn't know any of the riders' names or how these professional teams worked, but I was awestruck. I was about 9 years old at the time and from that moment forward I was hooked on cycling. Became a competitive rider eventually.

I remember the first time I sat down and actually paid attention to a hurling match. Would have been an All-Ireland semifinal or a provincial final if it was on TV in those days. The way the players flicked the ball off the ground and into their hands was what got my attention, then I started to notice how skillful it was. Again, I was hooked. I'd been to club hurling matches before to watch my brother playing, but it was the TV coverage and the close-up action that really got my attention.

I'd say TV exposure was a big deal in forming my sporting tastes.

[Eamonnca1]

Culture of an area is also going to be huge. I never had any interest in English or Scottish soccer but there was no escaping it in Lurgan growing up, it was all some of my mates would ever talk about, so by osmosis I was always going to have some idea of what was going on. And when I lived in Manchester there was definitely no escape. If I was into some minority sport that absolutely nobody was talking about then it would have been a lonely time, I'd imagine. Maybe it's different nowadays when youngsters can form online communities with similar interests.

[themac_23]

in soccer, def YouTube. My wee boy turned 6 last month and he knows all the players and their numbers etc from Youtube lol, he's football mad, out in the garden he's doing the celebrations and all lol. I hate him being anywhere near his tablet esp now the good weather coming in but I kinda let him away if he's watching football clips as I think it's getting him more into sport.

[Captain Scarlet]

In all the talk of giving up the summer to other sports in the split season there is never a mention of the fact that even when we had them there was nothing aimed at kids.
My nephew is glued to soccer clips and skills on YouTube. It's something the GAA need to look at.

[square_ball]

In all the talk of giving up the summer to other sports in the split season there is never a mention of the fact that even when we had them there was nothing aimed at kids.
My nephew is glued to soccer clips and skills on YouTube. It's something the GAA need to look at.

That's a good point. In between games there is nothing on TV/online about the games played or upcoming games. Us old fogies can pick up the paper and read about it but thats not what youngsters do nowadays. They want the likes of YouTube or TikTok and there is zero presence on either of those things in an official capacity. Look at how Ruairi Canavans point v Glen went viral across the world to show the potential reach.

There is actually a good channel on YouTube called Peaky Bannsiders who in the main follows Coleraine in the Irish League with his son. Last year he went to all the Derry matches in Ulster and All Ireland. Its well worth checking out. Thats the kind of thing the GAA needs to be looking at now.

[Franko]

In all the talk of giving up the summer to other sports in the split season there is never a mention of the fact that even when we had them there was nothing aimed at kids.
My nephew is glued to soccer clips and skills on YouTube. It's something the GAA need to look at.

That's a good point. In between games there is nothing on TV/online about the games played or upcoming games. Us old fogies can pick up the paper and read about it but thats not what youngsters do nowadays. They want the likes of YouTube or TikTok and there is zero presence on either of those things in an official capacity. Look at how Ruairi Canavans point v Glen went viral across the world to show the potential reach.

There is actually a good channel on YouTube called Peaky Bannsiders who in the main follows Coleraine in the Irish League with his son. Last year he went to all the Derry matches in Ulster and All Ireland. Its well worth checking out. Thats the kind of thing the GAA needs to be looking at now.

The GAA could learn a lot from Buff Egan

[marty34]

In all the talk of giving up the summer to other sports in the split season there is never a mention of the fact that even when we had them there was nothing aimed at kids.
My nephew is glued to soccer clips and skills on YouTube. It's something the GAA need to look at.

That's a good point. In between games there is nothing on TV/online about the games played or upcoming games. Us old fogies can pick up the paper and read about it but thats not what youngsters do nowadays. They want the likes of YouTube or TikTok and there is zero presence on either of those things in an official capacity. Look at how Ruairi Canavans point v Glen went viral across the world to show the potential reach.

There is actually a good channel on YouTube called Peaky Bannsiders who in the main follows Coleraine in the Irish League with his son. Last year he went to all the Derry matches in Ulster and All Ireland. Its well worth checking out. Thats the kind of thing the GAA needs to be looking at now.

The GAA could learn a lot from Buff Egan

Yeah, Buff is a good lad. A good PR man for the small ball.

[From the Bunker]

My young lad (11) is Soccer-mad. Soccer ticks all the boxes. Games are more organised. A, B and C teams - mean a lot of game time for you within your ability. 11 a side means more touches of the ball in a game. Soccer is on the telly all the time. Soccer is all over Youtube, social media etc. Soccer is in the playground. Match Attacks Cards.

He likes Gaelic Football and plays it. The drop off in underage Gaelic is mad enough. There is no room for average to weak players. I was kind of surprised at how early the cull starts. He's holding his own so far! Many clubs have development (or B ) teams that are mainly used for 'A' team players getting a second game in the week, which further helps with the cull within the club. The clubs who don't do this get hockeyed which helps with the cull in their club! The only average lads that do survive are the ones whose parents are involved or the ones who are not ashamed to be sitting on the bench week in week out.

[trailer]

The GAA could learn a lot from other sports. The online media is huge from Match highlights in soccer or race highlights in F1 for example. It's available a few hours after. Interviews and shorts with key participants. Even F1 moved to squad numbers for drivers. Merchandise, match day experiences all these things drive interest and participation. Of course we're a community organisation so everything is very local but definitely feel more work could be done to elevate the interest in the individual players and counties.

[snoopdog]

It's a like bit of everything I suppose. Main thing obviously is an interest. If they don't have it your wasting your time, and best not to push them as they may come back to it a few years later. I'm learning that with my eldest lad. Classmates in the club will keep them going to training. Fun aspect during training make the drills interesting and fun. Also bringing them to games.  Even if they just go for the sweets or the running on the pitch at full time to meet the players. I'm coming purely from a GAA aspect though. Obv croke pk don't let the kids on the precious pitch. My 2 youngest love going to the county games. And it has increased their interest on the pitch with their team.

[imtommygunn]

The GAA could learn a lot from other sports. The online media is huge from Match highlights in soccer or race highlights in F1 for example. It's available a few hours after. Interviews and shorts with key participants. Even F1 moved to squad numbers for drivers. Merchandise, match day experiences all these things drive interest and participation. Of course we're a community organisation so everything is very local but definitely feel more work could be done to elevate the interest in the individual players and counties.

Tbf they've advanced significantly with match highlights this year. They're available on "TheGAA" twitter almost immediately after a match.

[twohands!!!]

The GAA could learn a lot from other sports. The online media is huge from Match highlights in soccer or race highlights in F1 for example. It's available a few hours after. Interviews and shorts with key participants. Even F1 moved to squad numbers for drivers. Merchandise, match day experiences all these things drive interest and participation. Of course we're a community organisation so everything is very local but definitely feel more work could be done to elevate the interest in the individual players and counties.

Tbf they've advanced significantly with match highlights this year. They're available on "TheGAA" twitter almost immediately after a match.

Yeah - I had a similar thought this morning as I noticed the Munster GAA YouTube channel had highlights of minor hurling games that were on last night.

However not all units of the organisation are using their YouTube channel's as effectively.

It's 10 months since the Connacht Council last uploaded anything to their YouTube channel.
It's 4 months since the Leinster Council last uploaded anything to their YouTube channel.
It's 1 month since the Ulster Council last uploaded anything to their YouTube channel.
It's 12 days since the GAA last uploaded anything to their YouTube channel.

You wonder why the highlights on Twitter aren't being uploaded to YouTube as well.

Overall it seems fairly scatter-shot ad/hoc with little in the way of joined up thinking or a common approach accross different units in terms of social media use to promote the GAA.

It's also yet more evidence of the effectiveness/inefficiency/waste of the provincial councils.

[Jeepers Creepers]

If you can't see it you wont want to be it. My wee lad (9) has turned soccer mad out of the blue. Youtube/school/tv/Playstation/Merchadising everywhere. Every where you turn soccer is rammed down your throat.

[Truth hurts]

underage managers who picks winning trophies over development is a massive reason of the drop off in the GAA