Wicklow County Development Squads Begin 2018 Preparation
The Wicklow County Development Squads have started their preparation for 2018 with a new series of age appropriate workshops being delivered to their development squads. Thursday 9th November saw the first workshop on Nutrition, Hydration and Lifestyle being delivered to the u12, u13, and u14 girls who are part of the School of Excellence and Development Squads.
The workshop took place in Wicklow GAA Centre of Excellence in Ballinakill with 51 girls attending the first night and was delivered by Geraldine Curtis, who is currently completing her student placement from WIT with the Camogie Association. The importance of balanced nutrition and general care of your health was the focus here for both optimal performance on the pitch and in the classroom. This was an excellent start to a series of workshop being delivered in the coming weeks.
With the buzz word of the year being Strength and Conditioning and many intercounty squads now incorporating this into their programs, many wrongly assume this solely means heavy weights. Next week looks to de-myth that theory with the same group being instructed on the basics of Strength and Conditioning appropriate for them and the how to” and “how not to’s”. This will focus more about being able to hold your body weight and its importance in stability and injury prevention.
The remaining two weeks will be aimed at the older development groups from u15 – u18 and will look at balancing life, school, exams and camogie and then onto the appropriate gym use, gym safety and what to use and what to avoid in the gym environment. Keep an eye here for the update on the conclusion of these workshops in the next few weeks.
Westmeath and Longford Secondary Schools battle it out in Blitz
A frosty morning on Wednesday 8th November did little to dampen the spirits of the Westmeath and Longford secondary school players who travelled to St.Lomans, Mullingar for a one day blitz for 1st and 2nd year students. 5 schools with 84 girls competed on the day in 4 games throughout the morning with a number of girls getting their first taste of post primary level camogie.
Mercy Secondary Kilbeggan
Moate CS
Many thanks to St. Lomans for the use of their top class facilities and to the teachers and players for their enthusiasm on the day.
Scoil Mhuire, Longford
St.Finians
The five schools present were St.Josephs, Rochfortbridge, St.Finians, Mercy Secondary School, Moate Community School and Scoil Mhuire, Longford. Thanks also to the referees on the day for officiating.
St.Josephs Rochfortbridge
Communication and Building Rapport with Players Workshop
The second pilot of this player retention initiative took place on Monday November 13th in Birr, County Offaly. 18 coaches from Offaly, Tipperary and Galway participated in the workshop on ‘Communication and Building Rapport with Players’.
Peter Casey tutoring in Birr
This workshop is aimed at coaches at all levels from under 8 up to adult levels. The workshop looks at the importance of communication and building rapport with players with the aim of retaining them in the sport of Camogie. This workshop gets coaches thinking about what message they send to their players as a coach and what style of communication they use. Pictured Peter Casey (Clare) who is tutoring on the workshops and is a member of the Camogie Player Retention Working Group.
