On Saturday January 30th, 2021, the Camogie Association held the third annual National Development Forum with this year’s event being held online with almost 200 attendees registered for the event.
We have made the recording of the forum available to watch here.
The morning started with a panel discussion facilitated by Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh around the topic of ‘’The Power of Sport’’. A great discussion took place on the experience the four panellists, Ursula Jacob, Tracey Kennedy, David Gough & Diarmuid Lyng have experienced with the power of sport in their lives. It was highlighted by both panellists and attendees the importance that sport, and the sporting community has played for people, especially in these strange times.
The first workshop of the day was delivered by Camogie staff members Stuart Reid and Sabrina Larkin on the topic of ‘’Go Games & Club School Link’’ with guest panellist David Gough. The content of these presentations was very well received by all attendees and the highlight of the session came from the sharing of ideas and resources among attendees using the textbox facility. The true spirit of our Association was alive and evident within our members present.
After a quick morning break Diarmuid Lyng began our session on ‘’Social Camogie & Retention of Teenagers in Camogie’’ by using imagery and mindfulness to bring attendees back to the first time they walked through the gates of their local club. This change of approach and mindset was brought together by the presenter Aideen Howlin who gave an in-depth outline of what retentions is and the different options available to Camogie clubs on how to implement social Camogie and retention initiatives for teenagers and beyond.
The final workshop of the day on how to ‘’Recruit and Retain Volunteers’’ was delivered by Pamela Frizelle, Learning and Development Co-ordinator for the Camogie Association along with guest contributor Tracey Kennedy. The practical ideas provided by Pamela on how to recruit new members and suggestions around how to utilise your current members were very well received and appreciated by attendees. Tracey Kennedys perspective of becoming a volunteer at club level, progressing through the ranks at all committee levels, while breaking new grounds for females within the GAA are both interesting and inspirational. The presentation was finished with an introduction to succession planning and the Camogie’s new resource on Succession Planning which is available here.
The day was wrapped up with a closing address from the Camogie Association’s Technical Development Manager, Louise Conlon who thanked all presenters and panellists for their contributions and all attendees for their engagement during the morning. Finally, Louise acknowledged all the hard work being done by all our volunteers at grassroots and wished everyone well for the year ahead.
To view and download the Information Pack available from the National Development Forum, click here.
