What wrong and whats right in Offaly gaa

[Truth as i see it]

Just wanted to get something off my chest, felt this was the only place to do it so apologies if i am repeating myself or if anyone has said this before

Here are couple of quotes from the recent county board meeting on the go games biltz

This in a nutshell is what i think is at the root of the counties problems

The issue of not having a "competitive" edge did come under a lot of scrutiny but the League basis in under 12 does have to on some level but with the rules monitored.
Delegates did question what does Croke Park know about football and hurling Offaly and there were huge concerns as to how Go Games will prepare players for championship at U14 level.

Sadly the old codger brigade still have a hold on matters in the county and they don't have the comprehension or capacity to adapt to modern methods

One wonders if they would like to see the county stay in the slump we are in just to vindicate their back in my day pearls of wisdom

However i did find a chink of light when Michael Duignan Said this:

but the night was summed up by Ballinamere/Durrow Chairman Michael Duignan who stated this is the way forward for Offaly GAA.
He said "I don't care about wins at under 10 or under 12 level, but I do care what Offaly do at Minor, U21 and Senior Level and we have to row in behind this venture that has been put together brilliantly"
He went onto say, the games are all about seeing children playing and going home with "smiles on their faces, this is the way forward"

And Also:

Also backing Mr Duignan was Edenderry delegate Willie Forde who said "we can sit here all night and pick out flaws; we have to look at the glass as being half full rather than half empty. This is the only way forward for Offaly GAA"
For years the GAA has come under scrutiny in the fact that "championship" structures don't allow for full participation of all underage players, but since a stance has been made by headquarters with no U10 and U12 championships being allowed the way has been paved for Go Games.
As a county Offaly tried Go Games in the past and it failed miserably, but in fairness to Coaching and Games they have set down a wonderful fixtures plan for the coming year and to be fair they are trying their best to get the participation throughout the county to its maximum level.

And finally:

But no matter what anyone feels on the matter there will never be championships at U1O or U12 level and as stated by John Leahy the "mind set of the people in the room has to change" (exactly right in my Book)
Concluding matters Chairman Pat Cleary said "it is up to all of you here to bring Offaly back to the top"

[joe bloggs]

I'm delighted to see this model now being fully adopted.
The message though will need to go out as to why it has been brought in so that lads over teams fully understand the concept, and the same too for the mammies and daddies on the sideline

[boomcha]

i remember watching pride of the parish for ballymun kickhams and Val Andrews talked about how most managers and parents on the sideline treat children as small adults and only use them to win matches so they (the managers) can win trophies.
Most managers leave the "not so good kids" on the sideline and arent interested in making them better players. At that age every child should get a game, never be shouted at(which i have seen in my club to the extent that one child started to cry,thats just one case) and just have a fun time while learning the skills.
This is brilliant. Does every kid get to play in these games?

[backofthenet]

I think this is always going to be a contentious issue to be honest.

The reason the go games were introduced was to bring up participation in hurling. However for a lot of hurling clubs, mainly the rural ones. This is simply not an issue. In my own club Coolderry you would be hard pressed to find a member of the male s*x aged between 6 + that does not participate in the sport at some level. Also there is generally a lack of numbers rather than an oversupply so the issue of the "not so good" kids does not generally happen.

In my opinion It is essentially a urban measure to try to counteract the developement of the youth structures in other sports and has been taken from other sports where it has proved successful in terms of participation. As the fact is Irish Kids especially in urban areas now have a choice of sports to choose from which they did not have in the past, and if their interest is not kept they will be lost to rugby / soccer etc.

There is another point in that kids do have to learn at some stage that winning is not always going to happen and that you wont be played everyday you turn up, in fact there is a good chance if you are part of the "not so good" brigade that you wont be playing most days you turn up! The idea of the go games is to allow the kids to develop through games with each given an equal opportunity. However there is an element of kicking it down the road to U14 level where invariably the "not so good" kids are then left on the bench for each championship game and are left scratching their heads wondering why!! Allied to this is that underage managers do want to win trophies and want something to show for their time and effort and may feel that their efforts are for nothing if there is no chance of some recognition at the end of it. This is a mindset that needs to change countrywide if the go games are to be successful.

Finally the parents, I spoke to someone recently who was at a go games, one team was winning 5-4 to no score and when the ref gave a penalty to the team with no score he was screamed at by some parent who felt it was a wrong decision!! There needs to be a serious change in their mindset most of all & I feel that its a change that will take quite some time to come about.

I personally would rather a solution that kept some form of compettition as it can be healthy when it is monitored correctly. An under 12 competition where every sub had to be brought on each game may have been workable but ultimately it is the attitude of both supporters and managers that needs to change not only at 12 level but every level after it also.

[dubbiff]

I would just like to make a couple of points about Go Games. I have been involved in a Dublin club for the past few years since my kids started playing. When these games were first introduced there was a lot of scepticism among mentors and this was partly because the rules were in need of developing. The pitch used to be in 3 zones and only the midfielders were allowed move the length of the pitch. This led to games of ping pong between the stronger players with the weaker lads being completely bypassed. The backs stayed back and the forwards stayed up front while the ball was kicked to and fro. The rules have been modified and I have become a convert to the Go Games philosophy

They start with non-competitive leagues at U8. You play 9-a-side games against clubs with similar numbers. So if you can field 3 teams you play against clubs with 3 teams. If you have a 4th team then you send the 4th team to a club which has only 1 team or also has 4 teams. The idea is to field the maximum number of teams so game time is maximised for all players. If a player is injured and cannot continue and you don't have subs then the opposition have to take off one of their players. Steamrolling other teams is not the goal. Other good rules are:
Fouled players take their own free.
3 points for an over (point) and only 1 point for an under (goal)
The combined score for all teams is the score recorded
Every player plays at least half the game
Points are awarded for different skills (overhead catch, hook, block)

The best rule of all is one which I found hard to get my head around at first-Streaming. It is vital that you field A, B and C teams. This ensures that all players are pitted against players of similar ability. You will find that the A games have a natural intensity all of their own because the better players are usually the most competitive. Thus there is no need to fret about getting to U14 level with players who are unprepared for battle - it just happens.

At U10 the teams go to 11-a-side and work up to 15 a side at U13 level when the rules are almost identical to adult rules.

Apologies if ye are all familiar with these conditions already- I have to say I think they are brilliant for developing young players.
The timing of the season is very different also. Up here the school year is the underage GAA season and this means that from September through to the end of June (with a break over Christmas ) the kids play GAA every Saturday - that's a lot of games compared to country clubs. Another brilliant rule is that hurling and football are played on alternate weeks and this has raised the profile of hurling in Dublin immensely. While I am not saying everything is perfect or better than elsewhere I can definitely vouch for the good work being done in Dublin with the full backing of the Co. board. I think the skill levels of players at u14 level is frightening compared to what it used to be and this is due to the amount of game time they garner from U8 upwards and not from the quality of coaching. The coaching is mostly done by parents - some of whom never played Gaelic games and I am sure this is he same in most clubs countrywide

[club125]

By all the accounts the first weekend of the Go Games proved very successful. U10 Hurling mini blitzes were held at four venues across the County. Tonight the U8 Mini Blitzes will be held and on Wednesday night the first round of the U12 Hurling Mini League will take place.

More details of the full programme of fixtures can be found here http://offaly.gaa.ie/offaly-news/offaly ... ogames2012.

Also to see video action from one of the Blitzes on Saturday log on to http://www.edenderrygaa.com/news/u10hur ... fftoaflyer

[beirut]

Great to see Hurling alive and well in Edenderry! Keep it up! Has Rhode completely given up on the Hurling, I remember playing against them in Junior 'A' a few years back but don't see them in any groups anymore?

[kingscounty]

rhode and surrounding areas are hurling with edenderry i think at underage, great to see hurling in edenderry at underage and hopefully it will grow more. they had good wins over tullamore and na fianna in the go games.

[lusmagh]

We also hosted an U10 blitz on Saturday morning with Kinnitty, Seir Kieran, Drumcullen and Ballyskenagh/Killavilla the visiting teams. Each team played four games and it was a massively successful day with the format ensuring that all kids got involved in the games. Children, mentors and parents went home happy and everyone is back this evening for the U8 version at 6:30pm.

Check out the venues for this evening, or any of those upcoming, and go along for a look. It'll be worth it...

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

As an example of what right these Go Games are the way forward, and any fella who runs them down is part of the problem in the GAA.
Fair play to Coiste na nOg on organising this and anyone who wants to shake off the feel bad factor in Offaly GAA should look these up and get along to these.

Hopefully clubs fully engage in the spirit of these especially at 8's and 10's level and enter as many teams as possible, and keep it up over the summer. if a kid plays hurling and football they are out at u8 pretty much every Monday , and u10 every Saturday over the summer. Brilliant, and will really show parents that the GAA can cater for the kids with organised fixtures, like the rugby and soccer.

[Lone Shark]

As somebody who was that "not so good kid" (stone useless was the term used at the time, but we won't get bogged down in pedantry) I think there are other advantages to this current system that might not be noticed by those that took it for granted all along that when they togged out, they played.

Kids aren't stupid, and neither are they subtle. That means that when you're the weak link, either on a training team or when you get brought on, you're told all about it. That does not foster a love of the game. It's not about deserving time on the field, it's about not going home feeling miserable because you've just been very publicly branded as a waste of space and your own performance has demonstrated why. As soon as you get the chance to leave, you do - and pretty soon some of the good kids drop off as well because their friends aren't playing any more. There were 24 lads in my class in National School and I'm pretty sure that none of those were playing football or hurling by the time they hit 22 years of age. In fact, I'd say you could count on one hand the amount of players from the year ahead or the year behind who were either.

Backofthenet points out that all players take part in rural clubs anyway - my counterpoint would be that I took part and played up to under-14 level, because that's where all my friends were, and there's nothing else to do - which probably remains the case in places like Coolderry, but won't for much longer. Playing sport has to be appealing and while kids will know the difference between who's good and who isn't, sitting on a bench watching others play is hell. It still is, and I'm now 34 and no less useless. Go games seems to be doing a great job of getting kids interested in the games, and making sure that kids of all levels get enjoyment out of it. If you instil that feelgood factor from an early age, there is a much better chance that those kids will retain that sense of enjoyment and stick with it through the tougher times, until they either improve, or else go on to become part of the club in a volunteer role.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Great evening in Edenderry yesterday evening where Edenderry, Vincents, NA Fianna & Rhode played U8 Go Games blitz. Each club had 2 teams and I think each club balanced out the teams evenly and there was some great football.
Fair play to Edenderry who had the whole thing very well organised with 4 pitches set up. Great experience for all involved from what I saw.

Credit where its due!

[Lone Shark]

In fairness to Edenderry, they seem to go the right way about most things. I'm not on their doorstep or anything but the vast, vast majority of things they do are done correctly and with the right spirit.

[azoffaly]

As someone fairly involved in coaching here in Tipp, I am a fan of the Go Games concept, or at least a modified version of it. The biggest single element that I like about it is that EVERYONE plays. You will not develop without playing, and you have no idea at 6 or 8 who is going to be a good minor or senior player, so it behoves us to give all the kids the opportunity to develop their skills at training, and then use them to get even better in a match situation.

I also have used the zones in the past, and I actually found them good in that the good players cannot dominate a game because they are limited in movement, but we didn't even allow the midfield zone to roam. I would say that we do *not* do this as the norm, and we implement it if there are obvious imbalances.

Kids are not stupid though, and sometimes I feel that we treat them as if they are. While the games are not 'competitive' in the old sense of the word with parents foaming at the mouth and abusing you for little Joe being on the bench, the kids themselves are inherently competitive, and that is a good thing. Never lie to the kids, never tell them they drew or won when they lost. Explain to them that the important thing is to continue to get better, regardless of the result, but let them try and win.

The best thing about these games, in my opinion is

1- Everyone plays
2 -The result is not the most important thing
3 - The Parents don't associate it with your normal championship game, so are more inclined to just let the kids play and enjoy it.


But one thing is still true, kids enjoy it the most when they win the games, and I don't think that will ever change, nor should it. Go games might just help them learn to deal with defeat though, on their own terms, rather than through an adult's.

[club125]

See another short clip from the U8 action last night in Edenderry http://www.youtube.com/embed/zcg7ezbHuik?

Its great that these games have received such a positive response in the opening weeks of the programme. These modified games are fantastic for the reason quoted above in relation to the fact that everyone plays, plus the games are small sided so every player gets more touches and the rules modified to prevent the strongest players running the length of the pitch and bagging goal after goal.

Everyone is on a learning curve with the games and there may be even some room from improvement - like introducing zones to U8 for example to prevent the bee-hiving that can occur at this age - but for Offaly its important that the concept is accepted first and next year the rules can be tweaked to suit the best interests of everyone.

So far so good and its important for all clubs to keep up the good work. An interesting observation is the changed mindset of the parents, all positive encouragement from the sidelines, no abuse of referees but the players are still going full tilt to win each game. The Respect Initiative has also been another positive element to the programme.