manfromdelmonte wrote:Fido wrote:Dublinmeath hurling wrote:The problem in Offaly is your living on tradition
We've enough angst of our own on this issue as you'd see in every other thread on here, thanks.
Ahlethimoutwithit wrote: The big issue though is parents, very few encourage the kids out to play football and hurling.
Kids are basically unfit, I can see now a situation where we are going to have to do fitness training as part of training u10s and 12s in the not too distannt, as opposed to skills and games.
Kids have poor coordination and these are all things that need to be brought in to the curriculem in National school.
Absolutely right.
Co-ordination and basic ball and movement skills are already part of the primary school curriculum, which should be implemented in every school in Ireland..
I doubt very many schools bother to do this
they have enough things to be focussing on
A huge issue now facing the GAA up and down the country is the lack of male teachers at primary level
i don't want to be sexist, but the female teachers are far less likely to have the interest in football and hurling (or any sport) to inspire the kids
a lot of female teachers don't bother with PE - fact
and are far less likely to give their own time to teams outside school time - fact
clubs need to get people into schools to develop the basic skills and interest in playing.
you can see the clubs who put the effort into the local schools as they get all the kids out and generally the kids have better skills
Totally agree with the lack of work done at primary level. Ger Loughnane commented on this a few years ago on the sunday game and nearly got lynched by feminist groups the following day. While the coaching games put money and coaches into schools, this is only for 10 or 12 weeks in hurling and football for an hour once a week. Perhaps even less. Primary teachers who are predominantly female are not willing to stay back and coach after school like they used to when i was a kid. We were often back 2/3 days a week training or being coached by a male principal who was genuinely interested in progressing us. these guys are rare enough now. While the coaching hours are in place for kids during school, they more skilled ones are not challenged too much with a lot of weaker kids around.
In KK there are a lot of male primary schools putting massive work in after school improving lads with a very competitive schools championship. Many of these teachers are valued hurling men with senior inter county experience. However these people are made valued by the co board and are always looked after for tickets. to my knowledge, they also have a dinner at the end of year provided by the co board for such people and those involved in development squads as a matter of thanks. In OY however, the co board cant see beyond their nose. There is never any reward or simple acknowledgement for people putting in the hard yards for nothing. There is not an inclusive relationship and so many good people feel ostracised and thankless work goes undone!! The coaching and games try and pick up the mantle but are doing so against a growing culture of rugby and premiership soccer with GAA well down the list in the kids eye as OY are not in the spotlight.
There are many girls doing great work after school in OY too. yet for the majority who have no interest, nothing is done with the GAA being covered thro coaching and games with minimal contact time per kid.
Regarding the minors, they put in a lot of work this year and to my knowledge have made strides as very little was done with these in dev. squads. John Leahy was picking up the pieces of a bad system and trying to turn around the ills in a few months which is not easy. Id love to know some of the scores of the matches this years dev hurling squads have been involved in or what they are doing with regard to development as i have heard some horror stories. Three years in a row, minor hurlers lose to Westmeath, Carlow and Laoise. Bad system, way off the pace. Some questions need to be asked. Christy Ring here we come. Scary but true!!!
