By Cian O’Connell
Something is stirring in Colin Gaels. Numbers are increasing at underage level, where the club has teams from U6 to U16. Fielding at adult level is the ambition, but significant joy has been derived from the Dads & Lads and Mothers & Others sections in the club.
Colin Gaels’ Healthy Club committee is carrying out important work, making important connections with people in the Poleglass community. Ultimately, it means that there is a real sense of hope and ambition attached to the club. “The Dads & Lads is starting to go well,” explains Noel Glymond, part of Colin Gaels’ Healthy Club committee.
“As our club is growing, we know how important it is to involve the community at every level. So, the Dads & Lads was an opportunity we took on in the last two years, and it is starting to grow from strength to strength.
“Some of them are parents, some are on their coaching journey, some of them are just part of the community, who needed to get out of the house, a health and wellbeing journey. That is how the Dads & Lads formed.”
One of the key issues for Colin Gaels was to focus on mens health according to Glymond. “Our club is all underage teams,” he says. “We've no senior teams, we've no team above U16s. So, the Dads & Lads was definitely something we saw as an opportunity to try to grow in the community.
“We didn't have a big pool of people to pick from with ex players or things like that. In fact, most of our players had never played Gaelic or held a Gaelic ball before. It is just because they've somebody playing in the club or a relative of a coach or heard about it at one of our events, and they decided that is a club I want to get involved in.
“We've put a lot of focus on mens health in our community, in our club. We've loads of different initiatives that we're supporting.”
Challenges exist, but Glymond is encouraged about the progress being made by Colin Gaels, particularly in recent years. “It is growing organically,” Glymond says. “As we are a new club, you've a lot of established GAA clubs locally. We're the only one in our specific parish, but a couple of miles either side, there is plentiful clubs.
Colin Gaels' Dads & Lads team.
“They've got that history where grandfathers, fathers, aunties, uncles, even their headmasters and PE teachers are all associated with the clubs. For our club to become established, we knew we really needed to involve the community. That is what we wanted to do.”
Providing an outlet and forging meaningful links with the community is vital according to Glymond. “We've got Dads & Lads, and obviously the Mothers & Others are playing well,” he adds.
“We also have a couple of coaches trained in a couch to 5K programme which we do free. We've started a walkers and talkers group. A lot of our members take part in a marathon, we also do park run takeovers. We're trying to get our name out there, to get as many people in the community involved as is possible, whether it be walking, running, coaching or social playing.”
With no competitive adult teams in the club, Glymond acknowledges how crucial the Dads & Lads and Mothers & Others initiatives are for Colin Gaels. “It is really, really important,” he replies. “We're doing loads of stuff. We've done big community fun days, whether you're part of the club or not, the whole community is invited.
“We just want to have that outlet for the community. No matter what way you want engage with the club. The Dads & Lads is one avenue which is growing, but so many facets of our club are open to the community.
“Whatever they want to do, they can volunteer, they can coach, they can come down to one of our events. We've ran mental health days, we've ran Irish language classes. We have the walking group.
“We're hoping and feel that we can offer something to the community, no matter what level or age you're at. In return, we're hoping that the people will help us grow, that in years to come we will have senior teams on the pitch.”
Momentum is being generated and that matters. Offering coaching, help, and assistance in various areas matters deeply. “To make this grow quick, we need to involve the community,” Glymond says.
Colin Gaels' Mothers & Others team in action.
“Our healthy club committee is doing loads of stuff in schools. We do local barbecues, healthy eating days, walks in the mountains. We're just trying to grow it organically with the community. We know it is a long road, but we want to feel that we are a community club, offering something different. It is a real, genuine, open to everyone type of club.”
Glymond is optimistic about the future of Colin Gaels. “We're in Poleglass in West Belfast,” he says.
“In West Belfast you've loads of historically strong clubs, but in the Poleglass area we're the only club in that area, in Poleglass. We're working with the schools, working with the community groups, we're working with the PE teachers and headmasters and parents because it is a relatively new development.
“They've come from different GAA families, we're not trying to compete with anyone, we're just trying to offer something closer to home and something different, to grow the club organically through the community we have.”
Collaborating and working with others is vital for the development of Colin Gaels. “We’ve a great team of volunteers and coaches going around doing the schools with Gaelic and hurling,” Glymond says.
“We're in the Irish language schools, speaking Irish to them. We're growing our Irish language culture too, and we're teaching them about mental health.
“We've also got trained up in autism training and special needs training, and we’ve got a load of information translated into Irish too. We've coaching material, especially made for autistic kids, not just for use for our club, but for any school or community organisation can use these, Irish speaking or English speaking. We're just trying to provide really good material that the community can grow with.
“In return we're hoping they will support the club too. We're in the schools, we're in the community groups, we're in all the volunteer groups, and we are just trying to support the community as much as possible, not just through GAA, but through the values of the club in the community.”