Pictured at the launch of Future Leaders Events Month were, left to right, Dublin LGFA star and Balbriggan Community College teacher, Carla Rowe, Pia Amsar, Future Leaders Events Month Poster Competition winner, Clare hurler and former Future Leaders participant, Adam Hogan, and Kerry footballer and St. Brendan's College Killarney teacher, Gavin White.
By John Harrington
Future Leaders Events Month 2025 is gearing up to be the biggest and best yet.
Running for five weeks from Monday, April 7 to Friday May 23, it will see participating schools organising a variety of Future Leaders initiatives in their own school, with local primary schools, in their GAA clubs or in the community in general.
“We're really excited for Future Leaders Events month,” says GAA National Future Leaders Coordinator, Eoghan Hanley.
“It's a fantastic opportunity for young people to showcase the skills that they've learned and developed throughout the course of the year in the various Future Leaders modules.
“The idea behind Events month is that Future Leaders schools all over the country would organise at least one event each which will see thousands of young people active and involved.
Future Leaders Events Month was a huge success in 2024 with 2024 with over 24,000 young people active and involved in events organised by Future Leaders pupils nationwide.
“Last year we were overwhelmed by the number of people who got involved, but we're never happy even with that number, we want to see it increase,” says GAA President, Jarlath Burns.
“Because if society needs anything at the moment it is leaders. This is a very inclusive event and inclusivity is one of the values of the GAA and it gives an opportunity for everybody, particularly the person who might not be skilled on the field but who wants to give something back to their community through the GAA.”
The Future Leaders Transition Year Programme is a joint initiative from the GAA and Oide, the support service for teachers and school leaders.
It is a cross-curricular programme comprising of a series of modules designed to encourage maturity, initiative, responsibility and leadership skills in pupils.
The Programme gives pupils the knowledge and skills to support all roles required in the effective staging of Gaelic Games. As part of the Programme students are challenged to organise and run both on-field and off-field events for younger students.
To incentivise activity in Events Month this year a Sports School Equipment Pack worth €300 will be given to four participating schools each week AND a set of jerseys to the most active school each week.
To be in with a chance of winning one of these fantastic packs, follow these steps;
- Organise and run a Future Leaders Event during Events Month.
- Video or photograph the event and share it on social media with @gaafutureleader using the hashtag #FutureLeadersEvents.
- Log the details of the event in the Events Month form on learning.gaa.ie/futureleaders
Registration for the Future Leaders Programme for the 2025/26 academic year is now open.
For more information and to register your school, go to learning.gaa.ie/futureleaders or @gaafutureleader on social media.