By John Harrington
Carlow GAA’s Inclusive Kellogg’s Cúl Camp which took place this week in Netwatch Cullen Park was a great expression of the GAA’s Manifesto, ‘Where We All Belong’.
It was inclusive in the truest sense in so far as children with additional needs took a full part in all the activities with all the other children in a mainstream camp.
Tutors from Carlow Sports Partnership, such as camp coordinator, Shannen Cotter, worked alongside Carlow GAA coaches to create a brilliant environment where fun was top of the agenda.
“The reaction from the kids with additional needs is immense,” Cotter told GAA.ie. “They just feel so much more part of the community and you can see some of them when they're coming in they're getting all their high fives and their hi’s from everybody in their groups.
“I think it just builds confidence within them and they feel like they can be part of something. I think it's really important for the mainstream kids to get the opportunity to work with and play with kids with additional needs as some of them may not have had that before in their lives and then you wouldn't know they could have someone come into school and now they know how to deal with them in a normal way and how to play with them and just get them all involved whether it's their sport or their playtime in school or school activities.
“So I think it's really important for that side of it as well not just for the kids with the additional needs to come and play football. I think there's a kind of broader picture here.”
Happy children and coaches at the 2024 Carlow GAA Inclusive Kellogg's Cúl Camp.
Seán Kennedy says his 10-year-old son, Eoin, who has Down Syndrome, has blossomed in the inclusive environment.
“As he's getting older he's getting more from it,” Kennedy told GAA.ie “When he first came here he may just have gone sat in a different seat in the stand every day but he enjoyed it, he had great fun, he got to meet his friends and that's one thing that's really important with this..it's not just a camp for people with special needs it's an all-inclusive Camp.
“He's in mainstream School in the Gaelscoil here in Carlow, his friends are here, so he's not just playing with people who have special needs he's playing with his friends. He has fun, he has great enjoyment, it's a continuation on of his school year.
“He loves it. He comes home you ask him how he did. 'I kicked the ball Daddy', 'I bounced the ball Daddy', 'I hand-passed the ball Daddy'! He just loves it. It's a great outlet for him.
“All organizations have to be inclusive. Obviously GAA is the heartbeat of so many parishes in Ireland and to be the heartbeat of a parish you have to be the heartbeat of everyone in the parish and that's everyone in it be it the youngest, be it the old oldest, whatever sort of person they are.
“Be it the new Irish as we would call them, the people that are just coming into the country, be it the people like Eoin. There's a place for everyone in the GAA.”