Recreational Rouders - Good Counsel GAA club.
Sixty clubs across Ireland (at least one from each county) launched their involvement in the innovative GAA’s Healthy Club project on the 8th of May during Lá na gClubanna celebrations. This was the perfect opportunity for participating clubs to showcase all the positive health enhancing work being carried out at club level.
A range of health and wellbeing initiatives were explored across the nation including Gaelic 4 Mothers, Dads and Lads, Go Games, Recreational Rounders, 5km family runs/walks, indoor bowling, zumba in the sun, céilís, healthy eating, alcohol campaigns, health checks, CPR training, positive mental health, mindfulness and much more.
Inner Dublin city GAA Club, Craobh Chiarain brought the city to the countryside to launch their involvement in the project. A fleet of double decker buses set out early morning to County Wicklow to climb the Great Sugar Loaf Mountains. Some neighbouring “Healthy Clubs”, such as Cavan Gaels and Killgarry joined forces and held an innovative joint launch with an Uachtaráin, Aogán Ó Fearghail in attendance.
Healthy clubs
Recreational Rounders
Recreational (or non-competitive) Rounders was a huge success on the day and participants gained maximum enjoyment and benefit from their involvement. Teams were made up of men, women and children of all ages and abilities, making it inclusive to everyone in the community. Good Counsel GAA Club, Dublin had eleven teams with over 100 members from the club and wider community participate on the day.
To promote inclusion across generations in the community, Melvin Gaels GAA club, Leitrim encouraged family teams which included cousins, siblings, parents, children, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and even grandparents.
The aim of Recreational Rounders is to promote a fun, non-competitive and inclusive environment within the club to strengthen links further between the GAA and the community. The underlying philosophy of Recreational Rounders is that Gaelic Games should be fun, inclusive to all abilities, enjoyable and accessible.
The Healthy Club project involves a partnership with the HSE and Irish Life and is supported by Healthy Ireland, Sport Ireland, and the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland. The project aims to help GAA clubs explore how they support the holistic health of their members and the communities they serve.
Clubs are encouraged to identify what they are already doing well, identify areas where they can or would like to improve, and empower them to ensure that everyone who engages with their club benefits from the experience in a health-enhancing way, be they players, officers, coaches, parents, supporters, or members of their local community.
A list of participating clubs can be found at http://community.gaa.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/HCP-List-of-Phase-2-clubs-by-province-04.03.16.pdf