Little Puckers and Colm Crowley going from strength to strength

When the Covid-19 pandemic brought 'normal' activity, remote interaction became more popular.

Colm Crowley, who was employed by Cork County Board as a games development administrator (GDA) at the time, was one of those who took to the computer to offer something beneficial - but he could scarcely have imagined how things would pan out.

Killeagh native Crowley is the mastermind behind Little Puckers, a fun and inclusive Gaelic games-based activity programme for very young children. So popular has it proven that Crowley stepped down from his coaching role with Cork last year in order to focus fully on growing the new idea.

“It’s basically a fundamental-movement class, with a Gaelic games theme, for pre-schoolers or kids before their clubs take them in,” he says.

“Generally, around one and a half to five is our target audience – as the year goes on, the five might become five and a half as kids might stay in the system if their clubs haven’t taken them in.

“I always kind of felt that there was a gap for co-ordinated sporting activity, which would work on fundamental movement and develop physical literacy and counteract the growing obesity among children. It's something to give them a chance to do lots of movement in a friendly and safe environment.” 

From small beginnings, Little Puckers now operates in seven locations around Cork, with two bases in Dublin - where Crowley originally worked in coaching - and further developments planned in Sligo, where he attended college.

“I would have come across other initiatives but there was nothing out there with a Gaelic games theme," he says.

“I felt that there was lack of something where boys could burn off their energy in 45 minutes.

“There were a lot of playgroups where they were sitting down, they were going from station to station – nice and relaxed but there wasn’t really a chance to blow out emotive energy, like they would at a training session in a club, where they’re active for an hour.

“I did online classes during Covid, back in 2020 when GAA clubs were closed down. I had people from all over the country joining in and I always had the view that when my own twins got to the age, I’d have a look at holding a class. 

“Last August, we started trial classes in Cork Harlequins – two classes, two Sundays in a row. Then, word of mouth got around and suddenly we were adding extra classes because there was huge demand for it.

“I’ve been coaching for 20 years, so I’d like to think that I’ve a fair idea of what kids enjoy, what they like and what they crave. Our classes are very high-energy, high-activity – there’s nobody waiting around for somebody to give them a ball. Everybody has their own equipment and it’s just constant activity for 40 or 45 minutes.”

So quick was the growth that, in order to maintain some work-life balance, Crowley was forced to decide between the GDA (now known as GDC, games development co-ordinator) role and Little Puckers.

“We went to Saturday mornings in the winter, when the blitzes had finished but doing it two days in a weekend and then the county board five days a week wouldn’t have been sustainable for too long," he says.

“Then it came to the stage where I needed to make a decision and last May I decided to go full-time with Little Puckers.

“I suppose I was after building up a good brand and we had a lot of participants every week. If I wasn’t able to give it the Saturday-and-Sunday focus that it needed, it would have just fallen apart."

"For me, it all comes back to the fact that I want kids to have the same positive experience of the GAA that I had.

“I’ve worked for the GAA for 17 years and the amount of doors it opens is phenomenal. I want people to have the same positive experience through this.”

And as for the future?

“It was a one-man operation until the start of September,” Crowley says.

“I’m up to seven venues in Cork, two in Dublin and I’m starting two in Sligo next month.

“I have a bunch of fully-qualified, Garda-vetted coaches working with me. It’ll continue to grow organically – every second day, I’m getting messages asking if I’d go to a particular place.

“For long-term plan, I have this thing in my head that everybody would have access to it within a 20-minute drive from their home – that it wouldn’t just be urban-based.

“There’s another layer to it then in that it’s giving parents a comfort level, ‘Hurling and football aren’t actually that bad,’ and then, when I’m explaining a skill to the children, I’m talking to the parents too. “They’re with them for the class and it’s great one-on-one time.

“Out of it, the hope is that you end up with technically proficient kids who are confident and competent when their club takes them in.

“The first few sessions in a club are really important – they’ll either like it or they won’t - and so you want to make very their first experience fun. They might only do five minutes of hurling or football but they’ll be playing with beanbags or hula hoops or chasing – lots of fun things rather than simply ticking off a list of drills.”

• For more, see the Little Puckers website.