Carrigtwohill booming with 600 players, 100 volunteers and 23 teams
CWSSL: The Carrigtwohill girls U12 squad.
There were many firsts last season for Carrigtwohill.
They received the FAI Club Mark, fielded a team at every age level, captured a first youth title and most importantly purchased their beloved property after years of renting.
Secretary John Barry is a driving force in the East Cork club. His role as secretary goes far beyond those duties.
"I am lucky to be part of a fantastic club with fantastic volunteers who make the club what it is," said Barry.
"The club continues to grow at a very rapid pace and my role as secretary has evolved very much over recent years – I focus on the off-field and administrative issues which ranges from registrations, membership to sponsorship and dealing with coaches."
They were awarded the FAI Club Mark which is an accreditation for good club governance and requires a lot of administration work to ensure both the club and coaches are properly vetted and documented.
He also manages the U12 girls and acts as schoolgirls secretary.
It's great because it keeps me in touch with the players and the game. It can be easy to lose track of why we volunteer to be involved with the club.
They currently have nearly 600 players, 100 volunteers and 23 teams which continues the double-digit growth of recent years.
"The biggest success for us over the past five years has been twofold – we have now two teams at every schoolboy age and this is a major step which allows a much wider range of abilities continue to play soccer and secondly the development of the girls section of our club. This season, we have a team at every age and two at U12 so we are truly providing an outlet for everyone to get involved.
"On the pitch, we had a lot of teams celebrating league success – with seven teams being presented with medals and a Youth title for the first time."
The club committee have been working hard to develop our facilities. After many years as tenants, they have recently purchased the property outright and have developed a long-term plan the first phase of which will be the installation of a full-sized All-Weather 5G playing pitch. They received a €141,000 grant to this aim from the recent Sport Capital Programme.
"The pitch is badly needed as we really struggle to provide training slots during the wet winter months but we are under no illusion as to the fundraising that will be required and we hope our membership and wider community will row in behind us and make this a reality.
"Our immediate plans revolve around the development of the new pitch and facilities and to continue the existing work that is going on the field. We have advanced plans to add an adult women's team next summer and will seek to add third teams at the younger ages as we now have waiting lists at these ages.
We currently have two full sized grass pitches, a training pitch and a building with five dressing rooms, kit room and committee room. In summer 2023, we re-developed our car-park which now has parking for over 100 cars – very important on match day.
"Our immediate plans revolve around the all-weather pitch, as that is our pain point at present. Cancelled matches and training are the bane of our lives during the winter and make things very difficult for players and coaches alike. After that, we would like to see the grounds become more of a community hub, with walkways and recreational areas that will make it more attractive for families and healthy activities to complement our core activity of playing soccer.
"Just a word of thanks and appreciation for those involved in the committee and the coaches, some of whom do a trojan amount of work on multiple teams and activities. It can be very difficult to attract volunteers, but it is very rewarding to be involved in a local club. Coaching is a great way to get involved in the same activity as your son or daughter, their friends, families and builds great community bonds between everyone involved. There is some fun along the way also."
App?
