Pa Curran promoting basketball for all students at Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí
Pa Curran giving advice to his players at the recent mixed ability basketball game at Colaiste Pobail Bheanntrai.
A mixed-ability basketball game was staged in Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí with the hosts welcoming Beara Community School.
There was fierce excitement at the event organised by Pa Curran, with students and parents packing into the school gym.
Both schools had a squad of players both from mainstream and from the Special Needs Hub. Curran, assistant principal and sports coordinator, had kids from the hub coming to games, often helping out.
That led to the decision to run a game for the youngsters themselves, after contacting Ruairí Deane in Beara to put a squad together.
Since that game, it’s blown up on social media and now Pa has other schools in touch to see if can driven further. They are going to do a tournament in May with Bantry, Beara, Dunmanway and Kanturk taking part.
The players from the hub were hyped up for this tournament when they were told about it and they didn’t disappoint on the court in their first match, scoring some lovely baskets.
Riley Croash, Anna Russell, Eoghan O'Sullivan Hennessy, Terence O'Brien and Aaron Alle from the hub were joined on court by first year students Cara Collins, Naomi Nyanguia, Callie O'Donoghue and two boys who had played the All-Ireland Club Championships semi-final for Bantry U14s the day before, Conor O'Mahony and Harry Curran.
The place was buzzing as family members, some of whom came all the way from Donegal, along with students and teachers flooded in.
Curran explains how it all came together mixing mainstream students with players from their special needs Hub ands why it was such a success.
“I got the idea one day when there were five mainstream students playing a game of basketball with five students from our Special Needs Hub.
“I thought, what a great example of integration between our hub and mainstream juniors. I asked them if they’d like to play on a team together and they all jumped at it.
“The next step is nailing down a training schedule for them all to train together. At the moment they practice in their PE classes twice a week but not all 10 are in the same PE class.
"Since last week I have three more schools looking to get involved so we are looking at a tournament in May with ourselves, Beara, Dunmanway and Kanturk. Hopefully this will lead to more schools seeing what is happening and wanting to get involved and who knows we could start an official league next year. Wouldn't that be something?
“In the future will the Cork County Board bring in a league for these players or will you run different tournaments for them?"
At the moment it is a schools based initiative. It is not connected to Basketball Ireland Post Primary School (BIPPS) either.
Curran plans to send them a proposal to take a look at what Bantry is doing and what they could take it on.
He's had a busy April already.
"I had coached the Premier Division AICC semi-final 24 hours earlier and our Bantry U14 boys' club team had narrowly lost to Eanna, after leading throughout until the final moments. This game wiped all of that disappointment away for the players who were involved in both events,and for myself as a coach.
“It was heartwarming to see the pride in the players families."
Stephanie Croash, the parent of student Riley, was a very proud mother after the game.
"I was an emotional wreck after the game and I was the proudest mother, as it is something we never thought we get to see Riley so happy and confident in himself.
"Riley was 16 years old on the day of the game and 16 years ago I didn't think we'd be able to be here supporting him and his team playing basketball.
“I'm so proud of him and all his friends and I want to thank Mr Curran for making Riley’s and his friend’s dreams come true."
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