GAA For All continues to grow and improve with two recent blitzes

It has been a busy summer on the GAA For All, as the initiative continues to spread around Munster.

Devised as a means to provide opportunities for those with additional needs, GAA For All is now present in at least 40 clubs in the province, with central events in recent weeks allowing for the sharing of ideas.

Midleton’s Gillian Fitzgerald Murphy – who was central to the forming of the first examples, the Magpies All-Stars, in 2019 – is now a GAA For All representative on the Munster Council and she was delighted to see the days in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Mallow being so well-supported.

“The Munster Council chairperson Tim Murphy and vice-chair Seán Michael O’Regan wanted to drive it on, so it’s now an integral part of the Munster coaching and games set-up,” she says.

“Myself and my colleague Gerry McNamara, we just wanted to kind of create meaningful opportunities for players with additional needs throughout the province.

“We got an opportunity in May, there was a slot in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and we took it. Then, in June, we had another one in Mallow – we wanted to up our game this year as last year we had just the one event.

“We had a lot of clubs from Cork at the Páirc and one or two came down from Clare and Limerick, but in Mallow we had more from that direction.

“Clubs that were involved included Galbally, Midleton, Mungret/St Paul’s, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Autin Stacks, Erin’s Own, Youghal and Douglas, so there was a great mix.”

In addition to the games, there have been opportunities for clubs to learn from each other.

“We organised a GAA For All workshop then for players around the province in early June,” Gillian says.

“It gave people, coaches and clubs an opportunity to meet up, learn new coaching approaches and things and take it back to their clubs to implement.

“One of the pay-offs was that it was a great opportunity for the clubs to meet up themselves and exchange ideas.

“Sometimes, when you’re talking in an informal setting, you learn a lot from people.

“We’re very lucky that we have great support from the leadership of the Munster Council, really – they're open to kind of any ideas that we kind of set forth.

“They're very supportive and they're more than happy to engage with us to drive on the GAA For All.

“They’re very interested in it, so we’re delighted.”

With access to Munster coaching and games managers Pat O’Shea and Joey Carton and their staff, GAA For All continues to improve and grow and Gillian is keen for other clubs to engage so as to benefit the players involved

“I'm surprised how quickly it has moved on,” she says.

“It helps when you’re not fighting for anything. It’s a massive multi-layered pay-off – for the players, it's massive to get outdoor activities and make friends and the families to have an outlet for their kids.

“For the coaches, it’s a great way to show to the community of the club the meaning of inclusion.

“The players are unbelievable, they show great perseverance to learn. It does take a little more time for them to learn new skills than what's normally expected from a traditional player, but the payoff is immense because they're in the club, there's new families joining the clubs, the families are meeting people.

“We have names of 40 clubs around the province that are actually running GAA for all, in some capacity.

“We want them to kind of know we're here if they need support in organising events. It can be mind-boggling at the start, but assistance can be so valuable.

“It's the good side of the GAA, not the hard side of it!”