All Saints GAC ‘highly commended’ in prestigious awards

It was a great achievement for the club in a year which saw them excel off the field as much as they did on the field.

The club were highly commended for a number of reasons, all of which impressed the judging panel who commented that All Saints GAC really were a club going places.

To make it down to the last two for such a prestigious award is true testament to the true hard work being put in by theWoodside Roadbased club. 2011/2012 was a very busy year.

The judges were impressed with the club’s “Community Outreach”. An outreach programme to involve those not normally part of the GAA family was carefully planned and enabled the club to develop strong links with Ballymena Rugby Club, a link that has been ongoing for a number of years.

This year this included a joint club initiative funded by NE Peace 3 which saw U18/ 19 players engage in joint team building/ coaching sessions. The project, organised over 12 weeks, culminates in a residential stay in June that will further enhance the young peoples’ skills and friendships. Several of the Under 18/19 rugby players now play for the GAA club and vice-versa. Indeed many members of both club’s under 8/ 12 sections are “dual GAA and rugby players.

The club were also applauded for their commitment to helping build resilience in their young members.

To help them equip their members with the necessary skills to support young people beyond sport the club organised sessions of suicide awareness raising for all of their mentors. This provided coaches with information relating to identification of stress amongst juvenile members and about the support structures available to help.

Other “reaching out” events included: An annual event inviting children from Belarusto visit with the club during the summer. The club also organised their first “Family Fun Weekend” during the August bank holiday when a full programme of social and sporting events were organised including a family quiz night and cinema experience.

A highlight of the year was the club’s hosting of the North Antrim Feis for the 1st time. Held in July the event was a great success with highlights being increased engagement with the local community, the number of club members (especially juveniles) involved in exhibition games, as linesmen, ticket sellers etc and of course the club’s senior footballers winning the Feis football title.

A highlight of the year saw an innovative Ethnic Minorities school coaching project established. The town has witnessed a tremendous growth in the numbers of families settling from other countries and in an effort to welcome them and introduce them to the benefits of involvement with the GAA the club sought and received funding from SportNI for an 8 week coaching programme covering all 4 codes.

With support from local schools and “Ballymena Ethnic Minorities Forum” upwards of 50 children, including pupils from the Ballymena Saturday Polish School, took part and some of the children have gone on to become club members.

SCHOOLS

The Irish News judges were also impressed with the club’s links with local schools.

Developing links with local schools is an integral part of the club’s current 5 year plan. Some of the initiatives with parish schools this year included provision of club facilities for all of our local schools and indeed for the governing bodies of Ulster Schools GAA/Cumann Na mBunscol on a regular basis and establishing hurling coaching in both primary schools through the Co. Antrim Key Stage 2 Hurling Programme

All Saints GAC also supported one of the local schools with an application for funding from DSD which was successful and enabled the introduction of Gaelic games as an after-school activity throughout the year.

This partnership with local schools has led to significant success including St. Brigid’s P.S. being named as Irish News Award winners/ Cumann Na mBunscol All Ireland school runners up while both St. Brigid’s and St. Colmcille’s P.S. were crowned inter-school winners in a range of GAA competitions including indoor boys’ and girls’ football and GAA quiz. St Brigid’s also reached the indoor camogie final.

The club teamed up with Cumman Na mBunscol this year to host a level 1 football course thus ensuring that club members and local teachers achieved this coaching award. St. Brigid’s P.S. is used regularly as the venue for our club juvenile meetings and our annual Christmas party is held in the school hall.

A highlight of the playing year in 2011 was our senior footballers winning the Antrim Intermediate Football title before embarking on a memorable run to the Ulster Semi-Finals.

Members of the team who are past pupils of local schools visited their former seats of learning to display the cup and further generate interest in the activities of the club among the young people of the town.

The Irish News judges also pinpointed the club’s initiatives on underage development as another reason for their success in the awards process.

One of the greatest successes in recent years has been the tremendous growth in our juvenile membership and the club now regularly welcome 200+ children to club activities each week covering all 4 codes.

One of the most active groups in the club is the juvenile committee. As well as managing juvenile activity throughout the year this committee has a keen eye on the future.

Following a similar and successful event 3 years ago the club recently embarked on developing their latest 3 year juvenile development plan. Facilitated by Ulster Council the club hosted 2 seminars in March 2012 involving youth mentors.

This has led to the creation of a new Juvenile Action Plan which covers all 4 codes. As a club All Saints GAC are now at a stage whereby they can confidently begin to identify particular aspects of our provision for development. Hurling has been one such area and a dedicated Juvenile Development Group has been established. A dedicated 3 year plan comes to an end this year.

Success has been marked and includes increased numbers playing hurling, development of parental involvement in coaching through joint mentor/parent coaching workshops, linking coaching in schools to club activity and full participation in local and provincial competition.

The club also invited former National Hurling Director, Paudie Butler to the club to provide quality coaching guidance to juvenile mentors from both All Saints GAC and other clubs.

Through liaising with Ulster Council the club established the successful year long Gaelic Start programme in 3 local primary schools introducing key skills and the GAA to children in Foundation Stage classes.

STRUCTURE

In order to facilitate the effective management of the busy club All Saints GAC have developed a number of small committees.

These include the juvenile committee, infra-structure development committee and finance committee, all of which report directly to the club senior management committee.

The club are approaching the end of our latest 5 year club development plan and this is supported by action plans in key areas such as Hurling development and juvenile activity. Of course with such growth comes additional pressure on facilities. In order to support this growth in numbers the club opened “Quinn Park”, the club’s third grass pitch this year.

Fundraising is vital in All Saints and is a constant challenge. Normal fundraising such as table quiz etc is ongoing but raising major finance in innovative ways has been paramount.

One such activity is the “We Built Quinn Park” initiative which provides members, friends and businesses with the opportunity to purchase a commemorative plaque which is displayed around the pitch. The club are also hosting a Night at the Dogs in Drumbo Stadium this coming June.

Fundraising is not confined to supporting the club as can be witnessed by the donation of £4000 to Cancer Charities following our “Movember” 2012 fundraising efforts. Promotion of club activities includes use of the club website, engagement with local media to ensure regular coverage in print media, monthly e. mailed “Fogra” detailing club activities for members, Facebook/ YouTube pages and use of a texting information service for parents/ members.