Please find below a summary of the remaining events available for club officers as part of this years' Club Leadership Development Programme. I would ask that this be circulated throughout your county, please.

Remaining Events – Register here - https://learning.gaa.ie/officertrainingcalendar  

Tuesday, February 23^rd @7pm – Diversity & Inclusion in Other Sports 

Wednesday, February 24^th @6pm – Microsoft 365 Training – OneDrive 

Thursday, February 25^th @7pm – Irish Language & Cultural Officer (as Béarla) 

Tuesday, March 2^nd @7pm – How to Become a Welcoming Club 

Tuesday, March 9^th @7pm – Diversity & Inclusion Visibility 

Thursday, March 11^th @7pm – Commercial & Sponsorship Webinar – Club Officers 

Wednesday, March 31^st @7pm – Healthy Club Officer Training

The GAA, Ladies GFA & Camogie Association have come together to launch ‘Be Ready to Play’, a Coaching and Sport Science programme in association with UPMC, official healthcare partner of the GAA and GPA, that will be delivered via webinars, website programmes, instructional videos and live online sessions.

A look into how the new Reverse Retro jerseys are made for the NHL with the help of Pro Knitwear - Interview with John Young, Director of Sales and Manufacturing for Pro-Knitwear.

John is a Tullylish man, who you can see from the video is still very much a Down man based in Pittsburgh. John has been with the company since the mid 1990's. Johns interview starts at around 1min 20 seconds.

Ulster GAA has just launched its fifth Strategic Plan entitled ‘Sustaining Clubs and Building Capacity - Ag Cothú Clubanna agus Ag Forbairt Acmhainne.

The document charts a strategic direction for the GAA in Ulster from 2021 – 2023.

Four high-level strategic themes, each with underlying objectives, have been identified by the Ulster GAA Strategic Planning Committee and these will form the core of operational activity areas in the province for the next three years.

The four key themes are:

• Improving Opportunities for Participation and Performance in Gaelic Games
   
• Supporting and Developing our Volunteers and Administrators
   
• Governance and Operational Excellence
   
• Communication and Wider Civic Engagement

Speaking at the launch of the plan, Ulster GAA President, Oliver Galligan said: “As we strive to move forward in this most challenging time, it is more important now than ever to safeguard and support our clubs, because as they prosper and grow so too does the Association at large. This plan is designed to sustain what we have achieved to date and support our clubs, as well as their members, to further develop capacity and work towards even more exciting and successful times ahead.”

Chairperson, Ulster GAA Strategic Planning Committee, Professor David Hassan commented: “Shaped by the principle ‘the broader the base, the higher the peak’ this strategy places our members and their clubs at the forefront of the further growth and development of the GAA in Ulster. Through equipping them with the skills and knowledge they require to lead our units, and reaffirming the crucial role they play in the continued vibrancy of the Association in the Province, we can look forward to further success for the GAA in Ulster in the time ahead.”

The full strategy document is available to view at http://ulster.gaa.ie/council/strategic-plans/ 

Ulster Council Children’s Officer Webinar – Saturday 20th February 2021

The next Children’s Officer Webinar takes place on 20th February 2021 at midday. These one-hour webinars were previously organised for County Children’s Officers but as we have received many requests from their Club counterparts to attend this next webinar will be open to all Children’s Officer, both Club and County.

These events enable us to present the most up to date information directly to relevant Club and County personnel and key questions, if submitted in advance, are responded to live as part of the webinar. If you wish to attend the webinar on 20 February 2021 at midday please contact safeguardingonline@gaa.ie

Down GAA County Committee have confirmed the appointment of Patrick Cunningham as the new Down GAA U17 Football manager.

The Burren club man will be joined on the management team by DJ Morgan, Ambrose Rogers, Conor O’Toole, Aaron Branagan, Davy O’Hare and Paddy Doherty

Two hurlers from Down have been selected on the 2020 GAA/GPA Champions 15 team for their displays in the 2020 Christy Ring competition.

Down who were Christy Ring Cup finalists had goalkeeper Stephen Keith and full back Caolan Taggart named on the team.

Ulster had six players named on the team.  Donegal’s triumphant Nickey Rackard campaign saw them pick up two awards for Danny Cullen and Séan McVeigh. Tyrone’s Damian Casey was also selected for his performances in the Rackard Cup while Fermanagh’s Conor McShea picked up an award for his displays on their route to the final of the Lory Meagher Cup.

Overall the selection contains players from nine counties and features seven players who competed in the Ring Cup, six who competed in the Rackard Cup, and two who competed in the Meagher Cup.

Congratulating the winners, Uachtarán CLG John Horan said: “This is a great honour for the players chosen and for their families and clubs who they represent. These awards will be a reminder of the lengths all our players went to for our benefit during the tough year that was 2020.”

The selection process for the GAA/GPA 2020 Champion 15 included player and coach feedback and was finalised by an independent selection committee of journalists and referees.

A special programme to honour the GAA/GPA Champion 15 will be featured on RTÉ 2fm’s Game On programme this Wednesday evening from 6pm.

Down GAA are rolling out a new and innovative webinar series aimed at highlighting how clubs can best introduce and implement sustainable Long Term Athlete Development Practices.

This series of webinars will focus specifically on the various developmental stages included in the NEW GAA Player Development Framework and how this can be applied effectively in a club setting.

We will aim answer they key questions of HOW, WHY and WHAT to coach at each age group in your club from a TECHNICAL, TACTICAL & ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT perspective. It is our plan to leave clubs with physical tools that can aid their coaches in developing players and monitoring their players' age-specific progress.

The webinar series will consist of 4 separate workshops

Workshop 1: "Introducing and Implementing Sustainable LTAD Practices in YOUR Club"
Date: 22/2/2021
Time: 7.30pm
Platform: Microsoft Teams
Target Audience: Club Coaching Officers / Those responsible for the organisation of juvenile coaching within your club (all codes)

Workshop 2: "Learning & Acquiring Basic Movement Skills"
Date: 1/3/2021
Time: 7.30pm
Platform: Microsoft Teams
Target Audience: Club Coaching Officers & Nursery Coaches of players aged 4-7 years old (all codes)

Workshop 3: "Skill Extension & Refinement"
Date: 15/3/2021
Time: 7.30pm
Platform: Microsoft Teams
Target Audience: Club Coaching Officers & Coaches of players aged 8-11 years old (all codes)

Workshop 4: "Nurturing Commitment to Gaelic Games"
Date: 22/3/2021
Time: 7.30pm
Platform: Microsoft Teams
Target Audience: Club Coaching Officers & Coaches of players aged 12-16 (all codes)
 

All webinars will be delivered via Microsoft Teams

Webinar Registration:
Registration for these webinars will be done through Eventbrite. The Eventbrite link for each session will be sent to club coaching officers 7 days prior to each webinar.

Club Coaching Officers should in turn share this with their club coaches. After registering, each attendee will receive a live link on the day of the webinar to enable them to access that evenings' event. Please note, registration will close at 5pm sharp on the day of each live event.

Each session will last approximately 1 hour, consisting of 40-45 minutes theory, followed by a 15-20 minute Q&A session with a panel of Players / Coaches / Games Development Staff. Whilst registering, each attendee will have the opportunity to submit a topic related question(s) which the panel will aim to answer at the event.

Coaching Officers & Coaches are welcome to register on to any / all of the workshops as they please.