„Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí“– „Praise the youth, and they will flourish.“
Our Tuesday evening training session on June 13th was a historic one for the Cologne Celtics Gaelic Sports Club, as we had our very first youth training session. The training session covered both Gaelic football and hurling, which was overseen by our club youth officer, Ger Cronin. Six young players took part in a fun training session that covered the primary skills of the sport, and by all accounts, it was a great success! We have big plans for our youth section and development, so stay tuned.
Youth development has been an area that has come on our radar in recent months and years. As the Cologne Celtics has grown as a club and a wider community, we have become aware that we need to offer opportunities for youths and children to cement our place in the Cologne sporting landscape.
During our 2022 AGM, we appointed a youth officer to our club committee for the first time in our club’s history, with the dedicated role of getting the ball rolling with this project. By allowing one active club member to dedicate their focus to this development, we can make the start.
Other clubs around Germany and Europe have already started this process, and special praise needs to be given to clubs such as Frankfurt Sarsfields, Setanta Berlin and Munich Colmcilles as they provide examples we can follow. Setanta Berlin hosted the European Féile competition earlier this year, and it was an incredible success. While Frankfurt recently hosted another youth tournament, and our club youth officer, Ger, attended it.
The need for a youth section has come to the forefront as several of our more experienced club members have started to settle in Germany and start their own families. Developing a youth section will allow the next generations to discover these sports and the extended GAA community around Germany and Europe.
Our attendance and participation at the Monheimer Frühlingsfest demonstrated that the children in the Rheinland area have an appetite to try out our sports, and a family-friendly youth section will provide our club with more opportunities to reach new audiences.
European GAA clubs developing youth sections is also central to Gaelic Game Europe’s plan for further expanding Gaelic sports into Europe (see: „Interview with John Murphy: Chairperson of GGE“). John Murphy said in our interview with us that GAA clubs in Europe need to look to the whole community in their area to grow the sports and not just the local Irish „expat“ community. We fully agree with that message. We would like to thank the GGE and the Global Games Development Fund for their support in this project.
Of course, this is a long-term project, and this training session is the first step in a much longer journey. Later in the summer, we will host our first „Cologne Celtics Summer Fest“ (more details coming soon), featuring opportunities and games for youths.
Looking further ahead, we plan to attend „Cúl Camps“, play matches, and, of course, develop a team atmosphere with more training sessions. It will be a long journey, but „tús maith leath na hoibre“ – „a good start is half the work“, and that good start is one of our central ambitions in 2023!
Exciting times lay ahead.
If you are interested in the youth development plans of the Cologne Celtics GAA, please contact us directly. We offer youth membership alongside adult membership.
You can contact our youth officer directly or contact our club more generally. Our major plans in this area will also be shared on our club’s social media.
Cologne Celtics 