Learning the skills at Castletown Geoghegan hurling camp
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The under 12 players at the Castletown Geoghegan hurling camp.Image 2 of 8
Liam Varley, Niall O’Brien and Naoise McKenna coached the under 12 players at the camp.Image 3 of 8
The under 8 hurlers at the Castletown Geoghegan camp.Image 4 of 8
James Curley, Neale Pierson and Ronan Corcoran at the Castletown Geoghegan camp.Image 5 of 8
The under 6 hurlers at the Castletown Geoghegan camp.Image 6 of 8
Eimear Lennon, Brian Kelly and Patricia Fallon at the camp.Image 7 of 8
Joe Clarke, Gerry Linnane, Maisie Currams, Alan Mullen and Caoimhe Clarke at the hurling camp in Castletown Geoghegan.Image 8 of 8
Will Leonard, Billy Nolan and Hamish Creighton with their goodie bags.There was an impressive level of participation at the Castletown Geoghegan hurling camp which was ran at the club during the mid-term break. There were approximately 140 children participating.
Westmeath GAA’s Participation Officer, Alan Mullen was present to lend support, advice and guidance and together with a number of other club coaches, delivered a camp full of mini-games and fun activities for young hurlers in the club. It was a great opportunity for them to develop the skills of the game in a fun-filled environment.
The Castletown Geoghegan hurling club has been working hard at developing great facilities in recent years and these were put to great use over the course of the week. Each of the participants received goodie bags to round off a very successful camp.
Gerry Linnane was the main organiser and he said the camp proved a great success.
"We ran it over two days, Thursday and Friday of the mid-term break, from 10am to 1.30pm. It was something we spotted a niche for and it was a good way to finish off the year. We had 85 boys and over 50 girls involved and we had coaches from the hurling and camogie clubs. KC Sports made us up bags for all those who took part and they each received a sliotar," he said.
The camp was focused on skills and games, based on the same principle as Cúl camps. The morning sessions were about skills and then there were game-based activities and they rounded off the afternoon with games.
There were children from four years old to 12 years old involved and there was a mix between hurling and camogie. They were the only club in Westmeath to run the camp and they hope to make it an annual event.
They organised a safeguarding course and an introduction to hurling for new coaches. "It was about promoting hurling and it was great to see the club winning the senior hurling title to cap off a great year," he added.