Ladies Gaelic Football

GAMES DEVELOPMENT NEW PROVINCIAL GAMES DEVELOPMENT STAFF CONNACHT DEVELOPMENT OFFICER: CLAIRE TOWEY- BURKE Contact Claire on gdo.connacht@lgfa.ie Tell us a little bit about your background: I have worked in London for the past 15 years as a Subject Leader of Physical Education in a Secondary School. Through work in school, I introduced Gaelic Football to my students, and they then joined my club team. I was lucky enough during this time to have worked with various London & England development officer for Cricket, Boccia, Basketball, Boxing, Athletics and other sports and wanted to develop the game I loved – Gaelic football. My school were the first girls school to enter the All Britain Competition in 2015. From 2015 – I became the development officer for my club Tir Chonaill Gaels and London Ladies Gaelic Football development officer for the County board in 2016. In 2016 I set up the first underage Championship & League structures in London with the support of a great team – Lucia Butler – Chairperson, Colleen Lynott-Children's Officer and club coaches and county board officers. What made the job attractive to you? I saw the job advertised and thought that my experience in teaching, coaching and development could bring something new to Ladies Gaelic Football in Connacht. Also, the fact it was a job in Connacht, going home to my roots, where I had played Club & County football underage was a pull factor. Since starting the job - has there been anything new that has struck you that you didn't know about LGFA before? The support structures that are in place for clubs and Counties are excellent. There are so many initiatives to support struggling clubs, develop established clubs and promote our game. Sports development is an interesting job, but challenging in many ways - would you have any advice for anyone considering it as a career? It is a very rewarding job, when you can support clubs and counties to develop and establish many pathways for players, coaches, referees and volunteers. If you were to consider a career in sports development, be sure to love the sport and have a vision and clear plan of where you want to get to and make sure to be able to work well with others with a common vision. What is the most important advice you would give a club in relation to Volunteer development? For each club to be successful, there are so many elements that need to be right. Each and every one of the volunteers play such a vital role in this. The most important advise I would give a club is to cherish and celebrate all your volunteers, the coaches, the committee, the tea makers, the car park attendants, the fundraisers, the internet guru's and many more roles every club has volunteers helping with. What is the most important piece of advice you would give a county in relation to supporting their clubs? Be sure to identify, celebrate and support all your clubs in your county. The successful clubs, the struggling clubs, the new clubs – ensure they are all supported equally. The clubs who run Gaelic4Girls, for challenging themselves to get new players into the club, the clubs who run Gaelic4Teens, that seek to find new ways to retain players when they hit teenage years and other interests, the clubs with Gaelic4Mothers & Others who all come together to continue to enjoy playing recreational football after their playing career have ended. What do you think will be the biggest challenge for the Provinces as LGFA continues to grow? To support counties to ensure clubs and schools make and continue to make good links so that players know where and how to access their local clubs. MUNSTER DEVELOPMENT OFFICER: GEAROID BALFRY Contact Gearoid on gdo.munster@lgfa.ie Tell us a little bit about your background I grew up immersed in sports and played hurling and football with my club in Patrickswell. I have always had a keen interest in developing and delivering sports programmes and have worked in Sports development for the last 6 years. I received my degree in Business with Sports Management in Limerick Institute of Technology and went evelopment of our game at Provincial level is an integral part of the growth of the LGFA. Each Province has their own Development Officer that works alongside the National Games Development Team. Some of the key roles of a Provincial Development Officer are: • Ensuring the implementation of the Strategic Development Plan • Co-ordination of activities involving volunteer, club, player, coach and officials. • Creation of new relationships with key sports partners in the Province to further develop grassroots Gaelic games in schools and clubs. • Assisting the implementation of the LGFA's Coach, Referee & Administrator Development Programmes. Over the last number of months both Connacht and Munster have welcomed new Development Officers. D

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