Ladies Gaelic Football

GUESS WHAT I DO LAURA FITZGERALD www.ladiesgaelic.ie | AUTUMN 2021 | 53 TELL ME A BIT ABOUT YOUR JOB? I'm doing a PhD and that's my job at the moment. I'm on an Irish Research Council Postgraduate of Ireland Scholarship. The PhD is full-time and it's probably going to take about four and a half years to complete. The area of focus is a lot of wind tunnel testing. The research topic is basically using maths on a computer to prove aerodynamics and determine aircraft stability. Aircraft stability is how stable an aircraft handles itself in flight. If you are flying along in a plane and a gust of wind comes, that is what it's all about. Stability is that aircraft's likelihood to return to a normal position without any pilot input. Naturally, all aircrafts are stable or their computer systems make them stable. What I am trying to do is show you that you can do all this testing; wind tunnel testing and flight testing, on a computer. It makes a lot more financial sense in the long run too, the wind tunnel and flight testing is really, really expensive, and a lot of the time, the answers aren't even actually correct. It's kind of an emerging area. We are trying to show that it's possible but it's probably still a few years off, so as I said, it's emerging. I am doing wind tunnel testing at university right now and I have been for this year. That should be wrapping up in the next six weeks. Once I have that finished, then it will be moving on to the computer and using code to try and replicate the wind tunnel data and also take it on further to say it is possible. It's a long process but it's worth it in the end. HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE JOB? My parents are both engineers so realistically, I always knew I wanted to do engineering. I always loved flying too, even though I am actually afraid of flying. The irony of it! I used to sit in the aeroplane and watch the wings to try and distract myself from the flight. I got fascinated by that then and I would actually love to become a pilot down the road too. Maybe after the PhD is finished. WHERE ARE YOU BASED WITH WORK? I'm full-time in the University of Limerick but because of Covid-19, most of my time is at home in Kerry, and then I would be up at UL sporadically. WHAT ARE THE BEST THINGS ABOUT YOUR JOB? I love learning! I did my undergrad and then I did my Masters but that just wasn't enough for me. I wanted to learn more and more and this was the avenue for me. The area I am researching is one that I am absolutely fascinated by, that helps too. I can sit up until midnight and read papers, not because I have to but because I love doing it. I love reading things and I still have those, 'oh wow, that's really cool', moments about it. As the saying goes, when you love what you do, it doesn't feel like a job at all. It's also flexible as well. You can suit your life around it and that's great for football too. WOULD YOU RECOMMEND YOUR CAREER TO BUDDING FOOTBALLERS? If you find something you love doing, I would recommend doing a PhD in it, so yes of course. But if you don't like what you are doing, or you are doing a PhD for the sake of it, I would definitely stay away from it. You have to love it, wholeheartedly, if you're thinking of going down the PhD route. NOW IN ITS FIFTH YEAR, CLUB2GETHER IS AN LGFA CLUB DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE AIMED AT STRENGTHENING CLUB STRUCTURES. This initiative focuses on developing areas such as volunteer recruitment and retention, governance & officer training, sponsorship and fundraisingand games development, as well as planning for the future to ensure sustainable structures are in place going forward. We spoke with Eamonn Murphy, Secretary of the Douglas Ladies Football Club in Cork, who had the following to say on their involvement in the programme; "We very much enjoyed the course. There was a lot of information to take in, some of which we will put to use now. However, I believe the programme will be highly valuable in the medium to long term. It provided our club with the perfect medium to discuss where we are at and what improvements we will aim for in the future". All participating clubs have the opportunity to take part in the LGFA club development initiative aimed at strengthening club structures. Each participating club can avail of free training for their club officers and coaches. Resources are also provided to each club to assist with building sustainable structures, and APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN FOR CLUB2GETHER following the programme's end, participating clubs can follow up if they wish, with a basic two-year plan to be put in place with the aim of increasing the retention rates of volunteers, with the overall effect being that clubs can become a more vibrant and active part of the local community. Applications are now open for the Club2Gether programme at www.ladiesgaelic.ie or contact Niall Mulrine, National Development Officer at: niall.mulrine@lgfa.ie

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