Analysis: GAA C\u00fal Camps have been the staple of Irish summers for thousands of children since the 1980s<\/p>\n
It’s that time of year when thousands of children flock to GAA grounds around the country and immerse themselves in Gaelic games for an entire week. From sporadically organised camps run by pioneering GAA clubs to anticipated annual events, C\u00fal Camps<\/a> have become a national phenomenon.<\/p>\n The first GAA summer camps were held in the 1980s. A summer camp in Portarlington, Co. Laois in 1986 was advertised in the Leinster Times<\/a> newspaper ‘for 6 to 16year olds and a tiny tots camp for children under 6 years of age\u2019. Run by qualified P.E. teachers, the highlight of the camp the following year was Kerry footballer Jack O’Shea<\/a> \u2018spending all day on Wednesday\u2019 there. Steadily, more clubs embraced the idea and with each summer, more GAA camps sprouted around the country.<\/p>\n \n From GAA, Donegal star Michael Murphy pays a visit to the C\u00fal Camp in his local GAA club in Glenswilly, Co Donegal<\/p>\n GAA summer camps are reflective of their time and have progressed along with the association itself, its rules and its coaching. While now there is a dedicated website with rules and guidelines for participants, for early GAA camps, a note in a newspaper advised that children don\u2019t even require a helmet. In advance of a 1992 summer camp, participants were reminded that \u2018helmets are not obligatory\u2019 because \u2018some of the older players find it impossible to play wearing a helmet\u2019.<\/p>\n Like any sporting initiative that is reliant upon numbers of participants, sponsors are important in ensuring development and visibility in the public eye. In 1993, camps in the Carrigdhoun division of Cork were the first to bring sponsors on board for their camps in the shape of Bus Eireann<\/a> and Lennox’s Takeaway<\/a> in Carrigaline according to the Southern Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences<\/a><\/p>\n From RT\u00c9 Radio 1’s Morning Ireland, first African GAA C\u00fal Camp begins in Uganda<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the support of a local chipper would not satisfy the huge growth in numbers attending GAA summer camps so up stepped VHI Healthcare<\/a> in 2006 as the main sponsor for the newly named C\u00fal Camps. In 2011, Kellogg’s<\/a> became the main sponsor of C\u00fal Camps and in 2018, a new sponsorship deal was signed<\/a> between the cereal giant and the GAA for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.<\/p>\n Camps were organised on a national basis from 2006 onwards rather than on an adhoc basis by clubs and counties so their promotion and identity took on a more streamlined manner. Specially designed gear has ensured that C\u00fal Camps have a distinct visual character. Each participating child receives a jersey, zip top and backpack.<\/p>\n We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences<\/a><\/p>\n From RT\u00c9 Radio 1’s Liveline, a listener calls in about being asked to pay for a brand new Kellogg’s GAA C\u00fal Camp kit when they’ve already got an identical and unused one from last year<\/p>\n Generally, the gear does not go on public sale and as such is a fashionable demonstration of being part of an exclusive collective of those participating in C\u00fal Camps. Embedded with logos and with a different design on an annual basis, C\u00fal Camps gear are uniforms that encourage the wearers to feel comfortable, confident and ready to play Gaelic games.<\/p>\n The camps are designed<\/a> to be a pleasant experience which encourages children to achieve goals, creates a sense of community and friendship, improve well-being, and contributes to the participants’ overall development, while taking a Gaelic games-based approach. In 2019, Wexford GAA developed the first specialised C\u00fal Camp for autistic children<\/a>, which involved creating a more sensory friendly experience for attendees and their siblings, who also participated. This initiative has paved the way for more of its kind across the country<\/a> and encompasses the spirit of community and inclusion of children with different abilities across the GAA.<\/p>\n \n From GAA, highlights from 2022 GAA C\u00fal Camps<\/p>\n The popularity of C\u00fal Camps was evident in 2020 when the website for bookings experienced ‘a 2000% increase<\/a>‘ compared the previous year. To contend with demand and limited numbers due to that year’s pandemic protocols, TG4 broadcast a dedicated GAA C\u00fal Camps series<\/a> which featured skills, drills, games, nutrition, and wellness segments from famous hurling, camogie, Gaelic football and Ladies football stars.<\/p>\n Since the 1980s, GAA C\u00fal Camps have been the staple of Irish summers for thousands of children. The week-long camps are an important form of organised GAA activity for children and their popularity has increased steadily. Providing a summer camp experience that coincides with the growth of the GAA itself is a consistent challenge not only because of an increasing market of summer activities for children but also because it must satisfy the expectations of participants and parents alike. Anyone for an adult version?<\/p>\n The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RT\u00c9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Analysis: GAA C\u00fal Camps have been the staple of Irish summers for thousands of children since the 1980s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-537226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}