Sport Northern Ireland Project Re-Boot: Activate has provided £5,000 of match funding
East Belfast GAA - Together 2023
Belfast, United Kingdom
Aim
Help marginalised girls & women access sport & support new volunteers from all communities providing diverse role models at EBGAA post Covid
EAST BELFAST GAA - TOGETHER 2023
WHO ARE WE?
East Belfast GAA Youth was set up in Spring 2021, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. We are now starting our third season and we thank you for your continued support. We are a ‘not for profit’, volunteer led organisation committed to promoting accessible sport and wellbeing to the whole community. We are a diverse club, with members from all over the world, including Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The GAA manifesto states ‘Where we all belong’ and EBGAA is the perfect place to build belonging, boost physical & mental health, grow in confidence and get back to sport after Covid 19.
COVID ISOLATION:
Due to Covid-19 families were left isolated, negatively affecting their physical and mental health. For many, life has returned to normal, but others remain isolated. There can be many barriers to sport including gender, race and financial hardship. We believe that everyone deserves support, protection and the opportunity to play sport and thrive!
Club participation, both by playing and volunteering, is positively associated with improved wellbeing, confidence and self-esteem. Community-level sport plays a vital role in promoting positive social, emotional, cultural, and economic outcomes. It can improve mental & physical health and hone the resilience needed to thrive together. By removing boundaries and making sport more accessible to isolated and marginalised families we can build a diverse club community post Covid 19.
WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF THIS PROJECT?
1. Encourage more participation from girls and women from marginalised communities by making sport more accessible post Covid.
This will be achieved by running a ‘Mothers and Others‘ training session at the same time as our youth training sessions. These "Mothers and Others' sessions will begin on the 25th of March with our come and try day and will continue for 13 weeks, finishing on the 24th of June. By running training sessions for women and children at the same time we will help mothers who do not have access to childcare, transport or equipment. Younger female players will thrive seeing female role models training beside them. By providing training space, transport, kits and equipment we are making sport more accessible to many refugee, asylum seeker and marginalised women and their families.
2. To increase our number of Volunteers from diverse communities, post Covid.
As East Belfast GAA continues to grow post Covid, we need more volunteers. By running new coaching / volunteer information and training sessions we will encourage new volunteers. These sessions will be open to young adults and parents, and we will encourage participation from marginalised and refugee parents by providing training equipment and language translation. We will help with applications and paperwork that may be necessary to achieve further coaching or volunteer certificates. For the duration of this 13 week programme we will organise transport for both our midweek and weekend training sessions so that our new volunteers have as much opportunity as possible to get involved with the club, through both organisational roles and sports training.
HOW DO WE DO THIS?
- Book outdoor / indoor facilities & pitches for training sessions
- Organise training sessions for ‘Mothers and others’
- Organise training sessions for Youth players
- Organise transport to and from training on Saturday mornings for young players & volunteers
- Organise transport to and from training on Wednesday evenings for young players & volunteers
- Provide Volunteer mentoring, training and support
- Provide kit / training gear and equipment
- Cover the costs of coaching certificates, training courses and any necessary transport and translation fees
- Continue to work with Home Plus NI, Yallaa, The British Red Cross, Peace IV, T:BUC & many others to build a strong, diverse club community post Covid 19.
Mustafa Ginawi, Mustafa Ahmed and Mujtaba Ginawi, who took part in the Ulster GAA Young Leaders Programme 2022. They continue to inspire our younger players by acting as role models within the club. We aim to encourage more volunteers with this project and develop diverse coaches, volunteers and role models at the club.
East Belfast GAA coaches, committee members and Mothers enjoy a meal together at Yallaa. With this project 'Together 2023' we hope to encourage more women to play sport and become role models for our younger girls at the club.
Rasha and Arwa are members of our Youth committee, they help organise transport & assist with Arabic translation for club communication and events. We hope to encourage more women and marginalised family members to take an active role in their club, by playing, volunteering or coaching.
HOW YOU CAN HELP?
- If you are a member of the club already or are thinking of joining, please go to our rewards section where you can purchase your membership for 2023.
- You can make a donation. It will be greatly appreciated!
- If you are unable to donate at present we completely understand, times are hard.... Could you share this project on your social media or with friends, family or colleagues instead? This will be greatly appreciated!
Together we can build back stronger post Covid 19.
Thank you for you continued support,
Ciara
Integration Officer - East Belfast GAA
This project successfully funded on 29th April 2023