More Sport with Ardmore GAC

Aim

To increase the numbers of young people playing our games, especially females and those new to our sport.

Who are we?

We are St Mary's Ardmore GAA club, situated on the edge of Derry City. We promote Gaelic games and culture in our local community. As a small rural club, it is important for us to remain viable by attracting and developing young members from the surrounding area.  With this project, we are hoping to attract new members by running an outreach programme targeting young people who have not traditionally played our games. We are hopeful that this will help break down barriers between children from different backgrounds and also help us find new players.

What do we do?

Our main activity is to provide opportunities for children and young people from age 5 and upwards to learn the skills of Gaelic games in a fun environment. This activity takes place at our football pitch. Having learned the skills of the game our players are then provided with opportunities to display their skills in organised games and competitions involving teams from other clubs in the district.

How do we do it?

Our children are divided into various age groups from under-6 upwards and come to the pitch each week for an hour's skills coaching and fun games. Many parents come to watch their children playing with their teammates. Some parents take part in helping with the activities and some become coaches as well. The club is run entirely by volunteers and is funded by membership fees, fund-raising, sponsorship and grant aid.

What else do we do?

We organise structured games, blitzes and competitions against teams from other clubs for the various age groups.  This gives the children many hours of healthy fun activities and a chance to make new friends. They burn up lots of energy while their parents get some respite.

Community impact

We are a community club and our football pitch is located right in the centre of the village of Ardmore. Many of the parents and grandparents of our children played with the club when they were younger, so we have deep roots in the community. This is evident in the support given by parents and families over the years, in their attendance at events and in volunteering to help with the many jobs that need to be done. 

While we have strong links with past generations we welcome new people to our club from home and abroad. So many find a warm welcome here and their children integrate quickly once they start playing our games. We have never done an Outreach Project before and we are excited by the challenges it will pose - explaining the history of our games, dealing with fears and perceptions, teaching the basic skills, the rules of the games, friendly matches, etc.  

Obviously, the main people to benefit from our activities are the children and young people who take part, both existing members and those involved in the Outreach Project. Sport helps children to develop physically by getting fitter and more active on a regular basis. Team sport helps teach fair play, "give and take",  socialisation skills and dealing with success and failure

Why are we crowdfunding?

Like many other clubs, we had a difficult time over the past few years due to the impact of Covid-19, lockdowns etc. Apart from being unable to run our activities as normal, we suffered financially through the suspension of fundraising. Our facilities suffered as well due to neglect over this period. Our young people suffered physically and emotionally during this period, losing opportunities for exercise, socialising and meeting friends. Some became inactive. 

The purpose of our Crowdfunding is to help us recover lost ground by getting more of our young people active again and by reaching out to some young people who traditionally have not played Gaelic games previously. 

 We hope the initiatives we are taking will encourage more young people back to sport again and help us find new members through the outreach programme. 

Our Project will run as a three-stage process:

From January 2023-June 2023 we plan to run an indoor programme over 25 weeks for teenage girls, their mothers and other females. The sessions will be delivered by qualified coaches, including some club coaches, using appropriate equipment, footballs, weights, gym equipment etc.  The purpose of this is threefold - to re-engage young people back to sport again; to increase the level of young female participation in sport;  finally, to encourage parents and children, especially females, engaging in sport together.  We are confident that this focused approach will attract many new members and maybe encourage lapsed members to re-engage with us again as the season progresses.

From January 2023 - June 2023  Our Gaelic Football Outreach Programme will run in parallel with the ladies' programme, at separate venues and with a separate coaching team over 25 weeks. This programme is for young people from a non-traditional GAA background. In this way, we hope to offer a taster programme to young people who have not played our games previously, in the expectation that some will eventually take up the game and maybe join our club.

The Final Part of our Programme consists of a Summer Festival of Sport which will take place in Summer 2023 at our own pitch. This will be an opportunity for the more than 100 boys and girls who have participated in our other programmes to demonstrate the skills they have developed during the year. It will also be an opportunity for the young people from the Outreach Programme to participate in fun games with their peers in the club, demonstrating the skills they have learned. The Festival will be a fun occasion with lots of games and exercises each day, followed by a Family Fun Day which will engage everyone associated with the club, especially the children and their families.

Any funding received above our target will be channelled into purchasing of equipment for the club, coach training and pitch maintenance.

How we’ll spend the money raised

We will spend the money raised in a number of ways:

The Girls & Mums & Adult Female Programme will run for 25 weeks with costs for hire of venue and payment of coaches coming to a total of £2000.

The Outreach Programme will run for 25 X 2 hour sessions between with costs for coaching and equipment coming to a total of £1750. 

The Summer Festival of Sport will run from 10am - 2.00 pm for 5 days with costs for 20 hours coaching by 6 coaches, including equipment coming to a total of £3585.

The Purchase of 20 O'Neill's Footballs (20 X £50) comes to a total of £1000.

Overall Total Costs: £8,335

Any funding raised above our target will go towards the provision of specialist training and coaching equipment, footballs, rigs, etc as well as for pitch maintenance.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

This project successfully funded on 28th June 2023