Derry Urban Summer Camp

From the 14th to 16th July, Derry City Council and Derry GAA ran a Gaelic Summer Camp 40 children enjoyed the camp held at the County grounds, Celtic Park

Dungiven Gaelic Football Summer Camp

More than 150 kids took part in Dungiven GAC Annual Summer scheme from the 19th to 23rd July.As the week progressed the weather got better and the kids show off their Gaelic skills.

The kids ranged from the age of four right up to the age of twelve, taking part in Gaelic Games. It was a great week for all those involved with club coaches and parents helping out the County coaches. The kids consisted of many of their underage players but the camp also attracted many new players to the club and it is hoped these kids will continue with the club.

The week was ended with a Blitz sports day Girls/Boys section in Key stage 1 and 2 which all the children thoroughly enjoyed. At the end of the camp all the kids were presented with club rain tops and a football presented by Cathal Mc Keever and Gerard O Kane. Special word of thanks to all those from Dungiven and the County Coaches who helped with the camp.

Oak Leaf School of Excellence

On Wednesday 21st July 26 hardy souls attended the extremely wet Oak Leaf School of Excellence delivered by Chris Collins, Richard Ferris and Diarmuid Scullion. The lads worked on Kicking and Tackling and played small sided games to compliment these skills.

Thanks to all the coaches and players for taking part in such extreme conditions, the next Oak Leaf School of Excellence will be Wednesday 28th July @ Owenbeg 4pm - 5.30pm.

Bellaghy and Ballymaguigan Gaelic Start Monday

Yesterday both Ballymaguigan and Bellaghy enjoyed their Gaelic Start Monday, aimed at getting children aged below 6 a day of fun coaching. Thanks to Ruairi Convery and Brian Laverty for providing the kids with lots of fun activities

Oak Leaf School of Excellence

There will be two Under 14 Schools of Excellence in Owenbeg over the next couple of weeks for Under 14 footballers to attend: Wednesday 21^st July – Owenbeg 4pm – 5.30pm and Wednesday 28^th July – Owenbeg 4pm – 5.30pm

Players who attend three or more Oak Leaf School’s of excellence throughout the year can purchase the new Club Derry Jersey for £20. If you can let me know roughly how many of your Under 14’s are attending that’ll help me plan the sessions

Remember these are open to any Under 14 out of Under 12 football who wish to develop

Greenlough Vhi Cul Camp

From Tuesday 6th to Friday 9th July Greenlough GAC enjoyed their Vhi Cul Camp, the week was very well attended and on Friday the children left tired but really thankful for the week's craic they just had.

Doire Colmcille Summer Camp 2010

Last week the children from Doire Colmcille enjoyed their summer camp in Celtic Park from 5th - 9th July

Summer Camps begin but where's the Sun?

From Féile straight into the summer camps on Monday morning, who said this coaching lark was handy? Castledawson, Glen and Greenlough all began their summer programme with a Gaelic Start camp for children up to the age of 6 years old. The three camps proved to be very successful with the weins really enjoying getting out on the grass and getting wet!

O’ Hara Motors Sponsors Oak Leaf Cycle Slam

O’ Hara Motors Sponsors Oak Leaf Cycle Slam

The Oak Leaf Cycle Slam is a new fundraising initiative by Club Derry and the County Coaching and Games committee with all proceeds in aid of the Derry Schools GAA Coaching Programme. The gruelling 700 mile cycle will begin on Sunday 22^nd August from Owenbeg with all the cyclists hopefully returning back to Derry on Tuesday 31^st August. Those cyclists confirmed at present taking up the challenge include County coaching staff Chris Collins, Richard Ferris, Diarmuid Scullion and Emmett Stewart. Chris Collins, Derry’s Coaching and Games manager explains the rationale behind the idea, “Currently we have 14 full time coaches in place within our schools throughout the County providing services such as physical literacy coaching to children at key stage 1, Gaelic games coaching to key stage 2 and secondary school pupils, GAA foundation and child protection certification to sixth form students, professional development for teachers and supervisors and, of course, a substantial programme of games and blitzes for players to compete and demonstrate their skills in.

We believe that the schools within our County are an essential element in building future success on the field of play. We therefore see it as a matter of paramount importance that we keep our level of support at the standards we have set over the past twelve months. We have always provided these services free of charge to the schools. Last year Club Derry thankfully funded a Coaching and Games deficit of £42,000. In the current economic climate we understand that everybody is facing constraints, and although we are adamant that we don’t want our schools to suffer, we also don’t want to start charging for our services as the majority of our competitors already do.

As a solution to help ease the financial pressures we have come up with the novel Oak Leaf Cycle Slam with all the proceeds going towards the County School GAA Coaching Programme. We are hoping the school children and the wider public will get behind us and sponsor the cyclists whatever they can afford to help us to consolidate our services for the 2010/11 school year totally free of charge to the schools.”

“Obviously there is a lot of planning and preparation to be done behind the scenes for an event of this scale on the route, accommodation, pit stops etc. We’d like to thank O’ Hara motors, Greysteel for kindly sponsoring us with a magnificent motor home for the 10 days, it’ll be an excellent addition to the cycle slam team!”

Route details, training logs, sponsorship forms and online sponsorship will all be available from the Derry and Club Derry websites www.derrygaa.ie / www.clubderry.org There is also a live log kept on facebook: www.facebook.com/oakleafcycleslam

Gaelic Games Summer Camps in Limavady Borough Council Area

Thank You to everyone who attended the launch of the Limavady Borough Council Summer Camps, a special word to the mayor Michael Caton and Bernie Mullan, your attendance was very much appreciated!