Roe Valley Learning Community Gaelic Team

Under the ethos of Sharing Education, the partner schools in the Roe Valley have joined together again to field a team in the Ulster Vocational Schools competition. To date many of the activities and ventures through the Sharing Education Programme between the five schools have been curricular and classroom based however this marks one of the many initiatives outside the classroom setting. The team currently fields 6th Year players from Limavady Grammar School, St. Patrick’s College Dungiven, Limavady High School and St. Mary’s and Rossmar. The team have already played Holy Trinity College Cookstown, St. Ciaran’s College Ballygalwey and Sacred Heat College, Omagh. A very striking design incorporating the colours of all five schools was agreed upon and Sports Development Roe Valley has generously sponsored that strip that will be used in all future games. Ollie Mullan said that, “the partnership between the schools of the Roe Valley and Limavady Borough Council is continuing to flourish, particularly in the area of sports” It is a testament to the strength of the Roe Valley Learning Community that young people can now enjoy opportunities to learn together in the classroom, explore life issues together and come together on the sports field – a truly shared future.

St. Canice Dungiven After School Football

St Canice Dungiven PS After School coaching in Dungiven Sports Pavilion, some very good players to watch out for in the years to come, too many to name individually but they all have a good sound foundation in the GAA.

See photo with Development Officer Richard Ferris

Drumsurn Midnight GAA programme Alcohol & Drug awareness workshop

Drumsurn GAC Midnight GAA programme is nearing an end and on Friday night past (18th Feb) an Alcohol & Drug awareness workshop was held in the club hall by professional tutor Martin Connelly. The night drew great interest with 36 young people turning up, all of which are active on the sporting field. The presentation Martin ran through highlighted areas such as:

Alcohol and Exercise

"If you have alcohol 24 hours before exercising you are more likely to develop muscle cramps."

"After exercising the body needs to be rehydrated. It's not helpful to drink alcohol as it will just continue to dehydrate the body further."

What difference can a couple of drinks make?
What may surprise you is the number of ways the proverbial couple of drinks can affect your performance. If you take your sport seriously, and like to do the best you can for yourself or your team, it's worth knowing the facts and what you can do to drink sensibly.
Endurance

The blood sugar your body needs for energy is produced by the liver releasing glucose into the blood stream. Alcohol reduces your body's ability to produce this sugar, so you have less energy and less endurance capacity.

Remember - "if you were drinking the night before, when the time comes to really dig deep, there mightn't be anything there."

It is also important to remember that drinking before or during exercise can lead to injuries. Alcohol in the body can slow down the healing process leading to an increased recovery time from an injury.

Reaction Times

The relaxant properties of alcohol can flow on into your sport even well after you've finished drinking. Alcohol affects the central nervous system and slows down the information processing ability of the brain. This in turn affects your reactions, co-ordination, accuracy and balance - all the things most important for staying on top in any sport.

Roe Valley Sports Department Development Squad (Gaelic Football)

On Saturday 12th February at Drumsurn GAC, The Roe Valley Development Squad had its first Strength and Conditioning session, learning the proper techniques in strength training exercises with an emphasise on core stability. Each player has a weekly programme to follow to help them become fitter and stronger for the incoming year

The squad will have its next coaching session Saturday 5^th March in Faughanvale GAC 10am. This Squad is still open to other players to join. Contact Richard Ferris on richardferrisgpo@yahoo.co.uk

Improving Standards

On Saturday 5th February, Roe Valley Sports Department in conjunction with the Gaelic Games Development officer Richard Ferris,had its first squad session in Drumsurn GAC 20 players from the clubs in the borough attended a good start. The squad will have coaching sessions, strength & conditioning sessions, information on lifestyle management and will compete in games against Club Derry Development Squads (U16 & U17s) etc. The next session will be a Strength and Conditioning session in Saint Matthew's GAC Drumsurn at 10am on Saturday the 12th of February. This Squad is still open to other players to join.

Roe Valley GAA Foundation Course

On Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd of January Roe Valley Leisure Centre hosted a Child Protection and the New GAA foundation coaching course for coaches. A large turn out attended the child protection; 51 coaches, then on Saturday 17 coaches completed the full course.Paul Simpson and Richard Ferris delivered the course. Thanks to Ollie Mullan and all the staff at RVLC for all their help and co-operation. Thanks to all the coaches who attended, they certainly applied themselves very well!

Roe Valley O' Cahan's get New Jersey

See attached Roe Valley O Cahans in their new set of jerseys. More progress for the o'cahans, if anyone in the Roe Valley area would like to get involved and play hurling they are more than welcome to do so. Just contact Kevin Hinphey.

Physical Literacy Games for Teachers of Roe Valley

Over 50 Primary school teachers across the Roe Valley enjoyed an inservice Physical Literacy Games programme presented by Richard Ferris & Clare Leahy at Roe Valley Leisure Centre. For 2 hours they were given tuition in the introduction of game, associated skills and care and development of abilities for their pupils. Not only was the activity enjoyment emphasised but also highlighted the need to be aware of possible physiotherapy precautions.Thanks to Paul Simpson and Roisin Ferris for helping out, and to all the teachers for coming along and taken full part.

Roe Valley GAA Halloween Blitz

On Friday 30th October the young Gaelic footballers from Limavady district council area took part in an Under 12 and Under 14 indoor blitz at Roe Valley Leisure centre. Over 120 children took part in the indoor Gaelic football followed by a splash in the swimming pool courtesy of Limavady sports development department. Richard Ferris, GAA Games Promotion officer for the area said “it’s great to see so many young footballers in the area taking part, the speed of some of them games were unbelievable.” Richard also thanked the club coaches, many of whom took the day of work so that their club could be represented. Finally a word of thanks to Clare Devlin and Martin Burke who assisted with the refereeing and to Roe Valley Leisure centre for the use of their excellent facility.

Some of the coaches and Limavady GPO, Richard Ferris

Dungiven U14 Footballers

Faughanvale Under 14 Footballers


Foreglen Under 14 Footballers

Limavady Under 14 Footballers

Banagher Under 14 Footballers

Dungiven Under 12 Footballers

Limavady Under 12 Footballers

Faughanvale Under 12 Footballers

Foreglen Under 12 Footballers

Roe Valley Halloween Blitz Day