07 Apr 2021
Gaisce – The President’s Award is a self-development programme for young people between the ages of 15-25 and is focused on, and driven by, the core values of Empowerment, Respect, Excellence, Inclusion & Equality.
For the past two years Birr RFC has been involved with the award and for the 2020-21 season the club facilitated 6 students (Eoin Burke, Aran Corcoran, Daniel Walsh, Darragh Tierney, Meg Delaney and Brody Larkin) in participating in the program. Overseen by the clubs CCRO Denis Rusu all 6 have been progressing towards completing their Bronze Award, which includes completing weekly Physical Recreation, Community Involvement and learning a new Personal Skill.
For their physical recreation the had to take part in training or playing matches with their own team. All participants were required to keep a record 1 hour of training/matches they attended using their ‘online portal’ or ‘Gaisce record sheet’.
In addition to the Physical Recreation portion of the award the participants also needed to complete a Community Involvement block. For this they assisted head coaches with training teams from U11 - U14. In their sessions the participants were counted on to run warmups, passing drills and fun games involving the fundamental skills and more, all of which the kids had extremely enjoyed taking part in.
For their next block, the individuals took on a new Personal skill. This was an opportunity for participants to explore an activity that interests them and to develop skills that they may have previously thought beyond their reach.
When asked on what the 6 Gaisce participants enjoyed most they said the following:
Daniel Walsh (U14 & U13 boys): Brilliant experience to coach players, you get more enjoyment seeing other players that you coached achieve skills, than you would seeing yourself achieve.
Brody Larkin (U11 boys): I enjoyed training the U11’s team with Gaisce, I really enjoyed working on the coaching side of training sessions and seeing how things work and how things are done from a coaches’ perspective. I do miss training a lot I really enjoyed training with them, and I hope we will be back soon.
Meg Delaney (U12 girls): Birr RFC is a brilliant club to be part of there’s a great sense of community. I love playing rugby and the girls I play with are so supportive, so it is great to have the privilege to train the younger girls and give them that support too.
Aran Corcoran (U12 boys): I really enjoyed training the U12 boys and I am looking forward to getting back to training with them soon”.
Eoin Burke (U14 & U13 boys): I found it very interesting and enjoyable being on the other side of the training session for a change and getting to see what coaches in rugby and other sports go through on a regular basis.
Darragh Tierney (U11 boys): I found training the young team very helpful to my rugby knowledge and to my game because I got a better idea of the game from teaching others.
The club is registered as a facility for anyone aged 16 - 25 wanting to become a participant. Contact Denis via email at BirrCCRO@leinsterrugby.ie for any questions..
For information on Gaisce click here
