| Case study overview | |
|---|---|
| Club: | Clara |
| County: | Kilkenny |
| Location: | Clara |
| Rural/Urban: | Rural |
| Codes: | Hurling, Camogie, Football, Ladies Football |
| Membership (2016): | 600 |
Plan
Supporting Document: GAA Healthy Eating Guidelines
Getting Healthy and Getting Fit was the corner stone behind the club’s innovative Operation Claramation. The programme was open to club members every Monday for ten weeks followed by a talk on healthy lifestyles with a huge emphasis on healthy eating and nutrition for weight loss and weight management.
Partners
Within the club:
- Club Executive
- Members of the Healthy Club team who coordinated the ten week programme
- This involved having members to organise the venue, refreshments, taster nights, talks and promote the programme on social media, club notes, text and WhatsApp etc.
Outside the club:
- Local dietician and personal trainer to offer support and expert advice.
- Local speakers with various backgrounds and expertise to provide the weekly talks
- Kilkenny GAA Health & Wellbeing Committee (chair.hwc.kilkenny@gaa.ie)
Download
Activity
The exercise sessions were hosted in the club grounds every Monday followed by a talk on various health and lifestyle themes. The club set up a closed Facebook page for members of the programme where healthy recipes and tips were posted regularly.
The club had the support of a local dietician who offered advice/support/specialised meal plans catering for all allergies and intolerances. Weight loss was monitored weekly and over the 10 week period the group lost a total of 34 kgs.
The taster nights were a huge success with members cooking up various tasty recipes from the GAA’S Recipes for Success booklet including Spaghetti Bolognese, chilli, sweet potato fries, smoothies, blueberry muffins, brown bread and much more.
The Club
As well as the many benefits the programme has brought to participants in terms of weight loss and fitness, the club is also more conscious about raising awareness of healthy eating and have adopted the GAA’s Healthy Eating Guidelines. The Healthy Club project team are now meeting with the juvenile section of the club to promote healthy eating and fruit is now available at blitzes.
The club also availed of the GAA’s Recipes for Success workshop which consisted of a practical cookery workshop in the local secondary school coordinated by the GAA and delivered by the Home Economics teacher. The minor players learned how to prepare healthy, simple, tasty recipes to enhance their sporting performance.
The club took responsibility for promoting the initiative, recruiting players and organising transport to local school and the Home Economics teacher provided the ingredients and delivered the workshop. Each participant also received a Recipes for Success booklet to take home which was well received.
