Recreational Rounders

Plan

Supporting Documents:

• GAA Physical Activity Guidelines
• Healthy Clubs Statement

The club decided to promote Recreational Rounders on Lá na gClubanna as recommended by Croke Park. The club also used this day to launch the club’s involvement in the innovative GAA’s Healthy Club project (HCP). The rationale behind Rounders was to encourage participation and enjoyment amongst various generations in the club and wider community.

The Healthy Club project team coordinated this event and adopted the Healthy Club Statement which is a commitment to making the club a healthier place for everyone to enjoy. The team accessed the Lá na gClubanna promotional pack and Rounders rules via http://www.gaa.ie/ as well as equipment provided by The Community & Health section in Croke Park which included a bat, adjustable batting tee and soft balls suitable for all ages and abilities.

Partners

The main partners involved within the club was the Club executive to ensure match fixtures were not clashing with the Lá na gClubanna event. Other partners included volunteers, parents, coaches and managers from both the senior and juvenile teams to help coordinate the games and refreshments on the day. The club PRO was also heavily involved on the day and captured some great action shots.

The club also engaged with partners outside the club including the Dublin County Health & Wellbeing Committee (chair.hwc.dublin@gaa.ie), the Community & Health Section in Croke Park (community.health@gaa.ie) and the National Rounders Committee (secretary.rounders@gaa.ie) for support.

Appropriate local businesses were also invited on the day to offer support and raffle prizes including a free car service from Advanced Pitstop and a healthy hamper from Slimming World, just to name a few were. Abs- Solute Fitness, Drimnagh were also invited to provide fitness and nutrition advice. The team linked up with Dublin City FM 103.2 to promote the event as well as local newspapers.

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Activity

The Healthy Club project team decided that teams would be made up of men, women and children (over 15 years) of all abilities. It was a roaring success with eleven teams and over 100 members from the club and wider community participate on the day. To add to the fun the winners and runners up were given medals and mini trophies.

The team put together an action packed schedule involving juvenile mini blitzes, exhibition matches, puc fada, face painting and colouring for kids, as well as music and food. The Healthy Club team also distributed a brief questionnaire on the day to help focus their efforts going forward and ensure their health and wellbeing plans were driven by the needs of the club and community members

The Club

The club promoted the event mainly through social media, Facebook and Twitter but also through club notes, sigange and word of mouth. The event was a huge success in bringing the club and community together and Good Counsel intend to replicate this event going forward. The pictures from the day were promoted also on social media and showcased on GAA.ie/community as a spot light Healthy Club feature.

The aim of Recreational Rounders is to promote a fun, non-competitive and inclusive environment within the club to strengthen links further between the GAA and the community. The underlying philosophy of Recreational Rounders is that Gaelic Games should be fun, inclusive to all abilities, enjoyable and accessible. Good Counsel were confident that this initiative helped them bring the Club Health & Wellbeing Statement to life and showcase their commitment to health and wellbeing.

It was the perfect way to launch their involvement in the HCP, recruit new healthy club champions and get ideas from the members about what areas to focus on going forward.