Medium Club Volunteer winner: Séamus 'Shay’ Curran, An Ríocht
A PROFITABLE role for his club rather than profiteroles. An Ríocht coaching officer Séamus 'Shay’ Curran set a good example at the awards lunch, turning down the chocolate sauce-covered dessert, before being named Medium Club Volunteer winner.
Healthy eating is just part of the approach from the Kilkeel-based club that has improved youth involvement, with Curran explaining: “We used to give them crisps and fizzy drinks, then said `What’s the sense in having them doing exercise then giving them that?’ The children love it: with about 10 minutes left in the training session they’re asking `When are we going for our grapes and apples?’
Yet the award isn’t only the fruit of Curran’s labour as he readily states: “I’m overwhelmed to get this, but although I’m the coaching officer, it’s a lot to do with our secretary Joseph [Donnan] and all the coaches, our club, our whole network is set up for this.
“Over the last five years we have a youth policy that all children get games rather than this `Win, win, win at all costs’ attitude. In tournaments, the team that starts the game isn’t the team that finishes it – all the subs get on. We haven’t won a tournament in four or five years, not because we haven’t the talent but because it’s not our ethos.
“It is paying dividends. Our numbers have increased two- or three-fold…It’s all about the coaches helping me. I can make out the coaching routines and sessions, but we need the people to implement them.”
For any clubs wishing to follow suit, Curran has some top tips: “We found that going straight to schools and just handing in notes was no good – you have to meet the parents collecting their children, talk to them face to face.
“We didn’t just let them drop the kids off at the gate either, we met them, showed them our facilities, showed them how much their children are going to enjoy it, and they kept coming back. Now we have those parents helping us.
“There are a lot of foreign nationals coming along. They might not understand the game but they love the movement and a lot of them help us too.”
Curran is the public face of the programme, welcoming newcomers to An Ríocht: “I’m the sort of person if I see someone new coming in I have to go and speak to them, tell them who I am and what we’re all about. I try to get a commitment from them to come back the next week – usually they do, because it’s hard to back out after a face-to-face commitment.”
Club finance officer Tara Campbell pointed out that it’s not only the adults who get attention from Seamus though, saying: “All the children look up to him fantastically and we can see the benefits coming through. There’s a wee Mourne League and we’ve always been the bridesmaids, but we’re doing well in it this year, and that’s coming from Seamus’s work.”
