A day to remember for our underage stars who proudly represented us at the launch of the Nursery Programme in Croke Park. Doing everyone in Clonduff and their families proud were Eoghan Kearney (l), Oisin Kenny (Simonstown Gaels, Co Meath), Odhran Kearney, Sadie Donnan and Grace Kearney
The GAA, the Camogie Association, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association, GAA Handball and the GAA Rounders Association are delighted to announce the launch of the new Nursery Programme including a workshop to assist coaches in delivering and facilitating an introduction to Gaelic Games in a safe and fun environment for children aged 4-6 years of age.
The Club Nursery is one of the most vibrant areas within our clubs and for most it is a child’s, and possibly parents, first introduction to Gaelic Games and sports and exercise in a planned and structured environment. It allows children develop at their own pace in a fun, inclusive, and social environment.
Nursery Programmes in clubs are aligned to the F1 stage of the Gaelic Games Player Pathway, providing a series of fun-based exercises to develop movement and motor skills for children aged 4 to 6 years old. These skills form the basis for the later development of the specific skills for Gaelic Games. The level of competency with which one can perform these skills is referred to as their Level of Physical Literacy.
We are proud as Associations to say that we are contributing in a meaningful way to the physical literacy of the nation through this programme – which is currently active in over 1,000 clubs, comprising of more than 50,000 children supported by almost 10,000 coaches and volunteers.
To improve and enhance the programme we have developed a coach education element specifically for the volunteer working in this stage of the pathway. The workshop aligns with our coach development framework in that it meets the need of the player, the coach and is accessible i.e. ‘Just in Time-Just for Me’.
The workshop has been informed and influenced by our ongoing research into Coach Education, which identifies a lack of time, work/life balance, family commitments and course availability as some of the main barriers for potential coaches in upskilling. The new workshop has been developed to mitigate these factors and to potentially bring more coaches into the area and transition more into the more formal coaching ranks.
To become a qualified nursery coach, the participant must complete a 90 minute in person workshop and a 15-minute online recap along with their mandatory Safeguarding and Garda Vetting/Access NI requirements. This new workshop has been developed to cater for the needs of coaches that will coach at Nursery level (F1 Phase of the pathway).
Tobar, the eLearning platform, has been updated to include a full series of activities to help all clubs and coaches to plan their nursery sessions using the activity planner. This course will be available to participants following their attendance at the 90 minute workshop in their County. Keep an eye on the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association websites, local county games development media, TOBAR and @gaalearning on X.
Full details on the Gaelic Games Nursery Programme are available at F1 Nursery Programme
