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New Club Coaches Revealed

In a major new initiative St Brigid's GAA club has just appointed two new coaches to help with the ongoing development of talent at the club which is continuing to spearhead the development of GAA in Castleknock and Blanchardstown. After an exciting year on the playing fields when the club reached and won numerous county finals in both hurling and football and where the Senior football team reached the all Ireland Semi final the time was ripe to ensure that the juvenile section which has always been the bedrock of the club continues to prosper and that all the young players at the club are exposed to the best in coaching and skills development 

The two new coaches, Martin Kennedy and Thomas Broderick were welcomed to the club by Chairman Padraic O Dea who was anxious to point out that St Brigid's is a club with its roots firmly in the local community and that this initiative was designed to help widen participation in sports in the area and particularly in the GAA which offers exciting field games for boys and girls from the age of five upwards as well as the indoor sport of handball

The two new coaches bring with them a huge amount of experience for two so young. They are keen to start off on the right foot and the St Brigids GAA summer camps this year will be their first real challenge. The summer camps, which run for a total of six weeks are designed to encourage all the children who take part to learn new skills in a fun filled atmosphere. The camps last year were a huge success and all the early signs are that this years camps will be even bigger and better. Everything takes place at the Russell Park complex on the Old Navan Road close to the Auburn Avenue roundabout where application forms for the camps are available.

 Martin Kennedy is a Sport and Exercise Science Graduate from the University of Limerick. He has represented Dublin at minor and U-21 level and also played 3 years on the University of Limerick Sigerson Cup Team. He completed his Final Year Thesis on the Psychology of Elite G.A.A. players and also spent 8 months in Perth Western Australia working with the Professional Australian Rules Football team the West Coast Eagles. He was the Secretary of the U.L. mens G.A.A. club in 2001. chairman in 2002 and the Development Officer in 2003. As well as an Honours Sports and Exercise Science Degree he has a Level 1 qualifications in G.A.A. coaching, strength and conditioning (Australia) and also a certificate in First Aid. Last year he was employed by Belvedere College where he taught Sports Science, Physical Education as well as coaching various athletic and rugby teams in the school.

Thomas Broderick is also a graduate of the Sport and Exercise Science programme at the University of Limerick. During this four-year degree he spent 8 months as fitness assistant with the Fremantle Dockers, a Professional Australian Rules Football Club. He has previous experience working as a coach with the underage football in Galway and with the Limerick Minor Football Development squad. He has spent the past number of months working as a Physical education teacher in Coolmine Community School and St Marks Tallaght. He is currently a tutor with the National Coaching and Training Center in Limerick where he presents seminars for the coach and athlete education programme. He is also a coach at the Trainail Gan Taistail (Training without travel) football camp. This is a coaching programme set up for athletes playing gaelic football at home but who are working in Dublin. Thomas is also currently working with the Offaly Senior Football team as fitness advisor for the 2004 campaign. He has also played minor football for Galway and Sigerson football with University of Limerick.

After the summer camps the coaches next task will be to put in place a formal coaching structure at the club to ensure that all mentors from all teams have a formal coaching qualification and to build from there.

With talent like this on board and with the GAA Nursery Academy in Beechpark enjoying unprecedented numbers the future of St Brigids GAA looks to be assured.

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