Primary Report AGM 2007

Annual Report 2007.

Primary School (Saturday morning) coaching

Over 350 boys aged between 5 and 11 registered as Rockies during 2007. Each age group is provided for and over 50 coaches give a year round commitment to the club in order to coach these children in the skills of hurling. We had regular attendances of 200 on Saturday mornings, peaking at 250 to 300 on several occasions.

A pleasing feature of 2007 was that all the Primary hurling activity is now concentrated on Saturday mornings from 9am to 1pm following the St. Michael’s decision to operate on Friday evenings. Certainly the level of hurling activity increased dramatically in 2007 and all involved are delighted with this development as it means we can now concentrate all our resources on this period.

There have been some huge attendances of hurlers in Church Road on Saturdays, For example, on the 22nd September 2007, over 500 Rockies and young hurlers from across the Cork city played on the pitches at Church Road in a nine hour period. Blackrock is playing its part in the development and promotion of hurling in the city.

About 200 attend the Saturday indoor hurling programmes at St Anthony’s School Hall in Ballinlough and at the new Blackrock Hurling Hall.

The Blackrock Super leagues

The Rocky Super league competitions were again the main feature of our Saturday mornings. These resulted in over 30 games being played, with the Cup Finals providing great excitement. Huge crowds turned up for many of the games.

Almost 300 boys enjoyed the regular matches with each child having the opportunity to play in four games. The leagues have really become the highlights of the season and they are always played in a great spirit of passion and commitment by the children encouraged by the Blackrock coaches and their parents.

These super leagues are sponsored by Carey Tool Hire and we were particularly happy that the Carey family have again announced the continuation of their sponsorship into 2008, thus extending the long tradition of practical support from what is our longest established sponsor which was begun by the late Joe Carey.

The Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr.Donal Counihan visited Church Road and presented the medals to the 2000 and 2001 panels on 29th September. Ken Carey also attended and was delighted with the competition.

A feature in 2007 was the continuation of the Micro Sports Indoor Leagues at St. Anthony’s School where a massive 63 games of indoor hurling were played in the competition. Our thanks to Victor Morgan of Micro Sports for his support.

We were also delighted to extend a warm welcome in October to former Tanaiste Mr. Peter Barry and Cllr. Deirdre Clune TD who presented a cheque on behalf of her father to support the huge effort being put in to develop and spread hurling in our catchment area.

The Minister for Industry and Enterprise Mr. Micheal Martin regularly attends and also praised the excellent work at our Corporate Night.

The progress of our panels.

All the teams performed very well in their various competitions and in their matches. The Under 11s reached the under 12B league semi final which was a fantastic achievement. Two “split” teams have played all year and they are in good shape as they enter regular Bord Na nOg competition in 2008.

Both under 10s reached the finals of the Mick Cashman Cup, which was excellently organised city wide as a league by Jodi Crowley and the under 10 coaching group and which produced some very good quality hurling games.

The climax of this competition took place on Saturday 22nd September when the finals were played in the presence of the Cashman family. The hurling was of a very high standard. The visiting teams contribute hugely to the success of this tournament and we would like to complement the St. Finbarr’s club, Sarsfields, Bishopstown, Douglas and Eire Og.

The under 10s also performed very well in various challenge matches during the year including a fantastic train trip to the Na Fianna Club in Dublin. They also won the Jim O’Brien Cup at the Midleton Blitz in October. The Under 9s and 8s also gave a good account of themselves in their various challenge games and an under 9 tournament organised by Brendan Cunningham resulted in some high quality hurling games during September and October.

There are excellently organised groups at under 6 and under 7 and their coaches report great progress. The very young boys and girls have had a great time with Joe, Michael, Oisin, Martyn, Ailbhe, Fiona, David and Niall all year.

Sport is fun!

We should continue to organise regular friendly games for all our teams in the Primary Section, where the entire emphasis of the coaches, children and parents should be on every player receiving an opportunity to play the game and to enjoy the sport in a positive, supportive and appreciative environment.

A “win at all costs mentality” at these very young age groups is wrong and we should not get involved with any club or team in which this approach remains the ethos. Our broad approach, which may not appeal to everyone, will continue in 2008. However, the children must also be encouraged to practice during the week as the learning of hurling skills requires regular effort.

We are somewhat concerned that far far too much emphasis is being placed on winning and introducing competitiveness for children at very young ages. We believe this may contribute to the big fall off of children from sport later. The recent comments of Pat Daly Coaching and Development Officer in Croke Park echo these sentiments exactly.

Developments during 2007

A new Blackrock club brochure was designed and published in 2007 and has been issued to all the young members. Car stickers have been reprinted, so just ask if you require one. The Blackrock Coaches Manual was again updated and issued to all underage coaches. Full sets of SAQ equipment have been purchased and are now in constant use.

The schools of the area are being catered for under a scheme developed in conjunction with Coiste Oiluna of the County Board. Sliotars and hurleys have been made available to all schools.

We must ensure that hurling continues to thrive in the local Primary Schools and the Blackrock Hurling Club must devote whatever resources it takes to ensure this continues. If any coach in the club has a few hours during the week days, the schools are seeking assistance.

www.blackrockhurling.org

The ongoing maintenance of the Rocky website was undertaken by John Green and is proving to be of immense benefit to the young Rockies. It is vital that all sections would submit material, fixtures, results, plans or reports of matches. It is up to each section to submit their details to the site so how about it in 2008!

We would like to thank St Michael’s Credit Union, which provided some financial sponsorship for the site in 2008.

Many people especially supporters of the club living abroad are now visiting the site as a source of up to date information about the club and it is therefore important that it is kept up to date at all times. If anyone from the senior area is willing to provide good quality reports from the senior and intermediate games it would be much appreciated. Fixtures could also be sent. The Blackrock o2 webtexts have worked well this year, if you want your mobile number included let us know.

The breakdown of hits from throughout the world on an average week makes for interesting analysis. Our thanks to John Green for his efforts, the site can be viewed at www.blackrockhurling.org and John can be contacted at johngreen@eircom.net . The site has now has had almost 50000 hits.

Media.

We would like to thank the Evening Echo newspaper especially James O’Sullivan and Cillian O’Gairbhi for allowing us to avail of a weekly column to publicise our activities. Fifty columns of notes were supplied during the period. Rory Noonan of the Echo has also helped Likewise, Douglas Weekly allowed us to make regular reports until it ceased recently on its transformation to the Cork Weekly. The Blackrock Link, Whaz On, Mahon Matters and Radio 96FM also assist with publicity.

Corporate Night.

A very special thanks to the Blackrock Corporate Night underage fundraising committee who made a major success of the 2007 event. It was the outstanding social event of the year. Well done to Brendan Cunningham, John Cormack, Harry Canning, Tom Riordan, Anne Healy, Tony Linehan, Andrew Guerin, Brother Patrick Fitzgibbon!

It just shows the level of support in the wider community for the club and provides a significant boost to the club finances. Our “Corporate family” of sponsors have provided the platform in which we can ensure that our club hurlers have the very best facilities and are well looked after. Special mention should be made also of the large contribution of Scally’s Super Valu towards the club, so keep those Scally receipts coming.

Saturday morning at the Blackrock Pavilion

The most satisfying part of the week is to ramble into the pavilion on a Saturday morning once the hurling is over, have a cup of coffee and a delightful homemade cake and relax and listen to the coaches, parents and children talk about the morning’s events. Lilian Daly, Kathleen Laide, Eithne O’Mahony, Mary Murphy and Diane O’Sullivan run this very professional operation. The financial contribution made to funds from this coffee shop is also quite substantial.

Myles Balfe and his staff have cooperated totally with our efforts on Saturday mornings and we would like to thank them.

May, Marie and Jim O’Brien now look after the Blackrock Sports shop which enable parents to purchase Rocky jerseys and club gear. Brian Roche also looks after the financial end of this operation. May O’Brien again did a wonderful job supplying jerseys when required for our teams.

Blanche Mulconry and Dave Cummins take care of registrations, while Pat Roche supplies the youngsters with the hurleys and helmets. It is a very busy place on Saturdays. We are appreciative also of the great work of Aidan Long, Jim McLaughlin, Mark Russell and David Barry.

Many members of the senior team came in regularly on Saturday mornings for various presentations. Thanks to Wayne, John, Alan, Fergal, Paul, Barry and David and the other players on the senior team for being available!

Coaching.

The club is very fortunate to have the services of a group of very dedicated and committed group of coaches who turn out all through the year to work with the youngsters. These are extraordinary men and women who contribute so much to the Blackrock Hurling club.

The spirit of volunteerism is the key to the success of the GAA and our coaches are the very embodiment of this ethos. In the era of the Celtic Tiger, this effort is even nobler and preserves the amateur status of our games. The Evening Echo of Saturday November 10th 2007 spoke eloquently of the role of the Blackrock hurling coaches;

“It is their level of commitment, their tireless dedication and sheer generosity of spirit that grabs a youngster’s imagination, imbues in him or her a sense of pride in locality, an idea of what it is to be selfless, the knowledge of what it is to be part of a team. These are the people who actually give kids the gift of hurling.”

A total of 12 coaches acquired the G.A.A. Foundation Certificates following an in-house coaching course in June. A further 13 Blackrock coaches completed the G.A.A. Level 1 Course. Further courses are available early in 2008 and we urge all coaches to avail of these if possible.

A special coaches seminar was organised for the 29th March at Church Road, and included talks on the role of referees, child protection and appropriate coaching for children, all relevant issues for coaches. John Kennedy took over in 2007 as Child welfare officer for the underage sections and has contributed enormously to increasing awareness of this issue.

36 Blackrock hurling coaches attended a Foundation SAQ Course held in Blackrock on the 11th May under the auspices of Jim Kilty. A Level 1 SAQ Course is planned for October 2008.

A pleasing feature of 2007 has been the number of young people who continue to help with all aspects of Saturday mornings, in particular Christy Bonus, Ciaran Tobin, Ruairi Wedel, Colm Daly, Donal Murray, Oisin O’Mahony, Ailbhe Crowley, Fiona Kavanagh, David Vaughan, Martyn Griffin and Niall Foley who have assisted with the coaching. Christy and Ruairi have now left to further their careers and we send them our very best wishes.

Six of our coaches were chosen to receive a prestigious Garda Community Award in 2007. A number of other young people help out in the pavilion and we would hope to see many more in 2008. Remember there is a role for everyone in the club, so if anyone has a few hours on a Saturday morning to spare, just let us know! Now is the time to bring in the next generation.

The Primary coaches who made it all possible.

Joe Phibbs Paul O’Callaghan Conor Butler Orla O’Shea Peter Fitzgerald Jodi Crowley John Kennedy Jim Brohan Brendan Cunningham Sean Logue Ruari Wedel Michael Dunphy Ailbhe Crowley Donal Murray John O’Brien Tim Mullane Donal O’Leary Ciaran Tobin Colm Daly John Cormack Allan Russell Martin O’Farrell Harry Canning Brother Patrick Fitzgibbon Fiona Kavanagh Fergus O’Brien John Vaughan Martin O’Sullivan Aidan Lougheed Brian Roche Eugene Heaney John O’Brien Tom Kilcommons Tom Cashman Tom Riordan Oisin O’Mahony Don O’Callaghan Mark Dalton Christy Bonus David Madden Niall Foley Martyn Griffin. David Vaughan Declan McCarthy Conor Hurley Donal Moynihan. Alan Lynch Maurice Griffin. Michael Scannell John Cormack Kieran O’Callaghan Tony Linehan

The officers of the Juvenile section, Brother Patrick Fitzgibbon Chairperson, John Vaughan, Runai, John O’Halloran Treasurer, JP Devine Vice Chairperson, Tom Daly Equipment Officer and John Kennedy Child Protection Officer provided huge practical assistance and support during the year.

The outstanding and historic advances in 2007 in the various competitions by the juvenile teams is the result of a decade or more of hard sustained work and a tribute to the present and past officers and coaches of the juvenile section.

One of the unsung heroes has been Treasurer John O’Halloran who has had an enormous workload in recent years, as John is stepping down this year after more than a decade of service it is timely to record our appreciation.

Again a word of thanks to St. Michael’s for their cooperation during the year and also to the Blackrock Camogie Club. David Barry was extremely helpful in sorting out pitches when needed.

Also we are grateful to all the officers of the Blackrock Senior Hurling Committee and other sections for their practical assistance and encouragement during the year and to the officers of the Management Committee for their work in providing facilities and support.

Wish List for 2008!

“We must also look seriously at the position of developing a series of hurling alleys or walls in Church Road where youngsters can practice their hurling skills. The feasibility of an all-weather pitch should also be looked at. There is a growing sense that the under-age clubs with ready access to these facilities are beginning to open up an increasing gap in the hurling skills area, which our passion and commitment alone will not close!”

Those comments were contained in this report last year and some progress has been made in relation to the design and the obtaining of planning permission for the further redevelopment of the club. It is fully recognised that this will involve huge expenditure in addition to the earlier redevelopment costs and the additional costs of an extra pitch in Mahon.

We have however shown that we have the necessary skills and initiative within the club to design such a facility and we have no doubt that we can finance its construction out of our resources. However if we want the best facilities, everyone must get involved to contribute in fund raising to pay for them.

It is accepted that the Blackrock club is carrying a high level of debt from earlier projects however in order to compete with other clubs and other codes, and build for the future, our facilities must remain of the very highest standard.

The utilisation of available government and other grants is vital to the next stage of the project, as they may not be available in years to come so we must make some progress in this area during 2008! Good ideas to raise some finance for this project would be extremely welcome as we must all support in a practical manner this latest proposed expansion of the club’s facilities.

We look forward to 2008.

Seamus Hartnett. Gerard O’Mahony. Chairperson Hon Secretary. December 07.

Primary Section Blackrock National Hurling Club.