Healthy Club Projects 2020
The Healthy Club project aims to help GAA clubs explore how they support the holistic health of their members and the communities they serve.
The project aims to help GAA clubs identify what they are already doing well, identify areas where they can or would like to improve and empower them to ensure everyone who engages with their club benefits from the experience in a health-enhancing way, be they players, officers, coaches, parents, supporters, or members of the local community.
The healthy club model, which is based on best national and international practice, also aims to embed a healthy philosophy in a club while integrating health into the day-to-day club activities in a sustainable way. It also aims to place the local GAA club at the heart of the community, making it a beacon for health in the locale.
Shamrock Gaels were delighted to be one of the clubs accepted into Phase 4 of the Healthy Club initiative by the GAA, and so we started our Healthy Club journey in January 2020. We have a small Healthy Club committee, Brenda Crowley, Eileen Benson, Shirley McKenna, Majella Muldowney, Sharon Dineen, Joe Quinn and led by Marina Swann.
Our areas of focus as a healthy club is around promoting physical and mental health, to include fitness and healthy eating, social inclusion, community and personal development and substance and alcohol abuse. The intention is to encompass the whole community and not just the club.
2020 was not the ideal year to kick-start any new initiative and with Covid-19 lockdowns we had to cancel our public consultation, which we had scheduled to ask our community if there were any areas we should focus on. We did, however conduct an on-line survey and with the results of this we managed to run a number of worthwhile initiatives throughout the past year.
1. Covid-19 Response Group - set up to deliver groceries, necessities or just a phone-call to vulnerable and elderly people.
6. Continuation of our very successful G4MO - Gaelic4mothers and others.
10. We completed a fitness challenge over 3 weeks in February 2021 for walkers and runners of all ages.
If you have any ideas, however big or small, or would like to get involved on the Healthy Club Committee or get involved in a project on a once off basis, please contact any one of us and we would be delighted to chat to you.