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National launch of Healthy Club Project Phase 1A
11th March 2013
Good Health Rasharkin
The health and wellbeing of members and their local communities was firmly placed at the heart of GAA clubs at the launch of Phase 1 of the new GAA Healthy Club Project in Croke Park on 11th March 2013.
Uachtarán CLG, Liam Ó Néill, and Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, Dr. Tony Holohan, jointly launched the project, reflecting its collaborative nature between the GAA and the HSE. At its core, the project aims to assist GAA clubs in responding to the wide and varied health needs of their members, while extending that positive influence out to the wider communities they serve.
GAA clubs all over the world already provide great health benefits for their players, members and communities alike. Yet there exists continuous demand from clubs for guidance in many areas relating to health promotion including:
- Healthy eating and diet
- Drug and alcohol awareness
- Mental well-being and resilience development
- Suicide prevention and response
- The promotion of health and wellbeing through physical activity
- Activities for older and non-playing members
"The GAA Healthy Club Project aims to highlight and re-enforce the great work already being done by clubs while assisting them in identifying and responding to the most important health issues amongst their membership and in their communities,” Liam O’Neill said at the launch.
"This collaboration is an extension of the long-standing partnership between the Health Sector and the GAA through the Association’s ASAP (Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention) Programme, and we hope this project will further assist clubs and their communities to respond to their health needs in a holistic way at grass roots level,” added Dr. Tony Holohan.
A call for expressions of interest was issued to all clubs last December and January, with 18 clubs selected to participate in Phase 1 of the project, which will run for 24 months, following which time it will be independently evaluated. St Mary’s GAC Rasharkin has been chosen as one of five clubs in Ulster. Sharon Kearns, Dominic Kelly and Terry Hasson travelled to Croke Park on Monday 11 March for the very impressive launch of the project. Sharon Kearns, the project leader for St Mary’s GAC said, "we are delighted to be chosen as one of the clubs in the initial phase of the GAA Healthy Club Project. This reinforces the excellent work our members have been involved in with regard to health and wellbeing with events such as "The Biggest Loser” for weight loss and exercise and also our recent Suicide Awareness Programme. Involvement in this project will help the club to further develop our activities in the area of health and well being and this can only be of benefit to our members and the local community”.
The project is being directed at national level by a Croke Park Project Team and Steering Committee featuring representatives from the GAA, HSE, National Office of Suicide Prevention, the third level education sector (DCU and Carlow IT) and the Irish Sports Council.
Four Operational Groups will assist in its roll-out at provincial level, tapping into support and expertise at GAA Provincial Council level, Local Sports Partnerships, and regional Health Promotion units, plus their northern counterparts. The clubs will also be encouraged to reach out to their wider membership and communities in order to tap into some of the exceptional skills people have in this area.
This Health Promotion initiative may prove to be hard work for our volunteers but our communities and indeed our health authorities may reap the long term benefits in years to come.
Congratulations to the all Ulster Clubs Selected:
- St.Peter’s Warrenpiont (mentoring club)
- St. John’s Castlewellan
- Cullnoville Blues GAC Armagh
- Castleblaney Faughs Monaghan
- St Mary’s Rasharkin Antrim
