A total of 170 children participated in a Cúl Camp in Chicago last week.
By Cian O’Connell
Last week in Chicago, 170 American born children participated in a hugely successful Kellogg’s Cúl Camp.
The collaboration involving Chicago Irish Culture and Sport, the Chicago Celtics Gaelic Football Club, and the Chicago Limerick Youth Hurling Club afforded young players an opportunity to develop their GAA skills.
Caroleann Gallagher, PRO of the Chicago Celtics GFC and the Chicago Limerick Youth Hurling Club, is delighted with the popularity of the camp. “We started this in 2019,” she explains.
“We have a Gaelic Football club for youths and a youths hurling club. We are on the north side of Chicago, we are outside of the city, maybe 20 or 25 minutes. The Celtics have been going for 25 years, the hurling club was set up in about 2018.
“So, in 2019 we started the Cúl Camp, we had 35 kids that year. We obviously missed 2020 with Covid, but the numbers have grown steadily.”
That provides a source of encouragement for everybody involved in trying to afford opportunities for emerging players in both clubs. “We had 170 this year, we didn't know what was going on,” she adds. “It was a phenomenal success, it was one of the best camps we had, not just with the numbers.
“We had 20 coaches, some from Ireland, students out on J1s. All the coaches play Gaelic at home, they knew what they were doing and were able to co-ordinate things and to help some of the American coaches. We only had three American coaches, the rest were all Irish.”
Ultimately, it meant that knowledge and information was shared. “Some of the club coaches helped run the camp, mums that are teachers, who are off for the summer,” Gallagher says.
“There was a lot of background work going on for months and months. Obviously, we get the kit shipped from Ireland, even co-ordinating that, getting people signed up with their sizes and distributing them.
“There was a phenomenal amount of work, it was amazing to see that many kids playing from where we started. We are very proud of that.”
Donegal native Gallagher acknowledges that the challenge for the clubs is to ensure more participants return to sample GAA activity on a regular basis. “Our goal would be to convert them into registered players, that is what we've been trying to do,” Gallagher responds.
“Every year the Cúl Camp grows the club a little bit more because it is a five day camp from 9am until half two.
“It introduces American kids, who haven't heard about Gaelic before. They become interested in joining. It is the peak time of our season, we are in the middle of our summer season. The goal is to get all of the 170 kids converted into club members or players. We are getting there.
“The clubs were formed by Irish people, but we need to grow it out to American born people that have some Irish connections or even don't. It is one of the challenges we have here that you probably don't have at home, we compete with so many other sports.”
Assisting homegrown talent is critical for the long term sustainability of clubs according to Gallagher. “That is why the youth clubs were set up,” she says. “All the people involved in the youth clubs, we all played ourselves. Then we got older. My husband managed the Limerick adult hurling club for years, he played for years.
The Cúl Camp in Chicago proved to be another success story.
“There is a point when we realised and saw that unless we start with the youth, we won't have adult clubs. That was a big issue we were having.
“We were having amazing summers because we had J1ers out, but then during the rest of the year we didn't have enough homegrown years. So, our adult clubs were really suffering because we weren't concentrating on the youth.”
Recent evidence is encouraging with players remaining involved in GAA matters. “Now, we are really trying to build the youth up so there is a filter into the adult clubs,” Gallagher remarks.
“In fact, some of our youth players played their first adult match with the Pearses. They were U10 in 2017 and now they have played their first match with Pearses, and won.
“They were down 10 points at half-time and still won, it was crazy to see kids, who were U10 in 2017, now out with the adult club. That is the goal we always had, to have those American born players filter through. Without the youth, we aren't going to have that.”
The games programme being offered to juvenile players is getting better with advancements such as the Great Lakes Tournament. “It is improving,” Gallagher says. “We are on the north side and we only have one team to play in the south side in the city of Chicago which is in the middle.
“We play against a team called St Jarlath's, who are a big club. They are a club with hurling and football. So, that is our only competition which is tough. They are the only people we have to gauge ourselves against.
“The youth clubs take part in the Continental Youth Championship - CYC - we travel every year to another city. Last year it was in San Francisco, this year it is in Boston, we are hosting it in Chicago next year. As we only have St Jarlath's to play against, we get to San Fran, we meet all these New York teams, who have so many teams to play against. They are just a different calibre of player than we are.”
The Chicago Limerick Youth hurlers pictured after a recent match.
The Great Lakes Tournament sees teams from Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, and Chicago meet on a regular basis. “We go to the different places to play the same teams and they come to us, and they are coming to us next Saturday, June 22,” Gallagher says.
“We've been trying to do that, geographically wise, that is what we have. They are the closest areas to us; we are too far away from New York and San Fran. We are trying to reach out and this Great Lakes Tournament has helped a lot in the last two or three years. The youth scene is coming on in the mid west, I don't think we will ever have the same opportunities that the New York and San Francisco teams have.
“In the New York scene there might be eight, nine or 10 youth teams, San Francisco have a few clubs too. We recognised the challenge when we got to the CYC, it was great when we meet the one team we always meet, but not so great against those from San Fran and New York.”
Logistical challenges certainly exist, but Gallagher is optimistic about the Great Lakes Tournament. “We had one in May in Cleveland, that is about a five hour drive for us to Cleveland, Ohio,” she says. “For Toronto, it is probably a six hour drive, for Detroit it is less.
"We think the way the Great Lakes Tournament will succeed, and grow is if we keep it in the driving range, instead of flights because it is too expensive.
“We had the Cleveland one in May, the Chicago one in June, we will do the Toronto one in August, and then we will have one in September in Detroit.
“We have a nursery programme for U6, we have U8, U10, U12, U14, that is where we are focused on. Every club would have a stand alone team at every age group.”
The future appears bright with the Kellog’s Cúl Camp occupying a central role in the progression of Gaelic Games in the windy city.