Wexford reboot Freshtoday Hurling 365 Club-School programme
The Freshtoday Wexford GAA Hurling 365 programme sees club coaches visit their local primary schools to deliver coaching sessions and in doing so strengthen club-school links.
By John Harrington
This Tuesday evening, club coaches and school representatives from across Wexford will meet in the Riverside Park Hotel to discuss the Freshtoday Hurling 365 Club-School programme for 2026/27.
The Hurling 365 programme sees club coaches visit their local primary schools to deliver coaching sessions and in doing so strengthen club-school links.
First established in 2013, Hurling 365 has been rebooted this year and so far nearly double the number of schools have agreed to participate.
“Last year we had 33 or 34 schools participating and this year we have 60 on board so it's good to see that sort of growth,” says Wexford GAA Operations Manager, Conor Day
“The whole idea behind it is to get a volunteer from the club to coach in the school either before or after school time and in doing so strengthen the relationship between the school and the local club.
“We give the schools a skills book with 20 skills in it and throughout the course of the year the kids will fill that out and get a certificate at the end of it.
“The coaching must take place for a minimum of 20 weeks and has to involve a club person and one teacher from the school.
“It promotes a healthy, active lifestyle and it’s greatly supported by our sponsors Freshtoday.
“The hope is that if the kids are enjoying the coaching they're getting in school that they'll be more likely then to also play for their local club. And if they get on well with the coach that takes those sessions in the school, they're also more likely to want to pop down to the field to be coached by them there too.
“It's also of benefits the schools too. The kids benefit from exercise before school starts and that has a positive impact in the classroom."
Young hurlers in St. Fintan's NS, Taghmon pictured partcipating in the Freshtoday Hurling 365 programme last year on a wintry day.
The rebooted Hurling 365 offering is one of a number of hurling coaching initiatives that Wexford GAA are working on as part of their Strategic Plan for 2026-2030.
County Board Vice-Chairperson, Micheál Mahon, chaired the committee that produced the Strategic Plan, and is hugely enthusiastic about the significant work in the area of coaching and games development that will be done in the coming years to raise the level of Wexford hurling.
Much of what they’re planning is based on the feedback of the two consultants who conducted a review of Wexford GAA’s Coaching and Games Development Programme, Limerick hurling coach, Paul Kinnerk, and Director of Sport at Sport Ireland, Michael McGeehan.
JJ Doyle pictured upskilling over 50 Hurling 365 coaches.
Kinnerk and McGeehan highlighted areas of improvement that included overall strategic planning, upskilling of coaches, development of club-school links, and communication with clubs.
They were enthusiastic about the positive mindset for change they found within the county, and Mahon is very confident that this can be harnessed to raise the standard of Wexford hurling in the coming years with the implementation of the Strategic Plan.
“The will and the passion is there and we're trying to put a better shape and structure on it,” he told GAA.ie
“There's a lot of work to do but it's eminently doable. Without getting too grandiose about it, Wexford needs hurling and hurling needs Wexford.
“We're making good progress in the short-term so far. We're certainly getting the things in the shape to do it so it's exciting times.
“We're changing how we deliver coaching across the county. From next January we're rolling out a new regional model where we'll have six or seven districts or clusters across the county where we'll have a Games Development Coordinator so it will be more focused, more concentrated and more of a direct link between clubs and county board from a coaching perspective
“Rather than have 48 clubs come into Wexford Park we'll be out to them within their cluster or region.
“If you're to take a helicopter view of our Strategic Plan, what it's about is strengthening clubs, making clubs more self-sufficient, and raising the bar in terms of the quality of coaching across the county at squad level, club level, and school level.
“Hurling 365 is part of that strategy because we believe as many children as possible should be getting the basics of coaching in national school.”
You can view and download the Wexford GAA Strategic Plan 2026-2030 below.
