By John Harrington

History will be made at the University of Galway Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence next Wednesday when the first ever game of Walking Gaelic Football for more mature players in this venue takes place.

It’s the culmination of a 16-week exercise programme organised by the GAA Community and Health Department, Connacht GAA, Alone and facilitated by UPMC.

This pilot programme is part of a wider GAA Community and Health Department drive to provide practical social and exercise opportunities for an older demographic, many of whom have given years of service to the Association as volunteers.

It also tied in nicely with the Connacht GAA’s Centre of Excellence desire to make their world-class facility more accessible to older members of the community.

Since the programme began, 30 participants have taken part in exercise classes twice a week in the UPMC facilities on site.

The training sessions were overseen by qualified UPMC Physiotherapists and focused on strength, mobility, and cardiovascular health, with all participants first getting clearance from their GP before signing up.

Talk to those who have taken part, and their enthusiasm for both the experience and the benefits they’ve taken from it is palpable.

Former Mayo GAA Chairperson, Christy Loftus, who won an All-Ireland U-21 title with Mayo in 1967, has gotten a great kick out of lacing up his boots again.

“I felt that I was getting into bad shape,” explains Loftus when asked why he signed up for the programme in the first place.

“I used to do a reasonable amount of walking and hill-walking but I hadn't been getting to do any of that in the last couple of months. When this opportunity arose, I decided to sign up for it.

“I found it very beneficial. The first day I went into the training exercise, I discovered my balance was way off kilter, I couldn't stand on one leg even for one second.

“But the lads introduced me to some exercises and I feel like my balance has improved hugely, and that's very important. And the exercises we're doing for the football, a lot of them are focused on improving our balance.

“A lot of the exercises are also good for hand-eye coordination, and that's also something that older people lose, but I've discovered they can be reintroduced to it.

“I could only recommend it to everybody. I'm not exactly a spring chicken at this stage, well into the 70s, but it's been great in terms of using muscles that we maybe haven't used for 20 or 30 years.

“The game itself, walking football, is tapered to meet the needs of elderly people. It's great our group have had the opportunity to play it and hopefully others will too in time.”

The biggest challenge for most of those taking part in the recent walking football training sessions in Bekan has been to limit themselves to just walking.

No matter what your age, once a football is thrown in, long dormant competitive instincts quickly bubble to the surface again.

“It's supposed to be non-competitive and non-contact, but, strangely enough, when the ball is thrown in it gets competitive and the contact comes into it straight away,” says Loftus with a chuckle.

“It's a unisex sport, obviously, men and women play, and I would say the women are more aggressive than the men (laughs). It's a great bit of fun.

“We haven't had a referee for our training matches, but I'm beginning to think we might need to get one for this match!

“For anyone interested in watching, you'll be pleased to know it's all-out attacking football! We don't bother with packed defences or sweepers or anything like that.”

If a referee is employed for next week’s match, then Roscommon native Teresa Bermingham might be in a spot of bother.

She was informed during this week’s training session she’d just committed a yellow card offence, though admits that she’s still not sure what it was.

One thing she is very certain about is that the exercise programme and the opportunity to now play Walking Gaelic football has been a hugely positive experience.

“It's been absolutely super, that's all I can say about it," says Bermingham. "It's just the camaraderie, we have made so many friends, and we feel energised after it. It's been great fun.

“Over the years I've gone there to watch grandkids play at the Dome and whatever, but I never thought at my age that I'd be going playing in it. it's been a great opportunity for us all.

“At over 70 years of age you don't expect to be starting your football career. It's been such fun, the only things is that it's awful hard not to run you're enjoying it so much!

“I’ve gotten great benefits from the exercise programme. I would have felt reasonably fit going into it. But I couldn't believe how I bad my balance was when they tested it. I could stand on one foot for maybe the county of 10 or whatever, but by the end that had improved so much.

“Your mind as well as your body feels so much better after it. When you go home after either the exercise programme that we did or the walking football you feel able to attack many more jobs around the place and you feel like you want to do it.”

Much like Loftus, Teresa is looking forward to next week’s match with a keen sense of anticipation, and hopes it’s an opportunity that will be available to more and more people in the coming years.

“It'll be great fun, I'm really looking forward to it,” she says. “The one thing is that you're guaranteed a laugh, and that's the most important thing.

“There are too many dreary things happening in the world and it's nice to be able to just forget it while you're out there and 'trying' to play, I'll say!

“I think there would be a great uptake in it, I really do, if it was organised by clubs. And I can guarantee you that if someone went the first day they wouldn't want to miss it after that.

“I would endorse it to the last because generally when you come to our age, I'm 72 now, and when you get to that stage there's very little left for you except walking or cycling if you cycle. So to get in on something like this is just brilliant.”

Two Irish Life Healthy GAA Clubs - Gortletteragh in Leitrim and Loughnavalley in Wstmeath - were early early pioneers in of Walking Gaelic football and this pilot programme has been so successful that it seems inevitable that Walking Gaelic football has a bright future.

Stuart Moloney, the GAA’s Regional Community and Health Coordinator for Connacht and Munster, helped facilitate the pilot programme and believes clubs could replicate it easily enough for the elderly members of their community.

“I think in time it would be great if clubs did take up on it," he says. "It's a great opportunity for those taking part. When you're there you get a real sense of what it means to the participants and how much they're getting from it, both from a physical movement point of view as well as the mental health benefits because it reduces social isolation for some.

“It's just a super opportunity and potentially a big win for GAA clubs. I think the community and health department is very much about how do we give back something to older members, and I use that term lightly, of our community, because so many of them have given so much to our clubs over many years.

“It's great to be able to provide something for them that's very useful and practical for them, and this is one way to do that. It's something that could be replicated in any club.”

Any clubs interested in Walking Gaelic football can email Stuart Moloney at this address – stuart.moloney@gaa.ie