By John Harrington

Chairman of Munster GAA's Coaching and Games Development Committee, Ger Ryan, is confident the province’s new Club Development Programme will have a very positive impact.

Launched on Monday, the programme aims to assist and enhance the work of GAA clubs in Munster in a variety of different ways.

“We're really focusing on the club as the pivotal part of the organisation,” Ryan told GAA.ie

“At a high level we're developing structures that will empower the volunteers, deliver appropriate coaching inputs, and enhance the club's structure to cater adequately for all its members.

“The programme is about engaging with both the adult and juvenile sections. What we're planning is to get this rolled out around the province in the next 18 months to almost 700 clubs.

“The idea is that every club participating will get a visit from the Games Development Personnel in their county with additional support where necessary from other parts of the organisation.

“That will be done online to start with given that we're still in lockdown with Covid.

"Overall the programme will look at a number of different areas. Coaching and Games Development, volunteers and recruitment, communications, health and wellbeing, finance and fundraising, social and the community, and organisational structures and governance.

“There's a lot to get through here and we think it will be of a lot of benefit to clubs, we think it will improve the way they operate.

“A lot of clubs have really good structures and good coaching and games structures in particular, but there's always room for improvement.”

Coaching and Games Development in Gaelic Games has undergone a hugely positive transformation in the last 20 years.

Initiatives such as the Go Games and the recruitment of Games Development Administrators and Games Promotion Officers who have in turn rolled out a variety of impactful initiatives have led to a much more holistic approach to the development of young players.

Ryan hopes Munster GAA’s Club Development Programme can build further on the already solid Coaching and Games Development foundations in the province.

“There's been marvellous work done there,” he says. “I think through a combination of Games Managers, GDAs and GPOs around the province and country in general and also then with the level of volunteer involved that we have which obviously is ultimately what we are about.

“The amount of coaching courses and training that has been done, the amount of coaching that has been provided, all of those things I think combine to put us in a strong position.

“But also it's an area of continuous improvement and continuous challenge. I think all that goes on in terms of the science and the best way to do these things, I think it's very important that clubs are supported in being as ready as possible for the ongoing demands.

“We've done a coaching investment return survey every four years over the last eight years, so three of them so far, and, again, that shows the importance of volunteers.

“Part of the genesis of this club programme came from those investment return surveys, particularly the 2015 one, and we had the most recent one in 2019.

“And they showed that clubs continue to face challenges about retaining players, having the right numbers of coaches, getting parental involvement, all of these things.

“There are a lot of very good things happening, but it's also important to be aware of the challenges and try to respond to those as positively as we can.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted that GAA clubs are as much community organisations as they are sporting ones, with so many at the forefront of helping the most vulnerable in their community through a difficult time.

In recent years the community ethos of the GAA has been strengthened by the Healthy Club Project which has empowered GAA clubs to do all they can to enhance the mental and physical health of their members in a variety of different ways.

Ryan hopes Munster GAA’s Club Development Programme will further enhance this trend of GAA clubs engaging with their local community in a holistic fashion rather than simply as a sporting entity.

“We've seen very positive feedback on the Healthy Club initiative,” he says. “And while every club would not have gotten to it yet, I think there's an opportunity here to expand that as much as there are in other areas.

“I think Covid has shown how important GAA clubs are still in their community. They're very much a great connection point for people.

“It's cross-generational and it has shown that the GAA remains very welcoming to people of all ages and it is very much a case where we want children to come and play our games and start a life-long association with the GAA.

“While there will be a strong initial focus on games development, the importance of all of these areas can't be understated. To have what might be regarded as a successful club overall, you need all of the areas to be well looked after and for everything to come together as effectively as possible.

“That's also an opportunity for everyone to be involved. I think the message here is that there is a place for everybody in our clubs. I think we can see that and we want that to continue to be the case and to provide as much support as possible to clubs doing that.”