By John Harrington

Even if Charlie Harrison were the type to get nervous about a match, he wouldn’t have the time this week to stress too much about Sligo’s Connacht Semi-Final against Roscommon.

That’s because Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camps season is upon us, and as the GAA’s National Cúl Camp Coordinator, Harrison is a man in demand. Online bookings for the Cúl Camps are up nearly 50 per cent on this time last year, and the sheer logistics of the operation are mind-boggling.

Over 100,000 children aged between 6 and 13 will take part in the camps at around 1,100 different venues over the course of an eight-week period and will be looked after by more than 4,000 coaches and around 700 Cúl Camp Co-ordinators.

The success of the Kellogg's Cúl Camps is a phenomenon that just keeps growing. In 2014, 89,022 children took part. Last year that figure was up to 102,384. And if the explosion of on-line bookings this year is any barometer, then this year’s enrolment will comfortably beat all previous records.

“It’s huge,” Harrison told GAA.ie. “We're by far the biggest summer camp in the country and the least expensive too. They're €55 for the first child, €45 for the second child, and €40 for the third child. For what they get, it's great value. They get a jersey, a zipped-top and a backpack that can be used as a schoolbag.

“Parents do see the Cúl Camp crest and they know that it's going to be run properly. That's what we're constantly trying to get out there. It's not how many kids we have at camps, we'd obviously love if that was growing and growing, it's just to make sure that the quality and the standard of the camp is number one really.”

A lot of effort goes into ensuring that it is. Not only has every coach who takes part completed as a minimum a foundation level coaching course, they have also undergone a special Cúl Camp course run by their county board. It’s necessary they’re well-drilled, because looking after a group of children from 10am in the morning until half-two is a more complex and demanding job that organising a regular coaching session.

“The most important thing for Cúl Camps from my point of view is that fun is there for the children,” says Harrison. “But in the background you need that safety element and parents have to know that when their kids go to a Cúl Camp that they're in a safe environment.

“Last year the National Games Development Committee implemented a mentor programme to act as a support for the Cúl Camp coordinators. We hired 30 Cúl Camp mentors and they went out and visited Cúl Camps and did an operational risk assessment with the coordinators to help them. It was a mentoring kind of system to make sure that everything was okay in the background and that during the Cúl Camp day everything is done to make sure it's safe for the children.

“That goals are firmly secured to the ground, that the toilets and dressing-rooms are okay for the kids, and that the environment around the pitches is closed off and is safe for the children. Last year when I came in first I had a three-year plan that we'd look at the risk-assessment first and then we'd look more at the coaching standards.

“I'd like to think we have our operational box ticked so working on the standard of coaching will be next. The way the camps are being run is excellent. If there's one thing I want to get across is that it's the club who run the camps and it's the volunteers who take charge of the camps who are the real heartbeat of this.

“Some of the club coordinators would take the week off work to help run the camp. A lot of the success is down to the actual volunteers. The full-time guys are great – they act as a support to the volunteers, sort out the logistics, get the gear and equipment there and train up the coaches and all that and it wouldn’t happen without them. But it's the clubs that make their personnel available, run the camps and promote the camps within their own area.”

Increasing the numbers taking part in the Cúl Camps may not be at the very top of Harrison’s priority list, but it is a goal nevertheless. Before becoming National Coordinator for the Cúl Camps he was a Games Development Administrator in his native Sligo for four and a half years, so he is keenly aware of what’s required to maintain and increase the popularity and reach of Gaelic Games. He believes the Cúl Camps can provide a gateway into the GAA for children and families with no prior engagement at club or school level.

“We have to keep evolving,” he says. “With other sports of a competitive nature coming in like rugby, soccer, and others we have to keep our sport number one. As regards ticking boxes in the future, I suppose we want to continuously develop the coaching standards and the standards that are there.

“And just keeping the fun element to the camps. If you've ever visited a Cúl Camp, it really is a fun place to be. I explain to the mentors if you look down on a Cúl Camp pitch and you see it split up into different sections and you see the kids playing and the organisation, you'll know if a camp is running well.

“I think that's the main thing. Just for kids to be enjoying it in a safe environment. It's our flagship project in Games development because it's the one project that hits all 32 counties. Not only that, this year alone we've had the first Cúl Camps in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Perth, New York, Riyadh, all different parts of Europe. It's the Cúl Camp brand that everyone wants to be a part of. It's unique and we're really proud of it as an organisation.

“For kids or families that wouldn't be involved in club, it's a very reasonably priced camp. You'll have non-GAA families going and parents love the fact they get their school-bag so they don't have to buy their school-bag in September.

“So we would like for that kid to go home and say, ‘I really, really enjoyed the week at the Cúl Camp.’ And then come back with the parents and get involved in their local GAA club. That's the ultimate aim, to get that link between the club and camp. That's what we're trying to do.”

Harrison has long-term goals for the continued expansion of the Kellogg’s Cúl Camps, but as far as his own playing career goes he is thinking short-term. This could well be the 34-year-old’s final Championship campaign for Sligo and he wants to go out on a high.

It’s a testament to his resilience that he has gotten himself into a position to play a part this year considering he ruptured the cruciate ligament in his right knee last year and also underwent surgery on his right shoulder. Many presumed that would spell the end of his career there and then considering he was already 33, but Harrison was determined to go out on his own terms.

“Yeah, people were saying that when I did it,” he says. “That nearly gave me an extra motivation to give it one more big effort. I just wanted to get my knee right and if I wasn't going back playing I don't think I would have the rehab properly to the letter of the law. At least the knee is perfect, the shoulder is perfect.

“It's been fantastic coming back. I didn't mind the year out so much. People keep going on about this torture of coming back from an injury like that. I actually found it interesting because I set myself goals. The thing is with a cruciate you can see the progression. And every month and especially towards the end you can see yourself getting stronger, stronger and stronger.

“I really enjoyed the challenge and I've put myself in contention to be playing against Roscommon which is great. Listen, it was tough, but I'm feeling healthy and fit now and the year out has just given me an extra bit of bite to get back. It really has, at the age of 34.”

Harrison won a Connacht title with Sligo in 2007 and the reason he has pushed himself so hard to recover full fitness is because he believes they can challenge for honours again. They are underdogs going in against Roscommon on Sunday and ranked as 25-1 outsiders in the betting for the Connacht Championship, but Harrison is convinced they can surprise everyone this year.

“That’s why I'm back,” he says. “You get the taste of it and you want to try to win as much as you can. We wouldn't fear any team. Mayo are obviously a top-four team, but on a Final day anything can happen. We definitely wouldn't fear Galway or Roscommon or Leitrim. We'd always feel that on a good day for us we could take any of those teams.

“Against Mayo, you probably have to play extremely well to beat them. But, listen, we were the last team to beat Mayo in the Connacht Championship in 2010 so we feel that if we could get ourselves in that position...I know last year was really disappointing but ìt was just one of those freak things that happened. There just seemed to be a big gap that day, but we've hopefully done something to close that gap. We'll see. But we have to get by Roscommon first.”