AGM 2013

Just a quick note to thank the people who attended the AGM last night.
Details later on the meeting.
Registration is set for Wednesday 15th January for 2014 with trainign starting the following Wednesday.

Padraig Callaghan and Boyle AC Article: Sunday Indo 1st December 2013

Eamonn Sweeney: It's not always about winning

This time last month Aledo High School played Fort Worth Western Hills in the Texas 4A high school football championship. Aledo won 91-0 and the reaction of one of the Western Hills parents was to make a complaint against Aledo coach Tim Buchanan under the state's anti-bullying legislation. 
Buchanan had to endure a mandatory investigation by the school district before being found not guilty of bullying. He had, after all, brought on a slew of replacements after his side ran up a 56-0 half-time lead. But the case has received national media attention in the US where, in the words of Sports Illustrated executive editor L. Jon Wertheim, the anti-bullying lobby is "one of the country's most powerful movements . . . bully has become the lowest designation in our lexicon".
My first reaction, and I suspect yours, is probably that this is the kind of thing which could only happen in America. But then I looked at the 91-0 scoreline and wondered if a hammering like that is really necessary.
A random glance at a few results will usually reveal some similar annihilations in this part of the world. In my own West Cork backyard, I can see that Tadhg MacCarthaigh beat St James by 4-26 to 0-2 and that Muintir Bháire beat Béal átha'n Ghaorthaidh 10-14 to 1-8 in the under 14 football championship. In the under 12 Schoolboys FAI Cup, Johnstown beat Donnycarney Celtic A 13-0 and Bonagee United beat Illistrin 12-1. And, before the rugby people get all smug, CBC's 60-0 victory over St Munchin's and Crescent College's 56-5 whaling of Castletroy in the under 15 McCarthy Cup B competition probably weren't nailbiters either.
For all I know, the managers involved may have done everything within their power to keep the score down. Things have probably changed from the days of my youth when teams who were winning underage games by 40 points or 12 goals would very reluctantly bring on a sub with five minutes left while their mentors urged them to heap humiliation on the opposition.
Back then emptying the bench was rarely an option and sometimes this had seriously detrimental effects on the morale of the victims. I can remember one rural club deciding to enter a team into the Sligo Schoolboys under 13 league and losing their first match 14-0. They lost their second 15-1 and before the end of the season had stopped fulfilling their fixtures, never to be seen in the competition again.

Our local soccer club entered the same league that season with my father as manager. At first they found it tough to deal with more experienced teams from Sligo town whose first game was soccer rather than Gaelic football. I remember a 9-1 loss and a 6-0. Yet they stuck at it and by end of the season had reached a Connacht semi-final. The following year they lost 2-1 to the team who had beaten them 9-1. The year after that we beat them 3-1.

And that is, I suppose, why I think the parent from Western Plains was probably a bit quick on the trigger. Because while some kids are destroyed by a succession of humiliating defeats, there are also youngsters who learn from them, look at their tormentors and catch a glimpse of what might be if they work hard and improve.

There are those who'd argue that the last thing children should be doing in sport is working hard and that their sole focus should be on enjoyment. And while a heavy defeat may be character-building it probably isn't enjoyable. So perhaps there is a case to be made for the sporting bodies bringing in some sort of maximum margin which, when reached, signals the end of the official game and perhaps a chance for the strong team to loan the weak team a few players.

The onus in this situation is always on the coaches. Anyone who's ever been involved at underage level knows that youngsters relish the opportunity of piling the agony on the other team. Adult players generally ease off but the young lad or girl tends to be implacable in the pursuit of their sixth goal.

It's the coach who must ask whether anyone is really going to benefit from a 30-point winning margin being turned into 33 points. He is the one who can halt the scenario of the under 14 'keeper who is unable to kick the ball past the prematurely hairy giant midfielder so that the match degenerates into a nightmarish game of backs and forwards. Or that uniquely humilating feature of the soccer shellacking, the trooping en masse of the losers towards the centre circle for the 12th or the 13th time. There's no need for it.

Or is there? Because I know there are people involved in underage coaching who would find me absurdly tender-hearted on this point. I can remember myself that there was a group of young lads in Castlehaven who at under 12 and under 14 level rarely won a game and suffered some very heavy defeats indeed. Yet these players actually went on to win a county under 21 title and several of them have won county senior medals with the club. So perhaps there are valuable lessons which can be extracted from defeat, no matter how severe, if you have the right coach.

Losing is part of life too. And the notion that kids must be protected from the competitive side of sport, because they'll feel bad if they lose or if someone better is picked ahead of them, may be misguided. Because there are times in most of our lives when we have to face the fact that we're losing, times when you kick the ball out and it comes straight back at you, times when the opposition is so strong the contest seems impossible. We can learn a lot from sport but one important thing it teaches us is how to cope with defeat and disappointment.

Perhaps the worst sporting performance of my life came in my first cross-country event. I was lapped and so was every other member of my team. We were lucky not to be lapped twice. Yet within two years we had won Connacht and Regional Schools titles and competed at All-Ireland championships in both track and cross-country.

We did so because we had a fantastic coach, a man named Pádraig Callaghan. And one of the things I remember most is that after our utter humiliation on the killing fields of Taughmaconnell, we laughed and joked all the way back home and couldn't wait for the following week's race. Because we enjoyed the sport so much the result was beside the point. In the long run results matter less than the way you're taught to experience the sport.

I can also remember a youth soccer team of the time. When we played them my brother would always say, "I see they have the Japanese lad playing with them again. You know. Yafukkeneejacha." We saw their manager one time reduce a player to tears, take the jersey off him and make him walk back to the car on a freezing day because he'd disobeyed an instruction. The team, as could be expected, were as grim in victory as the Boyle AC cross-country team were happy in defeat.

It all depends on the coach. A coach or manager has the chance to influence the lives of those kids like very few other people have. Because, a quarter of a century later, not a week goes by when I don't feel a burst of happiness at the memory of my running days. Pádraig Callaghan gave me that and it's quite a gift. Every coach can give that gift to someone.

Maybe the lads from Western Plains will recover from that 91-0 after all. The fact that their coach, John Naylor, praised them for giving it everything and said Aledo were, "number one for a reason," suggests they're in good hands.

Meanwhile, in other school football news from the maddest country in the world, one Randy Burbach has been fired as coach of Corbett Middle School in Oregon for bringing his 12- to 14-year-old players to Hooters, a restaurant known for its well-built and tightly-costumed waitresses.

We might just leave that one.

backpage@independent.ie

 

 

North Roscommon Athletic Club AGM (2013) 10th December

The club appeals to all parents and committee members and Leaders to attend

The AGM will be on:

Tuesday 10^th December  at 8.00pm. in

The Annexe, in the Sports Complex, Boyle . 

(where Athletics training is held ).

For many parents this will be the first AGM of the club that they will be attending. This annual meeting is the only opportunity parents have to discuss the running of the club and to make decisions that will affect their own children over the next athletic year.

•   The club need parent’s input and support.

•   It is vital for the survival of the Club to have an active and robust Committee.

•   Several of our active committee members have moved away from the area in recent months so new blood is needed for ideas and help,

•   All help, however little, would be very much appreciated.  

•   With 120 members +, the running of the club is carried out by too few people, so we need to share the load with some new members.

Please attend or send one of the adult family members to this Annual General Meeting so North Roscommon can flourish into the future. We have so much interest, talent and enthusiasm from the children. By not attending, our Club will not flourish or may even cease to exist. We don’t want that!!

Majella Dodd

Secretary.

Alan O'Connor at All Ireland Cross Country

17th November at Santry, Alan competed in the under 12's Cross Country representing the Connacht team. Out of over 200 entries, he finished a respectable 79th. Well done Alan.
Link to results:
http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/boys-u123.pdf
 

Alan O'Connor competes for the Connacht team at All Ireland Under 12's Cross Country : 17th November

17th November in Morton Stadium.
Race is at 11.30 approximately.

U12 Boys Connacht Team


Alan O'Connor U12 Boys CONNACHT

Cian McPhillips U12 Boys CONNACHT

Sean Cannon U12 Boys CONNACHT

Kyle Moorhead U12 Boys CONNACHT

Finbarr McFadden U12 Boys CONNACHT

David Lee U12 Boys CONNACHT

Ruari Collins U12 Boys CONNACHT

Kristan Flaherty U12 Boys CONNACHT

Cillian Heaney U12 Boys CONNACHT

Malcolm MacEvilly U12 Boys CONNACHT

Ronan O'Donnell U12 Boys CONNACHT

Rossa McAlister U12 Boys CONNACHT



Good Luck Alan!!!!

Even Ages Cross Country on Sunday 17th November at Morton Stadium

Sunday 17 November 2013 Santry Demesne, Dublin

The parking plan for the event is to utilise the following areas:

1. The car park for buses will be in Gulliver’s Retail Park. 

 Stewards will direct people where to park on arrival.

This provides approximately 100 car parking places and 100 bus spaces

2. Parking for Senior and junior athletes will be in Trinity Grounds on Santry

Avenue. (200 spaces). Again, there will be Stewards present to direct the parking.

3. Cars bringing juveniles to compete in the under age championships will

park at the Express Red Long Term Carpark, Dublin Airport (entry at side of

ALSAA) 800 spaces. This will be accessed free of charge for the duration of

the parking via pre-booking on the Dublin Airport Authority website

www.dublinairport.com

They will book entry and exit on the 17 November

.

If you are using this facility please contact Athletics Ireland forthe online code.
(this is the code DAAFD549    )

Athletics Ireland is indebted to the Dublin Airport Authority for facilitating this

parking on a no cost basis. A bus will departfrom the car parkevery 15 minutes
from 10.00 to ferry people to Santry Park where people can disembark at the bus stop outside Morton Stadium.

Connacht 2013 Uneven Ages Cross Country Results

In Ballinasloe on Sunday 3rd November, Connacht Cross Country took place.

We had Therese Regan, Louise Enright, Rossa Brennan Kelly, Oisin Sheerin competing.

Results of the Connacht Even Ages and Senior Cross Country 2013

Results below include the placings for Alisha Lannon in the Under 12 Girls, Alan O'Connor in the Under 12 Boys and Michelle Lannon in the Masters which took place in October 2013. James Bolger and Lauren Shanagher also took part but I have not received their placings in these sheets.

Roscommon 5k Series

Ros5kSeries
The 3^rd Annual 5k running series organised by the Roscommon County Board of Athletics Ireland, this event involves a series of 5km runs on four consecutive Wednesday evenings. Each race will take place in a different location around the county with Roscommon town, Boyle, Taughmaconnell, and Lanesboro each hosting an event.
The series is designed to cater for everyone aged 18 or over, regardless of experience or fitness level and will allow participants to track their fitness from race to race as the series progresses. Entry fee for the entire series is only €25 which covers all four races.
All funds raised by the event are to be used for the promotion and development of athletics in County Roscommon. Entries can be made online at http://roscommon5kseries.com/about/ . On-the-night entry for individual races (€10 per race) will be accommodated.
A series t-shirt will be awarded to every participant that completes at least three of the four events in the series. All enquiries to roscommon5kseries@hotmail.com .
Venues, dates and times for 5k series: Wednesday August 14 - 7.15pm, Roscommon Town - hosted by Roscommon AC, Wednesday August 21 - 7pm, Boyle - hosted by North Roscommon AC, Wednesday August 28 - 7pm, Taughmaconnell - hosted by St. Ronan's AC, Wednesday September 4 - 7pm, Lanesboro - hosted by Lough Ree AC.

Nth Roscommon Athletes do well in Community Games county final (Roscommon)

Well done to:
Alan O'Connor who won gold for 600m and Relay
Jim Harte won a bronze in the Relay
Sinead Glennon won a bronze in the hurdles and the Relay
Ruth Cox won gold in the 100m and the Relay
Roisin Wynne won the hurdles gold.
Rossa Brennan Kelly won solver in the 600 metres
Luke Glennon won the bronze in the 600 metres

There are probably many more medals won and many great performances but these are the ones I have heard about so far.
Well done to all who competed. 

Connacht Under 10's Team Event

Well done to Luke McGrath and Bryan O'Connor who won a Silver Medal in the 600m team event on Saturday in Athlone.

They now qualify for the All Irelands:
The All-Ireland team competition takes place on Saturday 29th June in Finn Valley, Stranorlar, Co Donegal.

Connacht Under 13-U19's Championships, Sunday 16th June at Athlone IT

3 Athletes registered to compete for the Connacht's

Under 13's Grace Flanagan (Long Jump, 600m)
Under 14's Aine Mullins (75m Hurdles, 800m, Shot Putt)
Under 14's Ruth Cox (80m, 200m, Long Jump)

€3 per event, to be paid on Wednesday at training.

Register at 10.30 on the day. Club have paid the fees in advance.

Connacht Under 13's to 19's on 16th June/Athlone

Under 13 events:
80metres, 60metre Hurdles, 600 metres, Long Jump, Shot Putt

Under 14's
80 metres, 200 metres, 75 metre hurdles, 800m, 1500m, Long Jump, Shot Putt

Under 16/17/18
100m, 200m, 100m Hurdles, 400m 800m, 1500m,  Long Jump, Shot Putt

Entries by 9pm Sunday night 2nd June (latest). they will not accept late entries.
€3 per event.

Athletes do not need to pre-qualify for this event. 

Under 12's Connacht Games 8th June/Athlone

Entries for Under 12's closes on Friday night (31st May).
Same day as Roscommon Community Games unfortunalely.

Text me if you can complete but by deadline. They won't accept late entries.

Curlew Warriors Run 2013 (19th May)

Michelle Lannon and Damian Regan from North Roscommon AC competed in the Curlew Warriors 10k. Michelle was 1st woman home and Damian was 1st male over 40 . Well done to both

Connacht Schools 15th May in Athlone

Just heard that Finley Daly from Abbey Community College came 3rd in the U15 Schools 1500 metres in Athlone and qualifies for the All Ireland's on 1st June. Well done Finley. 

Our New Club Singlets

Results from Roscommon County Athletics 11th May at Athlone IT Track

We had quite a few medals for the club from the event on Saturday.Well done to the 9 North Roscommon Athletes who competed. Thank you to those who drove and supported the athletes on the day. Special thanks to those who helped with the running of the various events on the day and for looking aftre the athletes. 

Under 12 medalists:

Long Jump:
2nd Alan O'Connor

Turbo Javelin:
3rd Rossa Brennan Kelly

Turbo Javelin: 
1st Lauren Shanagher
2nd Rebecca McKeon

80 Metre Sprint
2nd Jim Harte

600metres
3rd Rossa Brennan Kelly

Under 13 Medalists

600metres
2nd Grace Flanagan

Under 14 Medalists

Long Jump:
1st James Bolger

1st Ruth Cox

80 Metres:
2nd James Bolger

1st Ruth Cox

200 Metres
1st James Bolger
1st Ruth Cox

800 Metres

1st James Bolger

2nd Ruth Cox

Shot Putt:

1st James Bolger


 The next big event is the Connacht Outdoor in June which is open to all Nth Roscommon Athletes (i.e. no qualification needed). Connacht (16th June) at Athlone IT

North Ros Under 9, 10 and 11 teams qualify for Connacht on the 8th June at Athlone IT

Under 10 Boys:

Luke McGrath/Bryan O'Connor qualified for 60m team event
Luke McGrath/Bryan O'Connor qualified for 500m team event

Under 10 Girls:
Aine Harte/Leah Lynch Dolan qualified for 60m team event
Aine Harte/Leah Lynch Dolan qualified for 500m team event

Under 11 Boys
Oisin Sheerin/Oisin Cregg qualified for 60m team event
Oisin Sheerin/Oisin Cregg qualified for 600m team event

 Connacht event is in Athlone Track (AIT) on the 8th June

If successful, they will qualify for the All Ireland's in Donegal on the 22nd June