On Saturday 5th November 2016 a dream was launched with the plans unveiled for our indoor hurling arena - On the night one of the guest speakers was Paudie Butler who spoke passionately about his love for hurling and the then National Director of Hurling highlighted that the game should be played all year round rather than breaking for winter due to weather restrictions in order to ensure kids progress their skills. He commented on how big the undertaking would be for the club and arena committee to complete the build but said he was confident it would be delivered and when it was would pay dividend and he would be back in the Bridge to conduct a training session for coaches.

Fast forward 6 and a half years and Paudie was true to his word as he was present last night for the launch of our Level 1 Coaching course which he conducted along with Peter Casey. This course is being ran under the GAA E-Learning syllabus and saw over 50 coaches from the club in attendance last night. What was very encouraging was the attendance of so many coaches who recently completed the Foundation level course in January and are eager to progress further as well as the presence of current senior hurlers including Shane Golden, Paidi Fitzpatrick, Conor Deasy and Caimin Morey who got a good workout from Paudie as part of his very engaging demonstrations.

One of the main points Paudie made during the night was how important a good demonstration of a skill or drill was for young children and the evidence of this was clear for our U11 hurlers who took part in the workshop - Their progress based on improved demonstrations and feedback from their individual coaches was clear to be seen as the night went on.

As the night wrapped up all coaches left the arena with a fountain of knowledge on the history of hurling, the evolution of the game, how to approach the way you coach kids and most of all a drive and passion to get back to their teams training sessions and pass on the wonderful insights picked up on the night.

The course continues next Monday in the arena from 7Pm and Peter Casey will oversee weeks 2,3 and 4 with Paudie Butler returning for the Finale on March 13th.

Well done to all the coaches who attended and are 20% of the way to completing the course.

#CoachingOurCoaches

#AlwaysHurling

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