Welcome To U10's (Boys & Girls Born 2011)

TEAM ETHOS

To have lots of fun and ensure every child is happy, safe and smiling. Our team values are teamwork, friendship, competitiveness, respect, and fun. Our success is based on improved performance and skills week on week and ensuring the girls and boys continue to play year on year.

There are many benefits with your child joining the team, including:

Making new friends, having fun, learning and sharing new skills
Spending time with your children in a team environment
Access to free training and resources
Making a valuable contribution to the community
Setting a good example for kids in the area
Becoming part of the community and/or being part of a club
Replace screen time with active games
You child will learn about the importance of values such as Honesty, Teamwork, Fair Play, Discipline, Respect for themselves & others

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN MY KID(S) START?

Over the years O’Dwyers have developed a successful 3 step onboarding process to welcome a new player to the team and club

1. Help and coaching with the games

- For the first few training sessions, you will be assigned a buddy and provided with additional coaching to help you get up to speed
- The coach will advise you of training times and match schedule
- The emphasis at a juvenile level is always on fun, participation, and enjoyment

2. Advice on membership, gear, team communication, and events

- The coaches will advise you the array of membership and payment options
- Policies & Procedures: code of conduct drawn up for Coaches Mentors & Trainers
- You’ll be added to the Team communication group

3. Follow-Up and Feedback

- The team coaches will continually follow up with you to ensure the process is proceeding as expected

NOTE: On the first training session we would advise that both parents and players come down to the session about 15minutes early as your child will be nervous and it is better if they see the players coming to them than vice-versa

TEAM MENTORS

A group of 10-15 voluntary Mentors (small army) that manages the Team. Mentors are parents who have children playing on the team.

U10s Mixed (Boys & Girls)
- Mick Hughes (086 821 1129)
- Noel Walsh
- Mark Grant
- Ger O’Sullivan
- Brian Langan
- Olga Wolak
- Anna O’Byrne
- Jarek Kura
- Stephen Jenkinson
U10 Girls
- Damien Moore (087 9104600)
- Ken Stuart
- Joe Hughes
- Sinead Roche
- Stephen Molloy

All Coaches/Mentors are required to be fully Garda Vetted, undergo the GAA Child Welfare courses, fully paid members, certified GAA coaches, always have the best interests of the child/player and club in mind and adhere and enforce the Clubs Code of Behaviour

TRAINING, GO-GAMES & TEAM SOCIAL EVENTS

TRAINING TIMES

As we are a dual team (Football & Hurling), we make every effort to progress the players skills, training 1-week Gaelic football and 1-week hurling/camogie
- Tuesday: 7.00 pm to 8.00 pm at O’Dwyers Main Pitch (Bremore Park)
- Thursday: 7.00 pm to 8.00 pm at O’Dwyers Main Pitch ( Bremore Park)
- Saturday Morning: If there is no game scheduled we would usually hold internal games

GO-GAMES

Go Games are small-sided versions of Gaelic football and hurling, with the use of all skills in a normal full-sided game. Full participation, fair play, and every child plays is the ethos of the games

U10s Mixed (Boys & Girls) Games
- U10s mixed have matches every Saturday @11am from Feb to Oct.
- 1-week Football and 1-week Hurling
U10 Girls
- U10s Girls matches are on a Saturday@12pm from Mar to Oct.
- 1-week Football and 1-week Camogie
We arrange challenge games throughout the year as the weather gets better

TEAM SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

We are in the process of drafting an events calendar, to coordinate organise multiple social activities for the team. This is to help with team bonding, building friendship and teamwork. This may include activities such as

Trips down the country or to a tournament
Junior Hell & Back
Awesome Walls, Jump Zone, Courtlough
Dublin Players Meet & Greet
Trips to Croke Park to Dublin Ladies and Men Football and Hurling/Camogie teams.
Training on the beach
Plus special guests during the year at training

TEAM COMMUNICATION

Face-To-Face

Usually the best way, Any coach any time

ClubZap App

O’Dwyers GAA are moving all team to a new (free) App called ClubZap, to better manage communication across the club, so to stay up to date with news, fixtures and results follow these 4 easy steps

Download ClubZap here https://clubzap.com/download?club_id=2703
Search for “O’Dwyers GAA” in the club search
Validate your installation by completing the form with your Name, Email & Phone Number
If prompted enter the 6 digit validation code you received via text message

Further Information & Help visit here: https://odwyersgaa.com/clubzap/

COVID-19 – GAA – RETURN TO PLAY

GAA Covid 19 e-learning module

The GAA return to play has been in operation since the 29th June 2020, with players young and old enjoying our games. To ensure there is a shared understanding of the Safe Return Guidelines, all players(parents), mentors, officials MUST complete the GAA Covid 19 e-learning module. It takes 5-10 mins and is available at https://courses.gaa.ie/Covid19ClubEd/#/

Return To Play’ health questionnaire

Before each skills week session, you will be issued an invite via ClubZap with a ‘Return To Play’ health questionnaire included, a mandatory question to that the above e-learning module is complete

Facilities & Parking Restrictions

Please remember that our car park is currently closed, we would encourage patrons to walk/cycle to our club. Car parking is available in BREMORE CASTLE CAR PARK – 2-minute walk to the club grounds/pitch

Please DO NOT use private car parks in houses and apartment blocks on Hamlet lane and refrain from parking on the park outside club gate causing traffic blind spots and obstructions.

Further details here: https://odwyersgaa.com/facilities/

CHILD PROTECTION & CODE OF CONDUCT

The club has three Child protection officers to provide parents and children with the opportunity to voice any concerns that they may have. All Coaches, children, and parents must sign up to our club code of behaviours; this can be found on our Club Policies page.

Mary Kenny – Lead Child Protection officer
Cathy Keary – Child Protection officer
Ronan Coone – Child Protection officer

REGISTRATION & MEMBERSHIP

Membership and subs contribute towards Insurance of the player, football and hurling equipment, maintaining of the clubhouse and grounds, winter training cost when indoors and Go Games referee fees each week. The GAA registration year starts on April 1st each year and ends 31st March the following year. A list of benefits and discount from local retailers are available on our membership page, these include

All players must be paid-up members to enable them to play in Football and Hurling Go Games by Dublin GAA.
Players are covered in the event of a sports injury whilst playing or training under the GAA Injury Benefit Fund.
Giving support to your club, both financially through the membership fee but more importantly through participation in club activities.
Use of O’Dwyers GAA Facilities (Room rental for parties, access to pitches and playing facilities for club activities)
10% discount in All Care Pharmacy Balbriggan
10% discount on sports goods in McFadden’s Shop Balbriggan
€30 per month discounted membership at Platinum Gym Balbriggan
€1 of each haircut at Capital Barbers Balbriggan
GRMA (GAA rewards programme): members can benefit from 25% off purchases at www.elverys.ie and in participating Elverys stores by redeeming a voucher.

MEMBERSHIP FEES

The annual membership fee (1st April to 31st March) is necessary for all GAA players to cover the player in the event of a sports injury whilst playing or training under the GAA Injury Benefit Fund.

Option 1 (Green Membership Package)

A €195 fee is a once-off membership package that facilitates members who wish to pay in full their registration fees and support their team in a one-off manner.
To purchase this Juvenile Playing Membership package click here!
This provides the mandatory cover via GAA player injury fund (up to the value of €4,500) while training and playing matches – only fully registered players can avail of this.

Option 2 (Navy Membership Package)

The Navy (Registration & Incremental Team Support ) Membership Package facilitates members who wish to pay their registration fees and support their team in an incremental manner. The process should be completed in two steps as follows:
- Step 1: Juvenile/Student/Non-Waged: €75 (registration)
- Step 2: Month payment of €20 online or Weekly payments of €5 to Team Admin

Notes:

In 2021, what option should I choose
- The plan for 2021 is to train /play from April 26th 2021 (covid return to play date) to the second week in December 2021 (33 weeks)
- Based on this calculation the Green membership package at €195 work cheaper than the Navy package (33 x €5) + €75 = €240
Discounts, In the case of multiple memberships, (e.g. families) a discount of €10 is applied for each subsequent membership type selected
New Juvenile Player Membership
- A discounted fee of €50 for all NEW players joining in 2021 from U8-U16 for One year Only
- This will be via Club Registrar and not online
- A three-week grace period is permissible for new players before committing to full Membership registration is required. During this period the player will not have access to the player injury fund and the responsibility is with the parents for this period in the case of any injuries incurred

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED

For children attending for the first time and looking to try out football and hurling, we will supply hurls and helmets to get them started. All O’Dwyers clothing can be purchased in our Club Shop, which is open every Saturday from 11-1 pm.

Shorts and Socks: White shorts and green socks that can be picked up from our Club Shop
Jerseys: Each player will be supplied with a jersey for the games. Club jerseys can also be purchased from our Club Shop and a lot of kids wear them at the games which is fine.
Football Boots: At this age, we recommend boots with moulded studs, the cheapest pair in the shop will usually suffice as they will grow out of them within the year.
Runners for indoor/winter training
Shin-guards: For kids hurling, we recommend that they wear a set of shin-guards
Mouthguards: For football, it is compulsory to wear in our games and training. Check our mouthguard information guidelines on the different options available. Our recommendation is to buy a good fitting ‘boil and bite’ mouthguard that retail for about €10.
Hurl: size 22 from 26 is a typical size for U1s that can be picked up from our Club Shop. A larger hurl will inhibit the players from mastering the hurl, it is therefore very important to measure correctly, see our guide on selecting the correct hurl
Helmet: can be purchased in Club Shop, McFadden’s, O’Neill’s, Elverys, and Lidl deals, etc. The club also has a buy-back scheme for helmets should you want to turn it.

BRING A BUDDY!

We currently have over 30 U10 players, the coaches would like this team to continue in the Go Games 3 team league (9 players on a team), and to do this we need more players. This is to ensure:

That everyone in this age group gets a game (nobody standing on the side-line)
We play against more the established bigger clubs in Dublin (competitive and less travelling)
Continued kids development, as they will have a wider circle of friends

So spread the word and encourage the kids to bring a friend down to training, to try it!

PLAYER PATHWAY

The purpose of the Player Pathway is to assist mentors, parents and players as to what they should be coaching/practising at a
particular time in their playing careers. It is intended as an aid to assist all coaches and players with getting the maximum
enjoyment and stimulation at the various stages in their O’Dwyers career. It is designed with player welfare at heart.

Player Characteristics (10-12-Year-Olds)

Players will compete with greater intensity against each other.
At this age players will now try to win the game not only by scoring but also by attempting to deny the opposition the opportunity to score.
They will begin to understand the need to change the direction of a run or a pass to be more effective and they will begin to grasp the idea that a player may need support from behind and to the side as well as in front.
Coaches should continue to run small-sided games and condition them to solve problems.
During training, these players must always feel part of the session. Coaches must be ready to pay as much attention to them as to other established players and always work to improve their skills [e.g. one-to-one coaching may be needed].
Coaches must be quick to address the problem of one or two players dominating play and preventing others from developing their skills during games.
Many players at this age fail to recognise the need to attack the ball and prefer to wait for the ball. If this is allowed to persist, that player will find it increasingly difficult to change his/her instincts.
Training needs to be moderately increased at this stage.
Players are now ready to develop general strength through their own body weight and core exercises.