Summer is a time for Cúl camps and coaching the basic skills to the next generation of players

This column appeared in the June 16 issue of Gaelic Life

WE are quickly approaching the two best months of the year for a teacher, July and August. Everyone thinks that teachers get two full months off, but the reality of the situation is that it’s only seven weeks.

This is the time of the year when the Cúl Camps commence up and down the country. Each club hosts their own camp during the months of July and August, and they are attended by hundreds and thousands of eager young Gaels.

I believe the Cúl Camps have been a fantastic initiative, a great success and should be treated with respect by parents, not just looked upon as a baby-sitting facility for the week.

I’ve worked in Cúl Camps a number of years ago and now I am at the stage where I send my own children to them and have seen at first hand the hard work and dedication of coaches and co-ordinators to ensure that it is an enjoyable, fun, memorable and beneficial week for all involved.

No doubt during these camps throughout the country the word fitness will be mentioned and stressed upon by coaches to the young people attending.

Often the word fitness carries a negative attachment to it, particularly among the young, but it doesn’t have to.

If young people are taught the benefits of exercise they can understand better that exercise and fitness is a great avenue to a better quality life and as coaches we should be encouraging all our young people to get active whether that is through football or even playing with friends or something as simple as cycling a bike.

When I think back to my summers as a youngster, we left the house early in the morning and didn’t return until late in the evening, that doesn’t happen anymore and the levels of inactivity among our young are worrying.

As coaches we can put a positive spin on the word fitness and explain to the young people that fitness can actually be fun for them. The traditional, unattractive and boring regime of sit-ups, press-ups and laps can be replaced with various activities and games that will keep our children motivated and engaged and they won’t even realised how hard their working.

It’s vitally important to remember though, children are not mini adults and many children will have different levels of fitness and you can’t expect them all to perform at the same level.

Allow the child to pace themselves, find their right level and adjust the intensity of activities to suit their own fitness levels.

There are three basic components you should concentrate on when coaching/teaching children about fitness:

1. Cardiovascular Fitness
As the cardiovascular system becomes more efficient, the body can work harder for longer periods of time. The heart becomes stronger, lungs and blood vessels more efficient. Children will realise if they improve this aspect of fitness they’ll be able to work for longer periods of time without getting tired. A couple of games which will work the cardiovascular system while maintaining the fun; stuck in the mud, chain tig or follow the leader.

2. Sufficient core strength
Having sufficient core strength enables a young person to maintain good posture, push, pull objects and enhances their performance in games and training. Simple fun exercises like hand walking, crab walking and ball wrestling will all help improve the core sufficiently for a young person.

3. Flexibility
Flexibility is the range of motion of a joint and its surrounding muscles. Flexibility is required in everyday life, preventing injuries and maintaining good general health. Young people particularly underestimate the value of stretching regularly before and after activity. Get them into good habits early in life and make it fun by having stretching corners in warm-ups and games.
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