Catalan Mission

By Barcelona standards it was a cold. The pitch was lightly lit by the rugby club’s floodlights and adorned with puddles from rain earlier in the day. The weather meant we had fewer players than expected and we were already running a half hour late when we started. I was simmering at this point and it’s amazing that the lack of cones, bibs or pumped balls didn’t set the lid flying over the Nou Camp. Lesson here; Catalonians are a little more relaxed than this Corkman.

This is European G.A.A. though and I’ve been there, done that so know that you can’t have the same expectations all the time. The girls were eager though and started the warm-up whilst I talked with Collins’ brother who is based down there. Totally different to Collins as he’d actually engage you in conversation and seems to have some get up and go about him.

He was there for a rugby match which was on the pitch prior to the session. A couple of minutes into the first drill, one of the girls wandered off to chat to one of his teammates who was leaving after his shower!! My fuse was shortening at uncontrollable speed. The drills weren’t going well and the concentration wasn’t there so urgent action was needed. A quick running drill and some of the wind was knocked out of them and we could get down to work.

I kept it very much in the Eamonn Ryan mode and we started to make rapid progress. Only one of the girls was Irish but she hadn’t played since primary school. There was a French girl or two and the rest were Catalan (not Spanish!!). These girls are self-coached but do so with very little prior experience of Gaelic Football.

When the skill is broken down and explained to them, you can instantly recognise the improvements, in the execution but also by the smiles on their faces as they realise mastery of the skills may not be beyond them after all.

In the end I think we had a very worthwhile session. I wonder though how clubs like Barcelona can be helped in the future. The willingness to learn is there in droves but sufficient learning opportunities are not there for them. It seems the lads section has little interest in lending a hand so they plough on buoyed by an understandable enthusiasm for a game they shouldn’t even know exists.

Coaching workshops focusing on different aspects of the game need to be held more often and also I think coaches need to be sent to regional tournaments to watch the games and assess the areas which are in most need of development. The raw materials i.e. enthusiastic players, are there but they need more help.

The European Ladies Football officer, Monica Duran was my host for the weekend and she did well under difficult circumstances! My eating habits for one, make me a troublesome guest! She did masterfully though and even obliged and took me to the one tourist attraction I wanted to see; the Nou Camp.

I hope the girls took something from the weekend but the most important thing for them (and for all of us in fact) is that they religiously practice their skills and proper technique from here on. They play it because they enjoy it but they will enjoy it infinitely more when they see themselves improve.