Curtis sings praises of G4M&O, and Westmeath
By Sarah Slevin
Gaelic4Mothers&Others initiative has given a boost for both the physical and mental health of those involved. The initiative aims to introduce mothers and other women to Gaelic football and has 220 clubs across the country, including seven in Westmeath.
As part of their new partnership with Sports Direct, which was launched on Tuesday last, August 24, Gaelic4Mothers&Others (G4M&O) carried out research in which they found many benefits of the initiative.
Alison Curtis, Today FM broadcaster, who helped launched the initiative is taking up Gaelic football for the first time and spoke to the Westmeath Examiner about the positive results of that research.
“Eighty four percent of the women surveyed said they did it for exercise, 64 percent did it for their own me-time. Everyone was so positive, it’s about making friends, meeting new people and being part of something collective,” Alison said.
Alison Curtis, originally from Canada, is joining the St Vincent’s club in Dublin, but she has a deep love of Westmeath and joked about moving to the county someday.
“I love Westmeath – my husband and I want to buy a house here. I want to eat at Wholesome Kitchen every day, I want to swim in Lough Ennell every day.”
“It all reminds me of Canada and because I haven’t been able to go back to Canada in two years I keep going to Westmeath, I genuinely love it,” Alison said.
Alison has been doing a bit of basic practice at home before she gets stuck in to training in the coming weeks, and her plan for after the Zoom call with the Westmeath Examiner was to head out with her 10-year-old daughter to do some drills.
“I’m going to take my daughter out, we have lovely Gaelic footballs here at home, a lovely green area across from us and I’ll go out and practise what little I know so far,” Alison laughed.
From playing volleyball in school, Alison is feeling confident about her catching and passing, but joked about how her kicking may need some work.
Ballymore club
The G4M&O club in Ballymore, set up seven years ago by Liz McDermott, has some 20 members at the moment.
Current secretary, Sarah Maloney, has said that it was initially established as a trial but was a great success as the area does not have a ladies football club.
“Ballymore G4M&O has been such a positive addition to the village. It is a brilliant way of meeting new people, getting fit while having fun and learning a new skill,” Sarah said.
She said that the non-competitive nature of it brings a lot of fun and means there is great community spirit with it.
“The best thing about it is that it’s non-competitive, so there are no winners or loser. We play just for fun. There is no pressure on the game at all.
“When we train, it’s brilliant to see some of our children who like to come down with us while training and play along with us. They get involved in the drills and help gather up all the equipment at the end of training. We have great little helpers,” Sarah added.
Sarah also said their trainer, Bobby McDermott, and the committee work hard and that it is a “team effort”.
Sarah said the club in Ballymore is always accepting new members, as long as they are over the age of 25 and not registered with an LGFA team.
The Ballymore Gaelic4Mothers&Others club trains every Wednesday at 7.30pm.
Sports Direct sponsorship
Under the deal, Sports Direct will support all 207 Gaelic4Mothers&Others teams in the country, and help to grow them further. See ladiesgaelic.ie/lgfa-hub/games-development/gaelic4mothersothers/.