‘It has to be all about fun’

St Loman's selected for new LGFA initiative to help clubs retain teenage players

St Loman’s, Mullingar GAA has been selected to participate in an important LGFA initiative to help clubs retain young female players when they hit their teenage years.

St Loman’s is one of 30 clubs chosen to take part in this year’s Gael4Teens programme, which aims to increasing the retention rate of teenage girls aged 13-17. A coach education-based initiative, Gaelic4Teens provides mentors with a unique programme of tailored football activities.

According to the LGFA website, the programme also aims to “develop athletic and social skills for girls in a safe and nurturing environment”.

Stephanie Kilmurray is the Gael4Teens co-ordinator at St Loman’s, as well as being one of the coaches of the club’s U16 girls’ team.

The proud holder of four senior championship medals with the club, she says that girls stop playing football for a variety of reasons when they hit their teenage years.

“There are lots of different factors. School is one of the big ones and because of school girls can’t maybe play multiple sports,” said Stephanie.

“In a town of this size we have to a compete with a lot of sports, you have rugby, soccer, athletics. When girls get to a certain age they don’t want to spend as much time with sport so they pick one.

“The course is teaching us as coaches to accept that and give the girls the freedom to try their best to do as much sport as they can.”

Clubs should do all they can to facilitate young players who are juggling multiple sports, school and other commitments, Stephanie says.

“You never make someone make that decision [to choose a sport] you accommodate them as much as they can because if you make someone make that choice you could be ending their career in whatever sport they are cutting out.

“It’s really about educating the coaches how best to keep these girls in the game. It has to be all about fun. If they are not enjoying it they aren’t going to stay. That’s a major part of this programme.

“If you make things too serious too young, you lose girls. To me, a big mistake a lot of clubs make is that they focus on the elite. They focus on the best players, but the best players are probably going to stick at it anyway.

“It’s the girls who are not at the top level, they are ones that you really need to focus on. You really need them girls to keep going as much as you need the elite girls.”

In addition to getting as many of the underage coaches as possible involved, a number of committee members are also taking part in the initiative. In many clubs, including St Loman’s, many girls stop playing in their mid-teens. Through the lessons learned in Gaelic4Teens, Stephanie is hopeful that more players in this vulnerable age group can be retained.

“We won the U14s in 2020, prior to that the last time we won it was ten years previously in 2010. Of that 2010 team, only one is now playing senior football. That was where I was going when I applied for this.

“We have an amazing bunch of girls at U14 and U16 levels at the moment and the thought of none of them coming through to senior level is terrifying.

“I don’t want that to be repeated. There are players who are involved in so many sports, rugby, soccer, even athletics. It’s just really to learn to accommodate all of those things and to teach coaches how to deal with all these things and how best to set out your training drills and all that to ensure that the girls are enjoying it.

“That’s really what it boils down to. If they are enjoying it, they will come back,” Stephanie concluded.