Article courtesy of Club Clare
If you would like to support camogie and hurling in Clare, please click here
A Clare pathway to pave the way for the future
Following on from last week’s focus on the underage hurling structures, this week we gain a fascinating insight into Clare Camogie’s development squad system from Under 13 to Minor levels.
Fundamentally aimed at raising participation in and standards of Clare’s inter-county panels over time, a new assimilation approach was launched in 2022 with a Summer School for Under 13s. With the main objective being to introduce players to inter-county camogie and encouraging them to enjoy the challenge of playing and training with different players from across the county, over 120 players attended in June/July 2022. It was such a resounding success that it is planned to run the same camps in 2023 to allow players to familiarise themselves with an inter-county set up in a comfortable environment which will hopefully lead them to participate in the Under14 Winter School of Excellence.
Below is an indicative calendar of Clare Development action and participant numbers for any given year at this point and the Development Committee together with the coaches involved will continue to review with the aim of improving structures ongoing:
Under 14
At Under 14, Clare Camogie have adopted a regional approach in allowing as many players as possible to experience Clare County training exposure through a Winter School of Excellence. This process is underway for four years in three regions, East, Mid and West Clare. Each region offers between 40 and 50 players from clubs in their jurisdiction, training for 90 minutes once a week from November to February each year. The sessions incorporate an introduction to S&C and Speed Work, Wall Ball Sessions and small sided games. In this twelve session block, there are ten training sessions of 90 minutes on Saturdays in each region and then two inter-regional blitzes where teams from the regions play each other. This twelve week block ultimately informs the selection of the panel of circa 50 players that form the Under 14 Clare Camogie Development Squad for the coming year.
Currently, this process commenced in November 2022 leading into the Spring/Summer Under 14 Clare Development Squad. The three regions train on Saturday mornings with over 130 players participating. They have held seven sessions to date and are preparing for three more sessions and two blitzes to February end. Ollie Noone (Feakle-Killanena) manages the East Region with training in Scariff, Carmel Duggan (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield) manages the West Region with training in Inagh and Shelly Ring (Wolfe Tones) manages the Mid Clare region who train in Newmarket-on-Fergus. They are currently ably assisted by local club coaches and the Under 14 Clare Camogie Development Squad Management team will evolve from this cohort of coaches with Ollie Noone (Feakle Killanena) leading the group as Under 14 Clare Development Squad Manager for 2023.
Under 15
The Under 15’s Winter School started back in December, training once a week with approximately 50 players participating. The Winter programme consists of S&C, Skills Development and Games based Play. The Under 15 Clare Camogie Development Squad Manager for 2023 is Josephine Casey (Ruan) and the coaching team are Frank Cullinan (Crusheen), Catherine Tobin (Banner), Carmel Duggan (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), and John Hogan (Banner).
Under 16
The Clare Under 16 Panel commenced training in November 2022, training once a week and following a Winter Programme between training sessions, focused on S&C and Skills Development. They will switch to training twice weekly as they lead into Championship action in March 2023. There are circa 46 players participating with two teams managed through action from March to July. Paul Queally (Inagh-Kilnamona) is the Clare Camogie Under 16 Manager for 2023, and the coaching team is Niamh Perill (Crusheen), Martin Moroney (Ruan), Mary Taylor (Kilkee/Bealaha), John Punch (Ruan) and Ellen Jones (Ruan).
Minor
The Minors have been preparing for their Minor championship since mid-November, inviting interested players to training and trials over a series of weeks, for their training on Tuesdays and Sundays. During this period, an original panel of approximately 45 players has been reduced to a final panel of 30 and they are in the midst of intense preparations of the All-Ireland Championship which commences on March 12th and ends in early May, while the Munster Competition in scheduled for July. The panel have worked with a tailored S&C and Speed programme over the last two months, with this being the focus of one session and development of skills and games based play at the other. The Clare Camogie Minor Manager for 2023 is Eleanor Walsh (Scariff-Ogonnelloe) and the coaching team are Eileen Gleeson (Truagh Clonlara), Niamh Cooney (Parteen), Mike Beddows (S&C and Speed Coach), Tom Millea (Parteen), Cormac Heffernan (Scariff-Ogonnelloe) and David Kennedy (Data Analytics & Statistics).
County Junior PPS Camogie Championships reach concluding stages
It’s a busy period for the revitalised Clare Post-Primary Schools Camogie Championships sponsored by Club Clare as participating schools balance their provincial and county action with the unpredictable weather conditions.
With still a bit of catch up to be undertaken at senior level, it’s much clearer in the Junior Championships as the way is now clear for semi-finals at Junior A and B grades. In the Junior A competition, Scariff Community College will face neighbours St Anne’s Killaloe while Coláiste Muire Ennis take on St Caimin’s Shannon in the other penultimate stage clash.
Coláiste Muire’s second string are also through to the last four of the Junior B Championship where they will play St Joseph’s Tulla while Rice College face St Flannan’s College’s second team in an Ennis derby.
St Flannan’s College are also contested a North Munster Junior Final against Limerick’s Salesian College, Pallaskenry on Saturday in Éire Óg at 11am. It was, however not Flannans day and Salesians brought the silverware back to Limerick
Also reaching its concluding stage is the 1st Year competition with1st Year Final Blitz day taking place next Thursday in St Flannan’s College.
2023 Club Clare campaign has now surpassed 1,000 memberships
With over 1,000 Club Clare Memberships for 2023 purchased so far, it’s a fitting backing to our inter-county players at all ages that there is a major bank of support behind them.
There is still plenty of time for others to sign up so can you please advise friends and family to join or rejoin by going to clubclare.com or click on the following link:
The perks of membership include:
- Exclusive Membership Gift Pack to include Club Clare Baseball Cap & 2023 Car Sticker.
- Text alerts of all Clare team announcements in both codes.
- Regular Ezines on Clare's Inter-County Camogie & Hurling activities.
- Opportunities to win match tickets for championship games.
- Access to Club Clare events/launches with Players & management.
- Voting rights for Player of the Year awards.
- Exclusive discounts, competitions, player insights, digital content and much more to be revealed over the next few months.
The membership year will now go from January 1st to December 31st 2023, with all those aforementioned benefits for only €50 for a single membership and €100 for family membership.
Please also note that:
- anyone who signed up someone else as a Christmas gift can now alter any email or contact details by replying to this email.
- if you live abroad, please use our overseas membership options to ensure that the extra delivery costs are covered and the squads don’t lose out on funding.
- those who would prefer not to receive any membership pack, we have included an opt-out tab on the online membership form.