Aug 26, 2019
Fingal Sports Office is part of the network of Sports Ireland Local Sports Partnerships. Fingal County Council Sports Office strives to support the development of sports in the Fingal area to meet the needs of Fingal’s growing community. We work together to promote a positive message of sport.The core work of the Fingal Sports Office is aligned to the objectives of the National Physical Activity Plan and includes Strategic Community Sports Development, the delivery of National Programmes, Education & Training initiatives, the Sports Inclusion Disability programme, Women in Sport Programmes, Safeguarding and general participation programmes. Led by Marion Brown as the Principal Sports Officer, the team which includes co-funded officers from Cricket Leinster, Leinster Rugby, FAI and Tennis Ireland. Caitríona Geraghty, Sports Development Officer, oversees the Women in Sport and 20×20 initiatives.
These initiatives and programmes range from our teenage girl targeted Exercise Energise, The Fingal Girls Festival of Football, Older Adult in the Swim Programme, PDP Female Only Coaching, Fingal Ladies Tennis League, Cricket for Girls and Rugby for Girls. They have also developed a Sports Conditioning Training Programme aimed at Childcare workers encouraging physical activity from a young age. Teachers from all streams are encouraged to attend our Sports Con training programme and each school is given access to an online resource learning.fingal.ie for video and tutorials. This online training resource will also be an important tool for coaches who have attended our training courses and will help support the 20×20 campaign.
The Fingal Festival of Football
More than 300 girls descended on the AUL complex in Clonshaugh on Saturday 17th August for the 17th edition of the Fingal Festival of Football, which has in recent years become a fantastic promotion for girls’ football in Fingal. This football event is also one of the Fingal’s Sports Office’s initiative in promoting the Federation of Irish Sports 20×20 campaign and many of the girls proudly “showed their stripes” on the day.
This event run by Fingal County Council Sports Office in collaboration with FAI/Fingal Development Officers Paul Keogh and Sharon Boyle, provides opportunities for some girls to put on a club jersey for the very first time and also acts as pre-season warm up for the more established teams. This year’s Festival had teams from all over Dublin, Meath, Kildare and over 89 players travelled from Donegal to take part.
Paul Keogh, FAI/Fingal County Council Development Officer, added: “We are delighted to assist Fingal’s Sports Office with this great event. It provides for a fun- filled day and helps harness the great work of the volunteers who put in hours of work to ensure girls have regular football as without them there is no girls’ football. “We have seen great growth in girls’ football over the last few years, especially in the Fingal area and events like this are encouraging clubs to provide opportunities for girls to play on teams with their peers.”
Niall McGuirk, Fingal County Council Senior Sports Officer, added: “We made a conscious effort to include girls in the Festival of Football nine years ago and it has grown from four U13 girls teams to a girl’s only event with 40 teams and over 300 players from U8-U14 taking part in 2019. We hope that this event, combined with the work being carried out by the FAI, MGL and volunteers in clubs around Fingal, encourages girls to stay involved in football for many years to come and help promote the 20 X20 campaign.”
St. Ita’s FC triumphed in the U14 Cup competition and with Bohemian FC beating Raheny Utd for the Shield. The visitors from Donegal took home three trophies in the U13 and U12 competitions.
For more info contact sports@fingal.ie or 087-120-6431 or check out Fingal Festival of Football on Facebook
Aug 23, 2019
Georgia Drummy is an Irish Junior Tennis player. She is currently ranked number 110 on the ITF pro circuit, having won two ITF events this year. Georgia is the youngest Irish player to qualify for the junior grand slam aged 15 in 2016, she is also the only Irish junior to play in all four Junior grand slams. She holds the highest junior ranking ITF under 18’s (35) and Tennis Europe, under 14’s (23). She is the first Irish women to win the Irish Open in the modern era.
20 Questions with Georgia Drummy
1. What’s your first memory of sport as a child?
Playing with any type of a ball with my family, particularly my dad.
2. How did you first become involved in sport?
My dad and older sisters played a lot of tennis and I wanted to play with them so would make my mum play with me!
3. What sports did you try as a child?
I swam, played tennis, table tennis and hockey.
4. What decided you to settle on your chosen sport?
My family play tennis and I loved the game.
5. Who has had the most impact on your sporting career?
That’s a hard question but probably my family as they have supported me throughout my career.
6. What female do you most admire in the world of sport?
Serena Williams, as she is the most successful tennis player in the world. She has won more singles grand slams than any man and also plays lots of doubles with her sister Venus.
7. Outside of sport what do you do in your leisure time?
I like to relax, listen to music, meet my friends and shop.
8. What is the last movie you went to see? What is your favourite movie of all time?
Fast and Furious Hobbs and Shaw! I find it hard to pick a favourite as there are so many types of movies I love. I do love the Fast and Furious franchise and the really cool cars!
9. What music do you listen to?
I listen to a lot of different genres, but my favourite is pop music. I am a big Hozier fan and love to listen to him, especially when I am away from home.
10. Are you a reading fan?
I am probably not the biggest reader as I have to read quite a lot for college.
11. Do you follow any sports stars on social media? If so who?
I follow Rafael Nadal.
12. Forget about your sporting diet for a moment? Your favourite meal when you breakout?
I love chicken wings and chips!
13. Who do you most admire in your own sport?
I admire Rafa Nadal the most because he always shows true grit in his matches, he never gives up and is a great role model for everyone.
14. Do you have a special ritual before competing?
I like to listen to music before I go on court.
15. Do you still play other sports for fun?
I play some table tennis in the back garden when I am home, swim and play volley ball in the pool when on holidays.
16. What advice would you give to young girls & boys to encourage them to participate in sport?
Sport is great fun at every level. There are so many different sports so keep involved and the harder you work the more you get from your sport. It can give you so many opportunities and wherever you go in the world sport brings people together.
17. What has been your biggest sporting achievement?
Playing all four junior grand slams. When I went to Australia in January 2016 I had to qualify to get into the main draw of the junior grand slam. It was so exciting when I won my matches and received an amazing reaction from Irish people. In 2018 I had earned enough ranking points which meant I didn’t have to qualify. Each grand slam was amazing in its own way. Wimbledon was very special when I met my hero Rafa Nadal at the practice courts.
18. How do you cope with (a) injuries (b) other set-backs;
I have been lucky so far and haven’t had any long-term injury but in my last junior competition I had been playing very well and had to pull out in the semi-finals because I injured myself. I hate when that happens! It’s always tough when your plans have to change or when things don’t come together as you hope but it is part of sport and you just have to learn to be resilient in sport as there are so many things that can go wrong but it makes the good times all the sweeter.
19. What do your family make of your success?
My family are delighted for me and enjoy my success.
20. What does sport mean to you?
Sport to me is a way of life where I can be active, and independent. Sport has given me so many amazing opportunities and experiences that I am very grateful that I am able to play tennis and I hope to continue to improve and play for a long time to come.
Check out the 20×20 Women in Sport Calendar for upcoming fixtures
https://20×20.ie/event-calendar/
Aug 21, 2019
Our International 20×20 Women in Sport Award this week goes to a remarkable group of Japanese women who came together 30 years ago to form the first ever Japanese women’s rugby team. The enormity of their achievement can only be gauged by the societal pressure they would have faced in Japan at that time. They were certainly defying the social conventions of the time, particularly in Japan.
In 1989 Tokyo women’s rugby was almost unheard of and the team faced ridicule and hostility from all angles. Despite the sides humble beginnings, the women of the Liberty Fields RFC became one of the strongest teams in japan and many of them went on to represent their country in the Women’s World Cup. Their incredible story has been brought to life by Guinness this week in a television ad and longer video piece as part of their marketing campaign around this year’s World Cup in Japan. Guinness is heavily involved not alone with rugby in Ireland but also as title sponsors of both the Men’s and Women’s 6 Nations Championships.
Liberty Fields RFC played at the top level despite having no coach, no doctor and very little support instead relying on their team spirit and camaraderie. Balancing jobs and family they set a new level for women’s sport in Japan. Ms. Kishida of Liberty Fields summed it up that spirit – ” it was back in the day when getting harassed sexually and otherwise was a given. Men expected women to be young, pretty and willing to quit their jobs for marriage. At the time the women’s team was not recognised as official so we founded our own organisation. We lose if we cannot play rugby. The reason we kept going is because we didn’t want to lose. We wanted society to accept that women can
love this kind of sport too and not just men”.
Former Irish rugby international player Lynne Cantwell, who is also Chair of Sport Irelands Women in Sport committee, commented ” The story of Liberty Fields rings true to this day and shines a welcome spotlight not just on the obstacles to be overcome but the many benefits society stands to gain from overcoming them and creating a more inclusive and diverse culture in sport and beyond”
The 60 second television advert can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE_mVvJyWQY&feature=youtu.be and 5 minute feature can be found at https://youtu.be/-V1XvowvjY8
Aug 19, 2019
Special Olympics Ireland is focusing on improving the involvement of women in sport in all areas of the business including coaching, administration and the participation in sport. Over the month of June Special Olympics ran a Women in Football awareness campaign which included a series of events such as a Come and Try Football event aimed at introducing football to current female athletes from other sports and a female cup game in Cork.
These events not only resulted in higher awareness throughout our social media channels amongst our stakeholders but also led to an increased number of females looking to get into Football and proved that the appetite is there amongst female athletes with an intellectual disability.
Golfer Mairead Moroney, 70 years, from Ennis Co Clare recently competed in the Special Olympics World Summer Games which took place in Abu Dhabi from March 17th to 21st.
At 70 years young Mairead proved that age is only a number as she won silver in the team event on a very tough course at the Yas Links Golf Course.
Mairead joined Special Olympics as an athlete in 2008 and started playing golf with Ennis Special Olympics Club in 2011. Her love of golf grew and so did her ambition which led her to start on the 4 year advancement cycle for the World Games which began back in 2015. Her win was a result of a lot of hard work, determination and skill.
(See photos below)
Aug 16, 2019
Sara Mc Fadden became Ireland’s first visually Impaired rally navigator when she and her dad competed in the Imokilly Mini Stages rally in July 2018. Since then she has proven that your disability truly does not define you and that if you have a goal and you set your mind to it then nothing can stand in your way, taking the motto “The only thing worse then being blind is having no vision”
20 Questions with Sara Mc Fadden
1. What’s your first memory of sport as a child?
Niall Maguire (my rally hero) giving me his winning hat from my home rally when I was around 4 or 5.
2. How did you first become involved in sport?
My parents were both competing in rallying since I was born so I was always brought along to events with them, so I suppose there wasn’t much hope for me to not become involved.
3. What sports did you try as a child?
Everything, when I was born my parents were told that due to my vision I would never be able to play sport, so they always encouraged me to try everything so at this stage I’d say that there isn’t a sport I have not tried, but Camogie was my favourite and I played up until minor level with both my club and county until I took a back seat to focus on my studies and rallying.
4. What decided you to settle on your chosen sport?
I suppose being brought up around rallying it was always a part of my life and after competing in my first event in the Imokilly Mini Stages Rally I became hooked.
5. Who has had the most impact on your sporting career?
My Dad, he has always been so supportive of everything I have wanted to do in life and to be able to compete alongside him makes the sport all the more enjoyable.
6. What female do you most admire in the world of sport?
Rosemary Smith, For years she competed in Motorsport as one of the of few women in a very male dominated sport at the time and fought so hard to get some absolutely amazing results and did some truly amazing things which have paved a pathway for women such as myself in motorsport today.
7. Outside of sport what do you do in your leisure time?
I have just completed my leaving cert exams so between sport and study I didn’t have a lot of time for much else but I love to cook and I also love to give back to the people help me so when I can, I volunteer with the NCBI (National Council for the Blind Ireland) to assist children with visual impairments. They have done so much for me over the years that I’m really glad I am now in a position to repay the favour.
8. What is the last movie you went to see? What is your favourite movie of all time?
The last movie I went to see was needless to say the new Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. I’m a sucker for a rom com but my favourite movie of all time is Dirty Dancing
9. What music do you listen to?
Absolutely everything, my playlist is so varied, one minute it’s country and the next its pop but I am a huge Nathan Carter fan.
10. Are you a reading fan? If so what are you currently reading?
I’m not a big reading fan personally but I do read occasionally and the book I am currently reading is Rosemary Smith’s “Driven” which is the story of her life and the challenges she had to overcome as a women in a male dominated sport.
11. Do you follow any sports stars on social media? If so who?
Yes I follow a lot of sports stars on social media but my favorites are possible Craig Breen and Paul Nagle the Irish WRC stars as they do such great coverage from the events they compete in giving people an amazing perspective of what it’s like to be competing at an elite level.
12. Forget about your sporting diet for a moment? Your favourite meal when you breakout?
Having both my parents as chefs I’m very spoiled for choice at home but my favorite food is a toss up between Spaghetti Carbonara and Steak and Chips
13. Who do you most admire in your own sport?
I’m going to have to say Craig Breen and Paul Nagle as they worked their way up the ranks to reach the most elite level of the sport and despite all the challenges that have been thrown their way over the past year they have fought back to prove that anything is possible if you set your mind to it and you work hard enough. And I am also extremely grateful for the support and advice that Paul has give to me during my journey.
14. Do you have a special ritual before competing?
Not really apart from ensuring that i get plenty of sleep the night before the event to ensure that my eyes are well rested.
15. Do you still play other sports for fun?
Not as much as I would like to. During the last couple of years I let other sports take a back seat to focus on school but I, hoping that that will change soon.
16. What advice would you give to young girls & boys to encourage them to participate in sport?
The best advice I could give young people is that they should never let anything stand in the way of them achieving their goals and I’m living proof that If you have a dream then you should let nothing stand in your way from achieving them. “You should never be afraid of failure, but you should be afraid of the things you will miss out on if you don’t even try”
17. What has been your biggest sporting achievement?
I have an all-Ireland silver medal for Camogie which I won with mayo. And we are currently fighting for a podium position in 4 rally championships.
18. How do you cope with (a) injuries; (b) other setbacks?
Growing up with a visually impairment meant that on a daily basis I had to overcome challenges and setbacks so in sport I took the same motto and I take whatever comes my way and figure a way around it as it’d what I love.
19. What do your family make of your success?
I have been very lucky to have all my family by my side and supporting through all the highs and the lows which means the absolute world to me. All though it does make it all the more special to have my dad by my side in the car.
20. What does sport mean to you?
To me sport is my life, it always has been, and I hope that it always will be. Sport has already allowed me to do things I never imagined I would get to do including being named Mayo Young Person of the year for 2018 and 2019 to name but of a few of the awards that I have been honoured with over the last 12 months and I’m only 18, I can’t even imagine what lies in store in the future which is why I have chosen to pursue sport and business in college.
Check out the 20×20 Women in Sport Calendar for upcoming fixtures
https://20×20.ie/event-calendar/
Aug 14, 2019
Our International 20×20 Sportswoman of the Week award goes to British motor racing driver Jamie Chadwick who last weekend won the inaugural W Series Motorsports Championship title. Along with the title, came a first prize of $500,000 dollars and widespread publicity for women in the world of Motorsports.
Jamie has been breaking barriers for women in Motorsports since 2015 when she became the first ever female and the youngest ever winner of the British GT Championship. She started her career in kart racing at the age of 11. A talented all rounder, she subsequently turned down a trial with the England U-18 Hockey team to concentrate on Motorsport.
In 2018 she became the first woman in history to win a British Formula 3 Championships race. In 2019 she was one of the five British women named as drivers in the inaugural W Series which she went on to win. Subsequently she has continued to break new ground for women in her sport being announced as a development driver for the Williams Formula One team.
