< Previous© February 2018 The Meath Coaster50RegistrationRegistration for the new season is well underway, along with the on-line system myclubfinance.com we held two registration evenings in Reddan’s of Bettystown on both evenings we had a parent’s information presentation on the new FAI Player Development Plan. We are extremely proud to be advocating this initiative which is entirely player cen-tred ensuring that children are playing in a supportive and safe environment, play-ers are encouraged to develop skills and express themselves within matches and most importantly enjoy the experience of playing football. The idea behind having these Parent information workshops is to ensure that parents along with coaches and match officials are all working in the best interest of the players and that they are all offering positive and encouraging support to all players, this in turn will pro-mote player to have• A greater sense of personal achieve-ment • Higher self-esteem • Improved social skills • An elevated level of skill• Improved physical fitness• An increased enjoyment of the gameOur under 8’s, 9’s and one of our under 10’s teams are thoroughly enjoying the Futsal Tournament which is currently be-ing run by the FAI. They are now 3 weeks in to a 6-week stint and already the ben-efits of playing the indoor version of the game is beginning to show. Best of luck to you all in the remaining matches. §Laytown United SFCwww.laytownunitedsfc.com / www.facebook.com/LaytownUnitedSFC© February 2018 The Meath Coaster51DONACARNEY CELTIC F.C.Winter TrainingSome pictures of the guys braving the cold weather and enjoying their winter training with new January transfer window signing Olaf. The regular football games were replaced with snow angles and snowball fights but everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves BORN: 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006Congratulations to our U12 players Naoise Maguire, Jamie Gamble, Conor Brennan, Jake Hough, Cormac O'Donoghue who have all made the NDSL U12 Academy team. Well done lads. PLAYERS WANTEDWANTEDDCFC still have some limited squad places available inour NDSL squads for this coming season. If your interested in playing with a fantastic Club withtop facilities and FAI Qualified coaches then simply get in touch with us. Contact Alan: 086 3840487U12 NDSL AcademyWould you like to get involved with coaching? DCFC have coaching opportunities across multiple age groups from academy to U17 that could suit you.We will provide you with everything you need to get started and assist you through the FAI Coaches Educa-tion pathway.If you’re interest please get in con-tact with us. Contact Alan 086 3840487© February 2018 The Meath Coaster52Parent to Volunteer, an East Meath United Journey, by Padraig RocheIt was a cold Thursday evening in No-vember 2012. An EGM (Emergency General Meeting) had been called for EMU. I attended as a concerned parent whose son had just joined the ‘Nippers Academy.’ My son (5) were both already taken with how kind, patient and commit-ted the Academy coaches were. I had no idea what this meeting was about but soon f ound out that the club was on the brink of being shut down. Our grounds in Minnistown, which had been gifted to the club by an international developer but not signed over, had been taken over by the banks. Turned out that the banks wanted us out. The Club had 20 teams plus the Academy, so we were looking at 300 kids in the local area were about to be fired out. That night at the meeting the committee, which at the time consisted of about four people, were asking for help from the floor. I felt guilty, but I thought I wasn’t in a position to help due to work and family commitments. But next to me sat a man I didn’t know at the time. Kieran Moloney, who to this day is our current club treasurer. That night Kieran joined the exhausted committee along with some others to save the club. People like Sharon Tolan, Aiden Tallon, Dave Gaffrey, Rob-bie Corr, Rob Quinn, Brendan Doyle and many others decided the club was not go-ing to fold. What they did over the next 2 – 3 years was nothing short of remarkable. They went to meetings with the banks, FAI, solicitors, politicians, and local par-ents, and worked night and day relent-lessly. This gang was relentless in their pursuit of saving the club. And finally came the day, with little public fanfare or announcement, the club was saved. They had secured a loan which would make the land in Minnistown EMU’s. With the ground secure, the Committee came together and decided the club re-quired a 7 a side state of the art floodlit pitch. So off they all went again, more meetings, night after night in portacabins in Minnistown, knocking on doors, more meetings, begging, borrowing, fundrais-ing, they were going to make this happen. On 15 of Sept 2016, our new All Weather Pitch was officially opened. Meanwhile, the coaches and volunteers kept the kids playing great football, win-ning titles, moving up leagues and an ex-panding academy. In 2017, there was a significant focus on developing the community side of the club. We arranged Easter Fun Days, Sum-mer BBQ’s, Outdoor Cinema Night, Foot-ball Festival & Social nights.The latest piece in our clubs development came with the great news that EMU was granted €45,000 to develop a state of the Art 11 a side grass pitch. We are delighted that the tender process has now begun and we hope to have this completed as soon as possible. East Meath United© February 2018 The Meath Coaster53For the year ahead, we have big plans for the development of the club. With the kids as the center of all we do, we will begin with a focus on a new clubhouse. The various fundraising events will take place throughout the year. We hope to continue to have your backing to take the club to the next level.Thanking you for your support, and please keep an eye out on our social media pages for all our updates.Football for All coming soon to East Meath United, By Lara SynottEast Meath United is getting ready to launch our FAI Foot-ball for All programme. The programme is designed for children of all abilities who would like to learn the basic skills of foot-ball in a safe and supportive environment. The programme will initially be open to primary school age children. Football for All will be delivered by a group of expe-rienced coaches and support staff includ-ing special needs assistants and parents of children with special/additional needs and disabilities. We are currently accepting expressions of interest in the programme. Please contact us at football4all@east-meathunited.ie or phone Lara Synnott on 085 7168634 or Valerie Donovan on 083 3157093 for more information. We are hoping to launch the programme in March, and we will offer a taster day and information session for parents in ad-vance. Keep an eye on our Facebook page (East Meath United FC) for updates and information about a competition we will be running for local children to design a poster for Football for All.Coaches Corner, by Dave GafreySeason 2018 is fast approaching with preparations well underway from all teams at EMU. For many squads, de-velopment began before Christmas with a hugely suc-cessful streaming process at u11’s over four weeks produc-ing four squads with team managers and coaches. Our u13’s had a fantastic Nov/Dec also availing of top-class coaching sessions from league of Ireland stars Paul Doolin and Georgie Poynton. UEFA ‘B’ license coaches Stephen Nicholson, and Martin Curley also put on outstanding sessions for the lads, and a big word of thanks goes to all the lads for their time and expertise. Over twenty of our own coaches braved the cold on 6th Jan for our in-house coaching workshop, a terrific turn out and a very productive morning. U9/10’s are participating in this month’s Futsal program in Gormanston with the FAI which is always a fun and valuable exercise. Nippers Academy returned on 20th Jan following a weather delay, and the focus Now turns to the formation of new u8’s. All children born 2011/12 are welcome to join the fun on Sat mornings where the emphasis remains on enjoyment while learning the fundamentals. Unfortu-nately, our coach training workshop for working with children with special needs was also postponed due to bad weather but Oisín Jordan (FAI) has rescheduled for next month 17th Feb. Following this will be the launch of our ‘football for all’ programme which has been eagerly await-ed. 2018 promises to be another hugely successful season at EMU. §© February 2018 The Meath Coaster54Stamullen Football Club Club NewsAll our teams are back training gear-ing up for the new season. We have 2 new under 8 teams who can’t wait to start playing in a league. We also have for the first time an under 7 team so it’s going to be a very exciting yea r here at Stamullen AFC. We would like to wish the new managers and teams the very best of luck for the upcoming year. David and Noel’s under 12’s and Ger and Mick’s under 9’s are competing in the indoor Futsal leagues. Nick and Ki-eron’s under 9’s are warming up for the season by playing a 4 week tournament in Balbriggan. We will post a roundup of how they all got on in the next issue. Open DayWe held our first ever boys open day in Gormanston on Saturday the 13th January. It was a wild and wet day but that didn’t stop us having an amazing turnout of both existing and new players which we are de-lighted to welcome into the Club. Thanks to all who organised such a successful day. Registration nightWe will be holding registration for our ex-isting boys in Whytes function room on Monday the 29th January from 8-9pm and the again the following Monday 5th Feb at the same times. Please can all boys teams players please attend. NDSL photos will also be taken on the night for those who need them. Please bring childs ID.Players Wanted!!! Girls wanted for the under 12’s and under 14’s teams – we are looking for girls born in 2004, 2005 and 2006 for our amazing under 12 and under 14’s teams, please email stamullenfc@gmail.com for more details. Club Contact Details: -Email - stamullenfc@gmail.com Facebook - www.facebook.com/stamullenfcClub Secretary - Marcus Kelly – 0851477825Website – www.stamullenfc.com §Metrifit System www.metrifit.comSports clubs, coaches and athletes in Meath and beyond are invited to use performance monitoring software devised by Dundalk-based specialists, Metrifit. Said to be the latest innovation in sports technology, the Metrifit system helps ath-letes and team players reach peak per-formance using information gleaned by monitoring elements like health, nutrition, sleep, stress, illness, injury and activity lev-els. Metrifit is an athlete monitoring system that gathers subjective and objective infor-mation from both coaches and athletes to drive behavior modification and improve-ment through insights modeled on descrip-tive and predictive analytics. It sounds complicated but Metrifit prides itself on its simple intuitive interface and advocates a simple effective approach that doesn’t overwhelm the athlete or the coaching/staff member’. Metrifit has been rolled out across Ireland, the UK, Europe, USA, Can-ada and Australia/New Zealand and across multiple sports codes. §© February 2018 The Meath Coaster55Naomh Colmcille C.L.G. A new season is starting and it’s all very busy and exciting at St ColmcillesAGMThanks to everyone who came out and supported a very well attended AGM. It was great to be able to reflect on a very successful 2017 and look forward to an exciting 2018 and beyond. The AGM was a poignant one and it marked the end of era as our dear friend Oliver Kavanagh stepped down as Chair-man after a sustained period of growth and success. Many tributes were paid to Jackser who steps down with the Club in a very healthy state with solid foundations for a bright future in place. In honour of unstinting service to his club and commu-nity Jackser was presented with an honor-ary life membership of the Club by Presi-dent Pat Haigney. The good news for everyone is that Jack-ser is not stepping away from the club and will remain active and involved on a daily basis and continue to be involved in the club’s growth and developmentAn emotional night as our dear friend and leader Oliver Kavanagh stood down as Chairman after leading the club through an era of success and growth. Pictured with his daughters Ciara and Lisa ‘Jackser’ was presented with Honorary Lifetime Membership www.cilles.com© February 2018 The Meath Coaster56Some of the key positions for 2018 are as followsChairman: Keith LoughmanSecretary: Barry McDonaldTreasurer: Fergal KellyPRO: Ciara LalorChildren’s Officer: Des MorganRegistrar: Barbara O ConnellOskars 2018 - 16th March - Do Not MissTHE event of 2018 takes place on Fri-day 16th March at the City North Hotel when many brave souls will present for your viewing pleasure some of the most iconic movies seen. The Snapper, The Field, Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump are just some of the movies to hit our special Silver Screen in the night. Our brave actors and actresses will be competing for the titles of Best Movie, Actress etc and it promises to be our big-gest and best event yet. All proceeds go towards our Infrastructure projects. Our volunteers are seeking your support for sponsorship and fundraising events and we would ask everyone to support these as much as possible. Well done to all involved in the Movember initiative - the Cheque was handed over to the Gary Kelly Centre last month. Here’s to an even bigger and better 2018!team are pictured with County Boars Irish and Cultural Officer - our very own Denise MorganMovember© February 2018 The Meath Coaster57You can support the event by sponsor-ing participants, taking an ad in our pro-gramme and buying tickets for the event Tickets will also be on sale shortly so get yours early and don’t miss out on this event of a life time!! See you all on the 16th MarchCounty PlayersWell done to all our players from across the club who have been called up to the various county squads across all age groups. Special word to Graham Reilly and Ben Brennan who are the first into competitive action and starred in Meath’s O Byrne cup campaign and who play to-day in the National LeagueSupport Your Club In 2018We are asking all our supporters to make a special effort to come out and support all our teams in 2018. We have a reputation as super fans and we want to build on that’d. Well done to our county u16 ladies players Caoimhe Kerri and Alannah who were in action v Cavan recently Games Promotion Officer Niall Kane presented an excellent Player Pathway workshop at Piltown last month Please support our Oskars fundraisers. Pictured with Chairman and President is Actress a Pamela Conlon who is selling our famous wristbands© February 2018 The Meath Coaster58All upcoming games and events will be noted on our communication channels - www.cilles.com Facebook- St Colmcilles GAA club and twitter @stcolmcillesgaa A special mention to our website spon-sors - Burke’s PharmacyYou can also support our club by various sponsorships and advertisements. For fur-ther details on our range of options please contact Fergal on treasurer@cilles.comLadies Football 2018We are delighted to welcome renowned coach John Mulvanny on board with our ladies teams in 2018. John is highly re-garded on the Ladies Football scene hav-ing led Dee Rovers to an All Ireland Club Final and we are very excited to have him with us this season and working with our adult team managers. Good luck to every-one for the season aheadSchools Football Competitions Com-menceThe first round of the Cooney and Corn Cois Farraige Competitions took place last month. The conditions might have been arctic but the football warmed the hearts of all. Good luck to all the teams in rd2. Keep practicingCoaching CornerOur club GPO Niall Kane has been very busy not only in our schools but on de-The hard work never stops. Pat Haigney and Pat Kelly pictured with Niall Kane taking a break from laying our new path © February 2018 The Meath Coaster59livery of our education programmes. Niall and our coaching officer - Micky Conlon recently delivered an excellent workshop on the Player Pathway which we will be developing over the weeks and months ahead. We encourage all our coaches and men-tors to support our education programmes which will be a great help in the season ahead Club LottoExcitement is mounting as our Club Lotto contin-ues to grow. You can play lotto weekly or annually by buying a ticket on-line at www.cilles.com at the club or in various outlets around the community. All monies raised go to fund our day to day running costsLeinster Club LeaguesGood luck to all our boys teams who are in action in the new Leinster leagues this month. These leagues are run on a Games for All basis and are a great addition to the calendar §Well done to our Scor na n Og quiz team who did so well finishing 4th in the county final. The team are pictured with County Boars Irish and Cultural Officer - our very own Denise MorganNext >