< Previous© May 2019 The Meath Coaster50Lauren, Ciaran and Holly with their National medalsCilles AcIrish National Juvenile Indoor Champi-onship 2019 Lauren Murphy ran a blistering 1500m in the U19s Irish National Juvenile Fi-nal to claim the national title. Lauren ran a steady race-controlled race jostling in the leading pack throughout. With 300m to fin-ish and in 4th position, Lauren took control of the race and began to pass the leaders one by one. At 100m she took the lead and managed to tightly hold onto it to claim the gold and a personal best (4:46:11). Here at Cilles Ac we are bursting with pride as this win makes history for our little club – a first gold at national level. In addition to this marvellous win Lauren also went on to claim a silver medal in the 800m U19, a highly watchable contest with a tight scorching finish.Equally impressive was Holly Brennan who competed in a talent packed U18s 1500m final. At 200m to go Holly pro-pelled herself forward from a mid-pack 5th place to accelerate pass all but the leader claiming a well-deserved 2nd place finish (4:54:61)We also had a third competitor Ciaran Smith who ran a very consistent race in the competitive U19s final. Ciaran ran strongly with good form.Graduation Day for Cilles AC!!Cilles AC kicked off on their first Couch to 5k of the year on the 15th January 2019. On that damp stark January night, a group of determined novices huddled togeth-er shivery at Southgate. The Cilles AC coach Graham Hyland introduced them to the club and to the two leaders who would be taking them through their paces for the next eleven weeks – Susan Kielty and Bridget O’Brien. Susan has been with the club since its founding in 2014 and has complete more than eight marathons, Bridget joined the club in 2017 and has successfully complete 6 half marathons with an eye on ticking marathon running of her list this October! Graham outlined the structure the program would take and explained that Cilles AC have been using this program for 3 years and have found it very successful for new and returning runners. In summary it is a gentle intro-Couch to 5k © May 2019 The Meath Coaster51duction to running. It eases the body in by alternating between walking and run-ning slowly building up to a 5k run over 11 weeks. That first night started with a brisk five-minute walk, then 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. The C25k ended with a 5k race in Tullyallen on the 7th of April – The Glen Emmets 5k!The club rallied around the group in the run up to the race with many members joining them for their midweek sessions. On day the club had 18 new C25K gradu-ates who finished the race with super times - Eunan Brennan, Darren Corcoran, Breda Marron, Oonagh Melia, Bronagh Dixon, Breda Sullivan, Cyril Sullivan, Fiona Cox, Adrienne Clegg, Suzanne O Malley, Chelsea O’Brien, Vicky O’ Sul-livan, Jane O Driscoll, Sean O Dwyer, Siobhan Cronin, Eileen Mullen, Una Munnelly, Michelle Dunne. Two other members of the group had graduated a week earlier at the Oldbridge park run Rebecca O’Halloran and Lynn Maguire! These two go-getters are superb promot-ers of the program as they managed to run a second 5k in April – Jog for a Dog along with club member Fiona Harte and their couch to 5k mentor Bridget O’Brien!The graduates will now join the club training sessions and complete in the in-house league which groups all members in ten-man strong teams. Points are built by running local races and by achieving a personal best (pb)! New graduates are a valuable commodity to teams as there will be pbs a plenty!!!Kids Relay TeamsSharon with London Marathon Medal© May 2019 The Meath Coaster52On the same weekend four of our veteran runners also competed on the roads. Ci-ara Lenihan and Deirdre Mc Nulty im-pressed in their first race of the season at the Patsy Kelly 5K race. Sharon Agnew Rothwell ran the 20-mile race at Temple Street Children’s Hospital One Day Fes-tival of Running in her inaugural race in club colours whilst Claire Gaffney Purtill indulged in a bit of racing tourism running the Lahinch 10 Mile race!Meath Track and Field League and Ju-nior ChampionshipsWe kicked off the Meath Track and Field League on the 17Th of April with a large contingent of young athletes competing strongly securing ample points for the club’s league aspirations. The Meath Jun-ior Championships began on the same day with the club showing their fighting spirit securing some big pbs. Holly and Lauren ended the month as it started placing in a very competitive Junior 800m champion-ship with 1st and 2nd place respectively.A total of seven Cilles AC teams took part in the Relay Event (ages 10-14). First up to showcase the Cilles orange was Charlie, Conor, Tyler and Jonny who ran a great U10s Boys’ race. The U11s Girls com-peted next with Annabel, Nina, Tara and Hollie showing fighting spirit to claim 4th. The U11s Boys were represented strongly by Conor, Kyle, Jonny and Joshua who finished third earning them a bronze medal. Hannah, Lucy, Chloe and Emma ran strong in the U12s Girls category with Lucy, Chloe and Emma F taking to the track again and all 3 running up an age with Emma D in the U13s Girls race. Cian kicked off a strong first Leg for the U13 Boys team handing over to Noah who powered along for the second leg handing over to Owen. Owen managed to hold his position very well just nipping ahead into second place for the handover to Fionn. Fionn ran a strong final leg ensuring a second-place finish and silver medals for the boys!The U-14 Girls finished off proceedings in fantastic fashion with Shannon, Sarah Boys U13 Silver MedallistsDeirdre and Ciara Dundalk 5k© May 2019 The Meath Coaster53Grace, Sarah C and Emma O'S claiming 4th.Thanks to all the young athletes, parents and coaches for coming over to take part and support this local event. It was great to see so many there to represent Cilles AC!Meath Local Sports Partnership Meath Local Sports Partnership have re-cently launched a 0-3k walk to jog pro-gramme across 5 different areas in Meath. The initiative resulted following many en-quiries to them from the public for slower paced fitness programmes. The overall aim is to encourage sedentary individu-als to increase their movement and pace thereby improving their health and physi-cal fitness. Whilst Meath Local Sports Partnership provide their own Leader for the programme the Cilles AC representa-tive Nicole Ludden assists the leader in providing support and encouragement to the participants. The programme is run over 6 weeks and will give participants the confidence to continue with their fit-ness upkeep either or their own, with fel-low participants or by taking part in Cilles AC’s Fitness4life or Couch to 5k pro-grammes.Jog for a dog!Round UpOther notable events included the Dundalk 10k Race – were Ciara Lenihan and Deirdre Mc Nulty zoomed home to solidify the good start to the racing sea-son. Olivia O’Rourke and Eloise Cowie went off road braving the elements to complete a 10k trail run in Bray. Sharon Agnew Rothwell completed the London Marathon in a fantastic time of 4:32:48 adding a third star to her major marathon collection. Derek Butler, Olivia Bennet, Caroline and Grainne Ward ran in the Duleek Cystic Fibrosis 10k raising money for a great charity. The summer is sure to be scorcher for Cilles AC as we ramp up preparations for our own Bettystown 5-mile race on the 16th of July! Keep an eye out for further details on the race and information on an exciting competition coming your way! §Walk Around IrelandCoeliac disease sufferers planning Walk for Awareness around Ireland to high-light 7,300 undiagnosed childrenCoeliac disease sufferers are planning to ‘walk around Ireland twice to raise awareness for the estimated 7,300 chil-dren who have the conditions but are un-diagnosed.The Society has enlisted its 3,600 mem-bers for sponsored walks to raise aware-ness of the issue The sponsored walks will take place during Coeliac Awareness Week, which runs from 13th-19th May. Coeliac Awareness Week will this year in-clude Ireland’s first ever National Gluten Free Day, on Thursday, 16th May, when the Coeliac Society will stage a ‘Grow with Us’ themed event §© May 2019 The Meath Coaster54Castlehill Riding ClubThe NER RDS Team SJ Qualifier is due to take place in May in Raven-sdale Lodge, Co. Louth. Members of the club have put themselves forward to com-pete, and it was a difficult task for team selectors Anne Stanley and international course-builder Tom Holden to make a selection. The riders attended a selection day in Broadmeadows EC, and from this the following riders were selected to rep-resent our club at the competition: Niamh Murphy (Railings Hopeful Scope), Cai-triona Kavanagh (Tirhomin Bouncer Lad), Shona Lynch (Ferdi Whitmore), Ellen McGuinness (Royal Mastermind) with Justyna Adam (Nethercross Molly) and Julia Spangoletti (Piltown Bouncer) as reserves. We are extremely excited for our team, and wish them all the best of luck for the upcoming qualifier.Club members were also competing re-cently at the National Sports Arena at the Linda Moore SJ Spring League hosted by Rathfarnham RC. New member Elaine Mulligan and her horse Pheobe placed a fantastic second on the day in the Ad-vanced Primary class. She narrowly beat club secretary Olivia Nolan and member Rose Hanratty, but it was Rose who won best turned out on the day. In the primary class Ciara McKeown and Bailey jumped a lovely clear round but were unlucky to be out of the placings. Well done girls!At the Dressage Ireland Winter Finals, club chair Lindsey Ilona Brady and her horse Trigger Joe placed 8th in an ex-tremely competitive Novice champion-ship class. This was contested over two days of competition in April, and is a great achievement at a national level.For more information, please “like” our page on FB or contact Olivia on 086 – 3831802. Lindsey ilona Brady and Trigger JoeRose Hanratty and Starlight ExpressElaine Mulligan and Pheobe© May 2019 The Meath Coaster55Laytown United SFCwww.laytownunitedsfc.com / www.facebook.com/LaytownUnitedSFCOn Saturday 6th April the commu-nity joined together once again in memory of Max Mason, the match host-ed in Seafield by Laytown United, saw old school boy rivals Laytown Utd and Donacarney Celtic (teams of 2010 -2018) battle it out for the prize of the Max Ma-son Memorial Cup, a thrilling game for all involved but there could only be one win-ner and Donacarney came out on top with a 3-1 win. The day was a huge success and extremely well supported by both the local and wider community and we would like to sincerely thank each and every person who contributed to the day and enabled it to be such an amaz-ing fundraiser for The chosen charity Jigsaw, in excess of €6,000 was raised this year added with the total from last year that brings the amount donated to Jigsaw in Max’s name to over €20,000, an amazing sum of money that will enable jigsaw to continue the fantastic work they do mak-ing a positive impact on so many young people’s lives. But of course none of this would have been possible if it hadn’t been for Lee Conroy’s drive to get the initiative off the ground, supported by Tracy and the Woods family, Lee worked tirelessly to make sure that everything ran like clock work in the lead up to and on the day of the match. As a club we are extremely proud of all the work that Lee has done and we know that our under 15s are in safe hands with such a dedicated, conscientious coach looking after them. § © May 2019 The Meath Coaster56East Meath Unitedwww.instagram.com/eastmeathunitedwww.twitter.com/EastMeathUnitedwww.facebook.com/eastmeathunitedfcBeing a Positive Team ParentAs I mentioned in my previous article I’ve a lot of experience teaching and coaching other sports before I came to EMU and it’s from this vast array of ac-tivities that I bring this this piece…Here are a few ways you, as a parent, can be a positive force on your child's team and therefore contribute to their success. Parents have a much larger influence on youth teams than most people realize, both good and bad. It is not always easy but I promise if you commit to being a positive force it will be reflected in your child’s performance and ultimately your child’s team. On the flip side, parents can be re-sponsible for small amounts of negativity that can literally ruin the experience for everyone involved. Here are some ways you can take the initiative to make sure that everyone has a good experience.• Tow the line• Spread the mojo• Be a cheerleader, NOT a coach• Take Advantage of Quality Time• Promote camaraderie through team and club events Tow The LineCoaches need more help than they will ever admit. Therefore, make sure you in-troduce yourself early and let the coach know you are willing to help in any way they see fit. If your team has a team manager then make sure they also know youare willing to help in any way. A ca-maraderie developed between the adults involved with a team will trickle down to the players. More often than not it will also be contagious and other parents will also offer up their services. It doesn’t have to be much but whatever you offer, make sure you are clear that you will help in whatever areas they need help. Do not start to impose by offering up your coach-ing services. Most coaches will have a good curriculum of soccer drills they have developed over years or handed to them by their club. When a parent does this it raises a red flag to a coach because it usu-ally is a sign that the parent wants to be more involved with coaching their child or worse yet that they don’t believe in the coach. When you offer to help be crystal clear you are willing to help with anything the team needs, in other words set an ex-ample of a true team player. Your son or daughter will notice you actions and atti-tude and it will carry over to them as well as the team. Spread The MojoEveryone likes to see their kid’s team have success. However, when things are not going so well the first thing I typically notice is a few grumblings from groups of parents. The gossip about particular play-ers or the coaching. The easiest thing to do is to buy in and contribute to this chat-ter, however, it is more harmful than you can imagine. If you find yourself in one of these situations you need to remove your-self right away. Next, take some time to think about when and how you can plant © May 2019 The Meath Coaster57positive seeds. Remember team sports are about participation and enjoyment win-ning is only a very small part. Regardless of how the game is going blast out some positive comments about other players. Give compliments to other parents about their players. Trust me, this will be con-tagious and will help defend against the negativity that might otherwise rise up and take over. As funny as it sounds, parents also want to come away from practices and games feeling good about their child’s per-formance. As adults we can be the worst critics and think our child’s performance is a reflection of our parenting or in my case my coaching. That is why a few positive words to other parents about their kid goes a long way. So spread the mojo! Do Not CoachIt does not matter how many times this is mentioned in parent meetings, emails, and one on one conversations. There will al-ways be a parent coaching from the side line. There is nothing wrong with cheer-ing for players to “stay with it”. However, when you start yelling out positioning and how to play the game then perhaps you need to check yourself and go back to the car. More often than not the coach will have provided conflicting instructions. Do you like it when you receive two dif-ferent sets of instructions at work? How frustrated does that make you? Can you perform your best under those circum-stances? Leave it to the coach. You may disagree but it is better for your player to receive instructions from ONE source.Take Advantage Of Quality TimeSoccer Moms or Dads talking with their child is the most valuable link something they will remember into their adult hood. Sometimes the best time for love is when your child or team has had a rough game. Your little player will be looking for sup-port from you if they trust you. You need to build that trust. Put your arm around them and let them know first and foremost you are there for them. Win or lose you are proud of them. These can be very con-structive moments if you take advantage of them. Do not let them complain about team-mates, referees, or coaches. Instead, find things they did well and plant seeds in their head about how they can have a dif-ferent outcome next time. It is also good to be honest about their effort and their at-titude. Talk to them about how they can build up their teammates and set a good example through their attitude, effort, and body language. You need to make sure in these conversations that you never talk negatively about other players, coaches, or teammates as it will filter through your child and chances are they will be less accountable because they are learning to place the blame somewhere else. Promote Camaraderie Most players will remember youth sports as the relationships and fun they had with teammates. As adults we tend to lose sight of this because we always want to have some measure of success. However, think back to your own experiences. Do you re-member your wins and losses (aside from a few special ones)? I bet you remember Continued over....© May 2019 The Meath Coaster58Stamullen Football Club Club news Our big news this month is all about our amazing Easter camp. In other news, our girls teams are all reach-ing the end of their seasons and are hav-ing amazing successes which will we fill you in on in the next edition. Our boys teams leagues and cups are in full swing now and everyone is delighted to be back playing matches. Our under 8 girls are en-joying lots of blitzes and are improving week on week. Easter camp!The Easter camp ran from the 15th-18th April and was an amazing success. We had over 60 kids ages 5-13 attend over the 4 days. The first day the weather was against us so we trained indoors but thank-fully we got to be outside the rest of the week. Sean Moore headed up the camp and was assisted by lots of Stamullen FC coaches and committee and parents. We had an amazing bunch of teenagers from the Club and community give up their time and help mentor the younger kids. We would like to thank Sean for an amaz-ing program, each and every coach, par-ent, volunteer and teenager for all your amazing work and dedication. The camp Some of our amazing teenagers who helped at the campyour teammates and I bet you remember positive experiences. Team trips, fun days out club events. As a parent you have the ability to create experiences for your child and their teammates. Attend club fun days and take part in fundraising events. If you have an opportunity to take them and their friends to a professional game in their sport it can be a great way to keep the social component within the context of the sport. It will take some initiative but it is even worth contacting your local professional team because many of them will offer up discounts to club teams or do something special for them at the game.In ConclusionPlease take a little time to reflect on how you approach your child’s season as a par-ent. Your goal should be to be a positive force for the good of the team. You can help create an environment that will help promote the camaraderie and positive team culture. Here is a quick recap… Do not contribute to any negativity sur-rounding the team, instead plant positive seeds. Offer up to help the coach and team man-ager but be sure not to overstep the par-ent / coach boundary.Be a good example for your child and nurture a positive attitude, good effort, and good body language.Do not coach from the side lines.Organise events that promote team ca-maraderie. If you take even some of my advice on board both you and your little player will form and amazing connection, and have a life long bond. Not only that but the team as a whole be better for your involvement. §© May 2019 The Meath Coaster59Woodbine, dispatching of them 5-2. With five remaining league matches in May, the plan is to finish on a high, so we can continue this form into next season.Club Contact Details:Email - stamullenfc@gmail.com Facebook - www.facebook.com/stamullenfcClub Secretary Marcus Kelly – 0851477825Website – www.stamullenfc.com wouldn’t have been the success it was without you all. All the kids had a blast. We are already looking forward to the next camp. Watch this space!Academy Our academy is on Saturday mornings on the grass outside gormanston sports hall at 10am-11am,for ages 4 upwards. New players are always welcome, so if you have a budding little soccer player who would love to give it a try please bring them along. Seniors news Our seniors finally found an upturn in form as we approach the final month of the season. Losing to champions elect, Cabra Celtic, 3-2 was a bitter pill to swallow, after lead-ing 1-0 at half-time. We got back to win-ning ways with an emphatic 11-0 romp away to Portrane. This was backed up four days later with another win away to Grange Next >