LEE FLAG INITIATIVE 2013 WINNERS ANNOUNCED 

The winners of the 2013 LEE Flag Club Accreditation Scheme were announced at the Club Officers Workshop in Pairc Ui Chaoimh last Thursday.

Ballincollig won the main Gold Award with Ballinhassig scooping the Silver and Cobh annexing the Bronze Award.

These clubs will receive grant aid for coaching projects that will benefit their club in the long term. They, along with 30 other clubs who qualified as finalists in the 3 categories will also benefit from a host of benefits through 2014 such as extra GDA visits, entry to draws for Munster & All Ireland tickets, entry to draw for the chance to play in Croke Park Blitzes, increased access to the hurley and helmet subsidy scheme to name but a few. 

However, Ballincollig are the proud recipients of the coveted top award fighting off stiff competition from clubs all over Cork to scoop the top award.

Games Manager Kevin O Callaghan noted “the clubs who entered for the Gold Award are all putting in an unbelievable effort to keep GAA at the forefront of their communities. The quality of the coaching taking place in these clubs is first class and the quality of the players they will produce is going to be of a very high standard.” He went on to point out that “Ballincollig are fully deserving of this award and having visited training sessions in the club at nursery level, there is a lot of planning and thought goes in to every session and the overall yearly goals for each age group at underage level.” O Callaghan went on to pay particular credit to Ballincolligs Coaching Officer (Conor Cronin) who has done a huge amount of work in this role to support club coaches and put quality structures in place to ensure the coaching standards are at a high level in the club.

Cork Coaching Officer, Brendan O Driscoll applauded all clubs who engaged in the scheme in 2013 and while he feels "the plaudits go to the 3 outright winning clubs, the other finalists in the 3 categories deserve enormous credit for the tremendous work which they are undertaking in the promotion of GAA. In reality, all the clubs are winners as they are working to such as high standards both on and off the pitch to ensure they get their players to reach their potential.” 

The LEE Flag initiative is designed to point clubs in the direction of coaching and games best practice while rewarding clubs who are achieving in this area.

Clubs are required to meet specific targets through the year as set out by Cork Coaching & Games. The clubs are asked to appoint a Coaching Officer to oversee the implementation of a coaching plan within the club.  Clubs were also required to run a Kelloggs GAA Cul Camp and to participate in u 8 and u 10 Monster Blitzes run by Cork Coaching & Games. Clubs were allowed to enter Gold (15 targets), Silver (10 targets) or Bronze (5 targets) with the rewards scheme offering greater rewards to the Gold category winners. All clubs will be presented with a glass plate which they can display at their club grounds to show people they are offering a quality product to children in their communities, similar to the Green Flag Accredited schools who engage in environmental best practice. 

The 2014 LEE Flag Initiative is now “live” and all clubs are asked to embrace the challenging but achievable criteria laid out.

OVERALL RESULTS OF THE 2013 LEE FLAG SCHEME 

*Cork Coaching and Games is part funded by the Cork GAA Clubs' Draw