Mothers and Others Camogie Group in St Mary’s leading the way

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May 18, 2022

St Mary’s Camogie Club PRO Karen Ferris details the success of the ‘Mamogies’ in the club.

St. Mary’s Hurling and Camogie club has established a very successful Mothers & Others camogie group. A long established and successful club, St. Mary's of Clonmel reformed the camogie side of the club last year setting up the only camogie club in the urban town of Clonmel. It's initial focus was on building a sustainable base, starting with offering training to young new players from 6-10 years of age. One of the initiatives undertaken in the early weeks was to run a basic camogie skills course for mothers & others. This was led out by the camogie coaches; Michael O’Reilly, Donncha Fahey, Zoe Farrell and Mags Leahy, ensuring experienced hurling and camogie players were involved and supporting skills development from the off.

It has since taken on a life of its own and a four week programme to learn how to strike a sliotar and practice at home with the kids has now developed into a nearly thirty-five strong group who meet at the St. Mary’s sportfield each Friday night to practice drills and play some fairly competitive matches. Because of the way the group started out, it attracted a broad church including women who had never played hurling or any competitive sport before. The focus has all been about having fun, getting in a bit of exercise, the social interaction and and picking up some camogie skills along the way. Many of the younger players come along to the field each Friday, and it’s a community affair with the girls getting to puck around at the same time as cheering on the mams in the matches.

The Mothers & Others group, or ‘Mamogies’ as they are called in the club have got involved in a number of additional initiatives above and beyond the camogie including a mental health awareness month last November and a May Moves Challenge involving weekly Zumba classes and meet ups for weekly runs. They are also running a 4 week Beginners Course this month to get new members involved and ensure it stays as accessible to people at all levels.

It really took off at a time coming out of Covid where there was a great buzz around being able to meet up in person again and it has formed really strong social connections right across the club, and is now a set fixture on the St. Mary’s GAA calendar in Clonmel. There are no plans to field a team or undertake competitive matches with other clubs, but you never know. We’re only starting out and the skills are improving from week to week!