News from Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré 23-04-2018
Transition Year GAA Coaching Award (by Jane Cleary and Eilish Gleeson)
On the 12th of April 2018, 16 transition year students participated in a GAA Coaching and Refereeing Course. The course was delivered by Paudie Malone who is a Tipperary Regional Games Development Officer. The students learned many different aspects of coaching juvenile players and refereeing juvenile ‘Go Games’. They began their course with theory. In groups, the key elements of coaching different skills were discussed. These included: Building Rapport, Observation, Providing Demonstrations, Feedback, Analysis and Explaining and Communicating. Secondly, they discussed how juvenile coaches should present themselves, such as being active, involved and interested. The importance of knowing a player’s name and making conversation at every training session were also discussed.
As part of their practical, students learned about what should be included in a juvenile coaching session. A recommend session should include 70% skill, mastery and fun games, 30% of drills and skill development, advice and demonstrations, fundamental skills and also a small sided match. It is also very important to add a fun element to training. The transition years also discussed the characteristics of a U8 player. A key to solve a player getting easily distracted is to speak for a short period of time (30 seconds) to maintain attention. A key factor of juvenile coaching is how coaches gauge success. This can be achieved by player maintenance and observing how skills and confidence improve. Finally, the students were advised on what coaches should take from a blitz. Suggestions included how they should choose a variable to focus on, take stats on it and then base their training on it. Also, it is recommended that players should get to play in every position on the pitch during training up to 14 years of age.
Overall all the students who participated in the course agreed that the day was extremely interesting and beneficial.
Green Schools Committee
Green Schools have been very busy again this year with their Travel Flag application. They held a poster competition and slogan competition to come up with their travel slogan. The winning entry was “Walk or Car Pool to School Instead of Burning Fossil Fuels.” The Green Schools Committee meets every two weeks to discuss and plan what is happening. One of their Travel Flag initiatives was the purchase of pedometers for Green School members and staff to monitor daily steps with the aim to walk 10,000 steps a day!
Dara Dever from Green Schools has surveyed students on how they travel to school. He will return in May to complete his surveying. The committee hopes their efforts to promote environmentally friendly ways to travel to school, such as car-pooling or walking, will increase creating a win- win for everyone by improving fitness and reducing pollution.
Green Schools got involved with the Neat Streets programme this year. Members of the committee attended the national conference in Croke Park in January and Stephen O’Reilly from Neat Streets visited in March. They got tips on how to manage litter and waste and encourage students to dispose of it responsibly. The transition year students have been helping-out with a weekly litter pick in the school grounds.
The committee received 100 tree saplings from Roscrea Tidy Towns/ Tree Council of Ireland to be planted into a nursery for two years before final planting in the school grounds. Green Schools encourage more students to get involved and help-out with the many activities to improve our school environment.
Students from Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré Travel to France on French Exchange
(Written by Peter Maher 5th Year student)
At 2 a.m. on Wednesday, March 28th we assembled and got a minibus in Roscrea, en route to Dublin airport. We met the other students on the bus from the CBS Thurles. We were accompanied by our teachers, Ms. Mullen and Ms. Deegan. Our flight left Dublin at 6.25am and arrived in Paris Beauvais at 9am. We had a long day of travelling ahead of us, between buses, trains and the metro, but eventually our tired heads landed in Lannion train station at 8pm! There we met our French exchange partners and our French Adventure began. On Thursday March 29th, we attended school and also went to the market and had a guided tour of the town of Lannion. On Friday, March 30th the group travelled to Saint Malo, where we had a guided tour of the aquarium. We then went to the fortified town of Saint Malo where we did a fun “Treasure Hunt”. On Monday, April 2nd and Tuesday, April 3rd, we visited the Planetarium de Bretagne and also did a boat trip, as well as visiting a Village Gaulois. We returned home on Wednesday April 4th after an action-packed week. The French exchange students came to Ireland from the 7th to the 14th of April. It was a real culture shock for them to have wear a school uniform! On Monday April 9th, they attended class and visited Damer House. They had a trip to the Rock Of Cashel on Tuesday and did the Viking Splash Tour in Dublin on Wednesday. On Thursday April 12th, both the Irish and French students went to Birr Outdoor Education Centre for team games, and then had a picnic in the gardens of Birr Castle.On Friday April 13th, they attended class once again, before trying their hand at hurling and Irish dancing!
They returned to France on the 14th, after a fun-filled week in their respective schools, Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré and CBS Thurles. All students had a great time and the experience was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who participated.
Many thanks to Ms. Mullen and Ms. Deegan for organising the trip and encouraging us to take part, and to Mr. O’Connor and Mr. Flynn for supporting us.
The students who were involved in the exchange from Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré were: Amy Parlon, Ross Du Berry, Peter Maher, Lorcan O’Meara, Lorry Mwamba and Tadhg Hogan.
