Positivity in Portmarnock !
- Oct 20,2011
Positivity in Portmarnock, Gaelic4Mothers & Others National Blitz Day
The 15th of October saw hundreds of Irish women coming out in force for the Gaelic4Mothers & Others National Blitz Day in Portmarnock Co. Dublin. Gaelic4Mothers & Others is a national development initiative of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association which has taken Ireland by storm in the last few years. The central aim of the initiative is to provide all Irish women with a pathway to play Ladies Gaelic regardless of their age or ability.
Gaelic4Mothers is a recreational and non-competitive form of Ladies Football. Anyone woman over 18 who is not currently playing Adult competitive football with a club is eligible to play. Despite the name, women do not have to be a mother to participate.
On the first day of National Mental Health week, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association was delighted to announce a new partnership with Mental Health Ireland. The partnership will be based around the common aim of Gaelic4Mothers & Others and the Mental Health Ireland awareness campaign Building Resilience.
The Building Resilience campaign was launched by Mental Health Ireland in 2010. The aim of the this initiative is to highlight that there are a number of simple steps that can be taken in order to better prepare ourselves to cope with the setbacks that life may throw at us. The ten steps that Building Resilience suggests can all be achieved through participation in Gaelic4Mothers & Others.
One of the key elements of Gaelic4Mothers & Others is the community support network that it creates for women and the positive physical and mental impact that it has on the day to day lives of participants.
The National Blitz Day is the biggest day on the Gaelic4Mothers & Others calendar. This year 74 teams participated which resulted in approximately 900 women getting their football boots on for the day. Teams came from every province in Ireland, some of them staying in Dublin overnight and making a weekend out of it.
Participants had a fantastic day of football and also enjoyed strolling around the exhibitor marquee.
For more information in Gaelic4Mothers & Others visit www.ladiesgaelic.ie.
For more information in Building Resilience visit www.mentalhealth.ie.
Images from the G4M National Blitz Day 2011, GAApics.com
