Teacher Taster Day a Great Success

On Wednesday February 10th over 45 teachers from 25 schools returned to their youth and indeed the playground on attending the first ever Schools’ Sports Taster Day in Sportslink. The event was held by Fingal County Council’s Sports Office and their co-funded sports partners: The Football Association of Ireland (FAI), Tennis Ireland (TI), Leinster Cricket Union (LCU), Leinster Rugby (LR), Athletics Ireland (AI) and Sports Conditioning Ireland.

The Taster Day gave teachers the opportunity to participate in fun based sports sessions, which enabled them to sample a variety of sports activities on offer through the council to all schools in Fingal. The teachers also had the chance to meet with all the co-funded sports development officers on the same day and decide what sports would suit the needs of their particular school.

Senior Sports Development Officer, Niall Mc Guirk, “we’re (Fingal) delighted with how the day went, the feedback from teachers has been fantastic and most have left here today with new ideas, new sports contacts and most importantly excited and reinvigorated about sport. I would like to thank the teachers for both their commitment to the Taster Day and to sport in general and I would like to specially mention and commend all the principals who supported this event at a time when there are many demands on schools and its staff.”

Tutors Brian O’Rourke, Reinhardt Strydom and Albert Van Der Merwe spent valuable time with the teachers explaining basic cricket techniques and small sided games. Advice was offered to them in relation to establishing cricket within their school PE programme and how best to source start-up equipment.

Cricket continues to grow in Fingal particularly in new areas where a team of coaches visit schools on a weekly basis. Areas like Mulhuddart, Castaheany, Corduff, Tyrellstown and Diswellstown (Blanchardstown) are all enjoying high levels of cricket activity with many of the schools in these areas participating in the ‘Leprechaun Cup’ which starts again in the coming months.