Inclusion Cúl Camp

As well as our Sunday All Stars Inclusion morning Blessington GAA held a fantastic Cúl Camp this August with a strong focus on inclusion. Welcoming children of all abilities from various surrounding areas including Wicklow, Dublin and Kildare this 2 day camp put on show the very best of the GAA community.

Interview with gaa.ie below by Karen Richardson:

“When we were doing it we had 26 kiddies with additional needs. They came from Dublin, neighbouring areas in Wicklow, and we have people coming from Naas in Kildare. We looked at our children individually, we matched the children that needed one to one up, and then we had two small groups.

“It was child led, but with great encouragement from the coaches and everybody. We enlisted two of our members, Molly Bean, a special needs teacher, and Anna King, who is an SNA.

“We also brought some primary school teachers onboard. It was very well run by Cormac Noone and our own Jonathan Daniels.”

Positive relationships have been forged with Bray Emmets too. “Last year we called it an All-Stars training session, we invited Bray over to our club with the help of Clara Jenkinson,” Richardson recalls.

“She is the Wicklow Inclusion Development Officer, she helped us connect with Jenny Lackey in Bray Emmets GAA. We did some visual boards, we sent them to Bray to show the children what they would see on their route over to Blessington and what our club looks like.

To read the full article about our camp you can do so by clicking on gaa.ie

The Blessington All Stars run every Sunday morning from 10-11 on the astro pitch and new members are always welcome.

Some of the amazing feedback we have received from our camp…

Thanks

This camp could not run without the great support and help from out Healthy Club Team and Blessington GAA club as a whole which offer huge support on a weekly basis.

What our parents had to say…

“An incredible morning. Inclusion at its best, thanks soo much to everyone involved in organising it and being soo giving of their time. Lewis loved it and we both can't wait till tomorrow 😊”

“I can’t thank enough Karen and the crew for organizing the last 2 days of the camp! Ur all brilliant 👏👌✨️so fortunate to have you guys 💓👍”

“Thank you so much everyone for the past 2 days. My girls have been wrecked from all the play and excitement. Thanks a million to their 2 coaches for patience and no doubt a lot of running around. Have a gorgeous rest of the holidays everyone!”

“Thanks so much everyone for the last 2 days ye are the best bunch of people Jacob loved it and special thanks to his coach yesterday and coach Erica today he loved it 🥰 it means so much as this is the only camp he will attend throughout the summer ❤️”

“Thank you very much everyone. Robbie had a great time amd this is his first time doing tje summer camp. Thank you to the organizer and the All Star people. Good job to everyone!!!💚🎉”

“A big thank you very much. Tommy had a great time and ran in both mornings. Well done to all who organised it and all coaches too ❤️”

“Thank you to all the volunteers and coaches that helped the past couple of days and those who looked after Eli 🥰...it makes such a difference to have an inclusive camp that our children can be themselves without judgement. We're looking forward to next year's camp 😁🤍💙🤍”

“Thank you so so much to all the volunteers and coaches and blessington Gaa especially AVA for a wonderful 2 days . Conor b had the most fantastic time”

“Thanks so much for organising this camp. Niamh had a great time so much so she ran straight in this morning. We are so lucky to have a camp for our child in our community.”

“I thought the camp went really really well today as the kids were able to do free play which is important for them (not military style) 🤗,it was fantastic Luke had a lovely morning and all the other kids had a ball.”

“Many thanks to the organisers, coaches, volunteers and Blessington GAA. You should be very proud for what you have given our children the last two days. Many thanks 🙏”

“Thanks to all the coaches, organisers and helpers. Niamh has been talking about going to Cúl Camp with her friends for weeks now and loved every second of it. She was so excited to get the gear and be the same as her brothers. I’ve tried her in regular Cúl Camp which didn’t work out so this has been fantastic. Thanks to everyone for their time and hard work organising a very successful camp ❤️”

“Thanks sooo much to everyone involved over the last 2 days. It was magical. Lewis and I really enjoyed it. Blessington GAA is a super example of how to get inclusion right at club level and to make it accessible for everyone.”

“Thanks you all so much. Elliott loved the two days and was so happy to see all his friends again. Thanks for the impact you make on our kids, it’s really appreciated ❤️❤️❤️”