The 2019 Benchmarking Awards & Conference took place in Nemo Rangers on Sat 22nd Feb 2020. With many clubs receiving their awards on the day they also got a chance to attend nine different events

Main organiser Colm Crowley GDA welcomed everyone on the day and introduced Cork GAA Coaching Officer Ronan Dwane, who officially opened the conference.

On the day you had Traolach Martin, CBC Senior coach, former Dublin Underage coach a& Dublin Colleges Coach give a presentation on Developing a holistic Youth Player through Club, School and County

Barry Dunne Games Development Administrator with Waterford GAA give a presentation on Identifying your clubs values and steps to honour them.

Colm Crowley Coach County Board Games Development Administrator and Founder of Coaching the GAAme present a practical workshop on Games to introduce & Develop skills for 5 -10 year olds.

Pat Spratt & James McCarthy Cork GAA Games Development Administrators, All Ireland winning Minor and U20 Football Coaches give a practical workshop on Integrating a Games Based Coaching approach for Youth Players

Dr Diarmuid Lester – Bishopstown club player PE Teacher and Doctoral candidate in the area of Motor Development presenting The Importance of Fundamental Movement Skills for Children

Shane Supple Runai Rebel OG, Ex Games Development Administrator & Coach Education Coordinator for Cork GAA presenting Coach Education for your club and the structures in the coach education programs

Barry Mullane Founder Active Sports Coaching, Former GPO with Dublin GAA presenting a practical workshop on Fun Games & Activities to Develop Fundamental Movement Skills in Children

Colm O’Sullivan presenting Functional Movement & Athletic Development for the Youth Player and what the club can do for him

Kevin O’Callaghan , Games Manager with Cork GAA how to maximise 100% of your target audience, the local Primary Schools

Keynote Speaker who closed the conference Keith Ricken Cork U20 All Ireland Winning Manager and GAA Officer in CIT presenting a Player centered approach to Coaching.

We must thank the following people who helped make the conference a success, Colm Crowley and the full time staff with Cork GAA.  Kevin O’Callaghan Ganes Manager , GDA’s Pat Spratt, James McCarthy, GPO Paudie Crowley,  Rebel Og Chairman Michael O’Mahony,  Des Culinane, Childrens Officer with the County Board. Conor Counihan Director of Football with Cork GAA, all the staff in Nemo Rangers who facilitated everything on the day, to all our guest speakers and presenter who gave valuable insight in many aspects of being a coach in your club. To all the clubs who took part in Benchmarking and Coaching Officers from the clubs who spend so much time and effort making sure that their club stay current and up to date on Benchmarking.
Below are the results from the Benchmarking Accreditation Scheme for 2019 listed below.
Congratulations to all clubs who have achieved recognition through this initiative and it is testament to the great work going on in communities all over the county in promoting gaelic games.
While 2020 is currently presenting huge challenges to us all, where possible clubs should try to engage in the national coaching webinars every Tuesday and Thursday along with our Rebel Og Coaching webinars being held every Wednesday. If clubs wish to run workshops through a webinar forum with club coaches, then GDA’s would be happy to facilitate this in the coming weeks.