Third Annual Dublin Community Camp, Hosted By GPA

The third annual Community Camp is being hosted by the Gaelic Players Association in the ALSAA Centre in Dublin this week and this year the GPA teamed up with SOAR to broaden the remit of Camp.

At the launch Dublin players were very much to the fore. Now a central component of the GPA's Social Responsibility Programme, the camp is aimed at young secondary school children who would not normally get a chance to attend an activity camp. 

Daily sessions were conducted with the attendees to help them develop a greater appreciation of themselves and those around them.

SOAR creates and delivers early intervention preventative programs for young people from all backgrounds, where within a safe and supportive environment they are given the opportunity to be themselves, to build emotional awareness, self-confidence, peer respect, self-belief and resiliency.

With a team of current and former county players operating as coaches, the Camp uses sport as a vehicle to promote and encourage positive emotional health and wellbeing.

Speaking about the camp, GPA Chief Executive Dessie Farrell commented: 

The GPA Community Camp has become a central cog in our Social Responsibility Programme both in terms of providing an opportunity for children and as a valuable learning opportunity for our organisation and our players. This year we decided to broaden the remit of the camp by partnering with Tony Griffin, Karl Swan and the SOAR organisation and it has been wonderful to see the children thrive in this environment. We hope that publicity for this kind of activity will help influence others in our society to embrace these concepts. Our hope is that if the model is successful that we will roll this out, facilitated by trained players, to other locations in Ireland.

I would like to thank our partners who have supported the Camp this week, Bus Éireann, Opel Ireland, O' Neill's and Life Style Sports. I would particularly like to express our gratitude to Lifestyle Sports whose very generous support has helped to brighten the lives of the young children on the camp today.

Speaking about their support, Life Style Team Sports Buyer David Reynolds said: 

We're extremely proud to support this fantastic GPA event and blown away by the talent of the young players who took part. At Life Style Sports, we're looking forward to a thrilling summer of GAA action and excited to be the only retailer in Ireland to stock all 32 counties jerseys this season as well as an extensive range of fan wear and equipment - everything for both the player and fan!

Following the success of the recent GPA campaign WeWearMore, which focussed on players not limiting their identity to that of their jersey, this week's Community Camp borrowed a similar theme of children understanding that the suit of armour they often have to wear to survive in their environment, does not have to define them or limit what they can achieve in life.

Children from two Dublin schools from disadvantaged areas were represented at the camp.

About SOAR

Upon seeing the documentary Every Heart Beats True: The Jim Stynes Story, two men (former Clare Hurler Tony Griffin and Karl Swan) agreed that the REACH foundation in Melbourne, Australia delivered research based programs that would be of great assistance to young people in Ireland. Both men were concerned about the impact the economic climate in Ireland was having on young Irish teenager's permission to dream of fulfilling their potential.

In 2011 they travelled to Melbourne, Australia and with great support from REACH came back to Ireland to set up Soar.

More information can be found at www.soar.ie.