Warrenpoint GAA Senior Ladies have begun their 2019 season preparations and have committed to growing its participation and attendances by 20% in line with the Irish Sports Councils 20×20 programme. 20×20 is an all-inclusive movement to shift Ireland’s cultural perception of women’s sport by 2020 with a 20% increase in Participation, Attendances and media coverage of women in sport.
Speaking at the first session Co Managers Sean O’Hare and Conrad Madden were very enthusiastic about implementing the new scheme. “Ladies Football has really taken off in the last 2 years within the club, it has taken us 8 years careful planning by our Football Committee to get to this stage. Last year we fielded our first Senior Ladies team and reached a Championship Semi Final and we also reached the final in the Feile with our u14s team so things are beginning to grow and you can feel that shift in culture within the club that ladies football is now the in thing to be a involved in” said Sean O’Hare. Conrad Madden added “In 2019 we have already grown our participation levels by 20% within our Senior Team and this is only January, we have big plans for the year ahead and working in line with the 20×20 initiative we are committed to further promoting female participation in the club as well as increasing attendances to games from parents, relatives and the local community as a whole. We introduced WarrenpointGAAtv last year in the club and we will use that to increase media coverage of our ladies section to further inspire other females to get involved in female sport, either as players or coaches.”
Sean reiterated the 20×20 tagline of “if she can’t see it, she can’t be it – we want to give future generations of the club role models to look up to and our current senior team has these in abundance, what they achieved last year and what we strive for this year will again further promote this cultural shift and empower the next generation to carry the torch for female sport and leaders within the local area”
Senior Ladies Training in Warrenpoint continues Tuesday nights in St Marks High School 8pm – 9pm and Thursdays 8:30pm to 9:30pm – check out the Warrenpoint GAA Facebook page for more information on all age levels and how to get involved.
