Empire Avenue

Friday, September 21, 2012

Re-imagining The Republic one citizen at a time





This bunch of 9 & 10 year olds represented their village, Carrigtwohill, in the Sean Twomey Tournament last Saturday.
My wife put it perfectly at the end of the tournament – ” this is exactly what I wanted my sons to experience”
What they experienced was:
A sense of place, something different from a sense of nation but just as profound.
A sense of achievement, the years of training turned into fluency and craft.
A sense of team, they played for each other, they supported each other to achieve shared success.
A sense of pride, they never gave up because the journey was just as important as the objective.
The effort to prepare for this tournament and the complete commitment they showed on Saturday will impact on their adult life.
This is the purpose of the GAA.
The GAA’s purpose comes from their ability to change the scale of a kid’s personal ambition.
The capacity to allow that kid to explore their personal skills and power.
The space to allow that kid to imagine how to apply those skills and powers working with others to impact on society.
This is the transformational ability of all sports.
The GAA’s position in every village/parish allows them a unique role in re-imagining the Republic one citizen at a time.