Youth

Why to choose Gaelic Sports for your children

Gaelic sports provide a great opportunity for children to learn about teamwork whilst finding a passion for Irish national sports – not to mention the excellent health, developmental and social benefits.

Being part of a sports team can be an excellent way to grow confidence and make friends, and with Basel GAA’s supportive approach, our Youth members are encouraged to improve their skills and enjoy a little healthy competition in a safe and fun environment.

Our Youth training sessions are split into three groups:

ACADEMY | For our young players to have fun and learn some introductory GAA skills
DEVELOPERS | Building on fun with a focus on key skills across the sports
ACCELERATORS | Developing skills and positional awareness in a fun environment

All age groups train at the same time, and of course every group will have the chance to play games to put what they’ve learnt into action!

What is Hurling / Camogie?

Hurling (and the girls version called Camogie) are played with a small ball called a sliotar and a curved wooden stick called a hurley or a “camán” in Irish.

Played by teams of 15 on a rectangular grass pitch with H-shaped goals at each end, both teams try to score goals by getting the sliotar either into a net that is guarded by a goalie, or over the crossbar.

You can use your stick to pick up the sliotar and put it in your hand, but you can only take four steps with it in your hand. After those steps you can bounce the ball on the hurley and back into your hand, but you can`t catch the ball more than twice. You can run balancing or bouncing the sliotar on your hurley (called a solo) indefinitely.

What is Gaelic Football?

Gaelic football is played by teams of 15 on a rectangular grass pitch with H-shaped goals at each end.

The object is to score by kicking/striking the ball with your hand and getting it through the goals.

Players advance the ball up the field with a combination of carrying, soloing (dropping and then toe-kicking the ball upward into the hands), kicking, and hand-passing to their team-mates.

The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins.