By Paul Schneider
In a world of forward passes and slam dunks, how in the heck do you sell Gaelic football? For guys like Brendan Bradley and Paul Loftus, coaches in the Delaware County Gaels youth organization, it’s often akin to the mantra of the old Alka-Seltzer commercials: “Try it; you’ll like it.”
Bradley, Loftus and coaches like them throughout the Philadelphia area have the challenge of creating interest in a sport that lacks the television reach of major leagues, and the lineage of parents who played and enjoyed the sport as kids. But what Gaelic football lacks in exposure and background, they say, is made up for in excitement once they get youth players on the field.
“Kids are enthusiastic about the game once they see how it’s played,” said Bradley after a recent Sunday afternoon match at Cardinal Dougherty High School. “They get to drop their shoulders, to be physical, to do things that they’re not able to do at home.
“Most of the kids we get, the chances are good that their parents have had nothing to do with Gaelic football or perhaps are not even of Irish heritage,” the Donegal native and Newtown Square resident continued. “We have African-American kids, Polish-American kids, you name it. We get them from everywhere.”
Dedicated to growing grassroots interest and participation in Gaelic sports, the youth divisions of the Philly GAA have teams for age categories ranging from Under-6 to Under 16. Four clubs – The Gaels, the Delco Harps, the Northeast Philly’s Shamrocks and Northwest Philly’s Eire Og – use their own methods to uncover youngsters who are interested in more than the run-of-the-mill athletic experience.
Bradley’s own secret weapon is his wife Ann Marie. “She’ll see a kid at the park or on a playground and say ‘That kid would be perfect for Gaelic football,’” said Bradley. “She’ll go up and tell the kid about the game and try to get him or her to come out. I’d say one out of five kids she talks to winds up joining the team.”
“The biggest challenge we have is the coordination aspect,” said Loftus. “When they’re just getting used to the game, most of the kids just want to get rid of the ball. We have to teach them that there are options to think about. There’s a lot for them to grasp at a young age.”
While the ultimate goal for youth players might be to compete on the main field as part of a Philly GAA adult club, there are more immediate rewards. Later this month, on the weekend of July 20-22, local teams will travel to Chicago for the Continental Cup for youth organizations.
As the Gaels train for that event, Bradley and Loftus will use the very American sports that compete for players’ attention to help bring the technicalities of Gaelic football home for their youngsters.
“I try to bring sports they see every day into play,” said Bradley. “I’ve found that if you use analogies from other sports, then Gaelic football is no longer a ‘foreign’ sport. I can turn it into something our players can relate to.”
