Investing in youth
November 27, 2010Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh si. Walterstown are living proof of the old Irish phrase and will hope to reap the benefits when the time comes. For the moment though things are thriving at juvenile level and it is in no small way down to the efforts put in by Fingal native Robbie Barrett.
Along with an already busy schedule as the Senior Sales Executive of Olhausen Limited - one of Ireland's foremost suppliers of traditional quality pork and bacon products - Robbie has combined his work duties with that of co-managing the Walterstown Under 8s and 9s over the past three years.
"There's myself and Darren McGovern that look after the Under 8s and 9s in Walterstown," explained Robbie. "We've been involved for the last three years and what we're doing is looking to the future and getting these lads to play at senior level ten years down the line.
"What we're doing at the moment is helping build a bit of structure in the club basically, so the players can come up through the ranks. In 2010, we had a good run of games and I feel the team has definitely grown in the season gone past."
While there are no league or championship competitions as such in his chosen grade of management, Robbie has still taken to the task at hand with Walterstown's underage crop with a winning mentality and it has shown in both teams' performances this past year.
Throughout the blitzes and tournament games Walterstown took part in this year, it was the side co-managed by Robbie Barrett and Darren McGovern that caught the eye in the club, dominating in most of the games which they took part in. Robbie himself puts the good performances down to the number that turn up in training each week , one of which is his own son, Adam, who is keen to play in every game.
"I have a little lad of my own, Adam there and I suppose him playing on the team got me involved as much as anything else," he explained. "We just went down and started the training and haven't looked back since.
"Since myself and Darren got involved with the training there's been about 30 players out on average for the sessions, which is brilliant when you consider the size of the parish, and that's why things have been going so well to date."
While he admits that things are rosy in the Walterstown garden with regards to Under 12's football downwards, Robbie says he would still like to see more families getting involved to help bolster things even more so.
"Hopefully we can continue going the way we are at the moment," he stated.
"We want to get families involved more with the teams though. We went to the International Rules series with over 70 attendees split between Parents and Players and it was a great occasion for all involved. We want to get more families involved and get a real sense of community going in the club.
Regarding his own participation in the game, Robbie said: "I would still love to able to play the game only for two serious injuries cut me short in my early twenties."
However, his family name is proudly associated with the sport and has a strong tradition of Gaelic football in and around north Dublin with both the Ballyboughal GFC and Fingallians GFC football clubs.
"The Barretts are very well know around north Dublin for having produced good footballers in their family," he said.
Although he now finds himself settling just outside the capital's borders, Robbie is still a Dub through and through and he liked what he saw from Pat Gilroy's charges in 2010. A brave run in the league looked to be all for nothing when the Sky Blues missed out on a place in the final and when five Meath goals mauled them in the Leinster SFC their season was in tatters. A brave run in the qualifiers and a heroic victory over Tyrone in the quarter-finals completely turned the Dubs' season around though and in the end they would earn a pat on the back for pushing eventual champions Cork all the way in the last four.
"Dublin's battering by Meath was one of the best things that happened to them this year," Robbie stated.
"When Pat Gilroy first came in he said that he had a three-year plan and that's how things will hopefully pan-out. He's brought in some good players and adopted a defensive tactic which has worked for northern teams over the past few years. It's taking the traditional catch and kick tactic out of the game, but it has proved effective so maybe he's right to go with it. I don't think that it is a negative way of playing the game its just the way the game is evolving. I believe that the defensive side of the game has improved a lot faster than the attacking side of the game in the last ten years.
"There's a lot of talent coming in and there's a good feeling around Dublin, so fingers-crossed. This year we were within a kick of a ball of a place in the All-Ireland final and I would have fancied our chances against Down."
For now though Robbie's primary concern on football matters is with helping to develop what he hopes will be the bones of the Castletown senior team ten years down the line. He feels that there's plenty of talent coming through the ranks around underage clubs in Meath, but still thinks the Royals still have a bit of catching up to do with his native county's progress at juvenile level. With the introduction of the 'Go Games' rules in recent years and the ongoing structure with juvenile football all is looking good across the county.
"With Meath and Dublin there is no rivalry like it," Robbie put it simply. "For years it was the match that everybody wants to go to. The slagging that goes on between both county's supporters is fantastic and there have been some brilliant games down the years and hopefully there will be plenty more to come.
"Who knows? Maybe one day they'll end up meeting each other in an All-Ireland final. As long as we don't get another four-in-a-row," he joked.
'This is not an appropriate comment in the current climate but I hope 'The Future is Black'." Tweet
