 LtoR Phyllis Farrell, Community Games Director, Paul Doogue, Chairman Carlow Community Games, Mayor of Carlow Fintan Phelan, David Hoysted Community Games CEO, Cllr Brian O'Donoghue Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council, Gerry McGuiness, Community Games President, Jane Walsh Community Games Communications Director Community Games came together with Carlow County Council in the beautiful surrounds of the newly refurbished The Exchange building in Carlow town to announce Carlow as the new home for three of the larger finals. SETU, with their range of top class facilities and running track, will be the home for the athletics and outdoor teams national final events after their successful management of the athletics finals in 2021/2022. Community Games is delighted to be back with a full programme of events for 2023 following the covid break. An estimated 160,000 children will take part in Community Games events across the year from all over the Rep of Ireland with an estimated 9,000 children making it to National Final events throughout the year.  LtoR Paul Doogue Chairman Carlow Community Games, Emma Lucy O'Brien Visual CEO, Mayor of Carlow Fintan Phelan, Gerry McGuiness Community Games President, Cllr Brian O'Donoghue BA, Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council, David Denieffe Vice President SETU Carlow The VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art and George Bernard Shaw Theatre will be the home for the highly acclaimed Community Games Arts National Finals where children from all over Ireland will represent their County in a host of events from Art, Handwriting, Model Making, Music, Singing, dance and much more. This lively and colourful event will be open to the public with lots of entertainment on offer.  Cllr Brian O'Donoghue Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council Cllr. Brian O'Donoghue - added ‘As Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council it’s a source of great pride for me, the council and the County at large to be the new home of some of the largest Community Games finals. A partnership between the local authority and community games makes absolute sense. We proudly put forward the councils own Visual and George Bernard Shaw Theatre, our world class contemporary art centre as a fitting host and as a University town, our county town is ready and able to host and welcome all our guests and huge thanks must go to Veronica Campbell and all at SETU Carlow. It is my hope that this partnership can be reflected across the whole country in the years to come. Speaking at the announcement in the Carlow Exchange building, Mayor of Carlow Fintan Phelan said the following ‘This is an incredibly exciting time for Carlow with the arrival of three large Community Games National Finals for the next three years! As Mayor of our Town I am looking forward to welcoming young people and their families from all across our Country to Carlow, they won’t be disappointed with what we have to offer in particular the excellent facilities in the South East Technological University and Visual Carlow’.   Vice President of SETU Carlow David Denieffe saying a few words at the annoucement in Carlow which sees SETU and VISUAL Carlow host 3 of the major Community Games National Finals for the next three years Gerry McGuiness President of Community Games also spoke at the announcement and thanked Cllr. Brian O'Donoghue Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council and Fintan Phelan Mayor of Carlow for their valued support and all the hard work done behind the scenes to bring these very large events to one County. The facilities on offer and the support of all the host venues has made this move a seamless one and I am personally looking forward to welcoming the larger Community Games family to Carlow later in the year. David Denieffe – Vice President South East Technological University was in attendance at Carlow Exchange and shared the following - ‘We are delighted that Carlow has been chosen as the home for the Community Games Arts, Athletics and Outdoor Team National Finals. At South East Technological University we are building a great relationship with Community Games after successfully hosting the Track and Field Championships in 2021 and 2022. We now look forward to growing this partnership by adding the Outdoor Team events to the list of events hosted on our state of the art facilities at our South Sports Campus.’  LtoR David Hoysted Community Games CEO, Gerry McGuinness, Community Games President, Emma Lucy O'Brien, CEO and Artistic Director, VISUAL, Niall Scully, Finance Manager, VISUAL, Derek Blanche, Events @ Front of House Manager, VISUAL, Michael Florin Cahill, Theatre Manager, VISUAL David Hoysted CEO of Community Games acknowledged the ground work done by everyone in Carlow County Council and by Carlow Community Games in bringing these large events to Carlow and complimented the facilities on offer and the support they provided for the 2022 Arts Finals in the Visual and Athletics finals in SETU. We look forward to this new collaboration making the 2023 even larger. Emma Lucy O’Brien – CEO & Artistic Director, Visual Carlow made the following valid points ‘The health and happiness of our communities relies on initiatives like Community games, as a cultural experience it recognises the importance and interconnectedness of physical, mental and social wellbeing. VISUAL is very proud to be one of the host organisations for the coming years and looks forward to working with the Community Games team and to welcoming thousands of participants from all over, to Carlow.’  Paul Doogue - Chairman of Carlow Committee Games Paul Doogue - Chairman of Carlow Committee Games closed the announcement by saying ‘Carlow Community Games are honoured for some of the National finals to be held in Carlow for the next three years. As chairman I’d like to welcome everyone to Carlow and looking forward to seeing all of you’ 2023 promises to be a very busy year for Community Games with an estimated 9,000 children expected across National Final events representing their County in everything from Soccer to Singing to Swimming to Skittles. Find out how you can get involved at www.communitygames.ie/counties The full 2023 calendar of Community Games National Final events for is now available at www.communitygames.ie/calendar with details for all National finals including Indoor team events, swimming and more.  Carlow Community Games LtoR Mairead Breen, Dick Fitzgerald, Liam Lyons, Paul Doogue, Barry Byrne, Mayor of Carlow Fintan Phelan, Stephanie O'Neill and Eileen Lyons  LtoR Donal McNally Director of Sport SETU, David Denieffe Vice President SETU, Gerry McGuiness Community Games President, David Hoysted Community Games CEO, Paula Hickey, Sports Office SETU
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 Come along to our online training session on including EVERYBODY in Community Games - facilitated by the Irish Centre for Diversity
This training session is on January 11th at 6:30pm and is FREE for our volunteers and parents but places are limited! Register by clicking here: https://www.communitygames.ie/edi.html County Draw 2023
1. LIMERICK 2. LOUTH 3. CLARE 4. WICKLOW 5. KILKENNY 6. CAVAN 7. CORK 8. MAYO 9. CARLOW 10. KERRY 11. WATERFORD 12. ROSCOMMON 13. WEXFORD 14. DONEGAL 15. LEITRIM 16. OFFALY 17. LONGFORD 18. MEATH 19. DUBLIN 20. KILDARE 21. LAOIS 22. WESTMEATH 23. TIPPERARY 24. SLIGO 25. MONAGHAN 26. GALWAY Team Draws: Semi Final 1 Connaught v Ulster Semi Final 2 Leinster V Munster In the event of only 3 teams being entered from provinces, Ulster will be asked to provide their runner up to ensure full participation.  We were delighted to host an online panel event together with our friends in Move2B, the brilliant Niamh and Orna and the exceptionally talented Sarah Quinn and Maeve Gallagher to talk about expanding the horizon for girls/women in sport! Have a watch and hear directly from the girls about what it is like to take part at an elite level in sport and listen to them talk about how Community Games played such a big part in their journey! One thing we learned for sure - be undeniable! There are no limits just endless possibilities!  What a super day out in Limerick on 24th September at our National Outdoor Teams, Swimming, Marathon and Cycling on Grass Finals in University of Limerick! Well done to everyone for taking part! Dan Morrissey (Limerick Hurler) and Maria Cooney (Galway Camogie Player) were our special guests on the day and they were truly awestruck by the talent and enthusiasm of the children! Sincere thanks to all our Volunteers! Our Outdoor Team, Marathon and Cycling on Grass Results are available for download by clicking HERE and our Swimming Results are available HERE.  Tickets for our Finals this Saturday in UL are now on sale.
To find out more about each event and purchase tickets please visit the links below. Best of luck!  Orna and Niamh from Move2B In April Move2B took to the road, covering 772km and hosted their first ever Move2B Roadshow event in association with Aldi Community Games. "Community Games is a brilliant organisation that really champion participation at grass-roots level and have amazing volunteers that keep the show on the road!" Move2B Some feedback from participants at the workshops: 'I thought the workshops were brilliant and I wish every coach in the country were aware of the findings.' 'Really enjoyed it, sometimes really good to have the obvious pointed out and know we can make small changes!' 'I think that some people underestimate the effect period have on girls; this series of workshops actually brought me back to that time and how awkward it makes young girls feel. Judging by some of the comments in the break out discussions it gave many people that awareness and food for thought.' To find out more about Move2B and all that they do - have a read of their latest Newsletter!
 Best of luck to all the children taking part on 24th September in UL for our Outdoor Teams and Swimming Events! More information on the Events will be available on the tickets page which will be released shortly. Click here to download and print the OUTDOOR TEAMS timetable Click here to download and print the SWIMMING timetable  Over 1,000 talented children along with their families and supporters from all over Ireland travelled to VISUAL Art Theatre and St Patrick’s College Carlow this weekend to take part in the second of the Aldi Community Games National Finals Events.  Magic Shows to keep everyone entertained Children aged between six and sixteen took part in the National Arts and Culture Finals in a host of different events including Art, Handwriting, Singing, Dancing, Chess, Model Making and more. Over 600 medals were awarded to the exceptionally talented children.  Fantastic artwork in progress! Ivan Suprunenko wowed the judges with his piano skills – clinching a gold medal in U16 Solo Music. All the more poignant – Ivan has only been in the country 5 months, having left Ukraine for the very welcoming county of Roscommon. He has been keeping up his lessons via Zoom with his teacher back home. After winning, Ivan brought his talent to the outdoor public stage to an enthralled audience with his parents beaming proudly on!  Ivan Suprenenko Gold Medalist - U16 Music The colourful and lively celebrations were open to the public with many outdoor events available for free to entertain the crowds - including Giant Chess, Magic Shows, Parades, Music, Face-painting, Stilt Walkers, Penalty Shoot-outs, Skittles and much more. It was a very special event for all the family and magical for the children.  Facepainting at the Event The event was officially opened by Darragh O’Connell, Creative Director of Brown Bag Films. Darragh co-founded Brown Bag Films in 1994 with Cathal Gaffney. He produced the short films Give Up Yer Aul Sins which was nominated for an Oscar® at the 2002 Academy Awards®, and Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty which received an Oscar® nomination at the Academy Awards® in 2010. Darragh is a proud silver medallist in Art for Kildare Community Games and was presented with his first Community Games Gold Medal on stage by Community Games President Gerry McGuinness. Speaking to the children, Darragh commented: “I am very inspired to see the level of talent and commitment from the children here today I can see future animators and maybe even Oscar nominees in the making.”  The Team at Brown Bag Films Brown Bag Films held four very engaging digital animation workshops free of charge for Community Games children and screened episodes of Karma's World and Ada Twist, Scientist in a special Cinema Room for the younger audience. Brown Bag Films chats with us about their Community Games' connections  Brown Bag Films Workshop in progress Bus Éireann, National Travel Partner of Community Games had a team on site to meet and greet participants, family and friends this weekend as well as having treats and prizes in for some lucky children! President of Aldi Community Games Gerry McGuinness said: “This event exceeded all our expectations! It was a true celebration of the Arts and Culture and the talent from the children was simply phenomenal! It was inspiring to see so many children get up on stage and perform to the general public to cheers and applause. After a hiatus of 2 years due to the pandemic, it’s wonderful that these children have an audience to entertain once again.”  Excellent talent from everyone David Hoysted, Chief Executive of Aldi Community Games added: “As always, the focal point of this Event was the children – we started the weekend off with a parade with Community Games children and the Cloughjordan Community Circus who brought their own life-size puppet elephant along! We had Stilt walkers, magic shows, animation workshops, face-painting, skittles, giant chess – you name it - to entertain the audience and the music and colour really added to the celebrations. I was simply awestruck by the level of talent this weekend – singers, dancers, artists, writers, musicians, chess players – one thing is sure – the future is bright with these children leading the way!”  If there's something strange in your neighbourhood, give these boys a call! The next National Finals Event for Community Games takes place on 24th September in the University of Limerick for the Swimming and Outdoor Teams Event.  Deep in discussion at the Quiz event All the results are available here!
 26 May 2019; Kate from Co Louth, competing in the Butterfly U14 event Our National Swimming Finals take place on 24th Limerick in University of Limerick Sports Arena.
More details to follow but in the meantime, here is the Swimming Timetable for the day |
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