The Chief Executive Officer of Aldi Community Games John Byrne has advised the Board of his intention to retire from his position at the end of August. Mr. Byrne has led the organisation since March 2012 after having previously worked as a senior executive with the Football Association of Ireland.

The President of Community Games Gerard Davenport said,

“ The Board of Community Games has learned of John’s decision with great regret. John has been at the helm for the past seven and a half years where he has led from the front and introduced a swathe of changes and modernisation programmes. He has made a significant contribution to the organisation and has left a legacy to be proud of. On behalf of all our organisation I want to wish John every success and thank him for his service”. 

Community Games is an all-Ireland independent voluntary organisation and National Governing Body providing opportunities for children and young people to grow and develop in a positive and healthy way while experiencing a wide range of sporting and cultural activities.
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We are currently recruiting for a Data Entry Clerk to assist with the processing of Volunteer Applications in our Athlone office. 

Role:

• Reviewing volunteer applications as they come into the office
• Data Entry on both our internal online registration system and the Garda Vetting portal
• Processing and recording information in an effective manner and responding to all queries
• Autonomously handling routine correspondence
• Working on correspondence on the instructions of the Chief Executive Officer
• Coordinate with other team members
• Maintain existing admin and filing systems
• Assist in the preparation of regular reports and presentations

Requirements:

• Excellent attention to detail
• As you will be working with sensitive information, discretion is essential
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
• Strong administrative coordination abilities
• Minimum of 40 wpm (this will be tested)
• Customer service skills
• Clean driving licence
• Undergo Garda Vetting process (this will be done by us once accepted)
• 2 Referees

 Additional Information

• Start date - immediate
• 6 month initial contract
• 3 days a week (24 hours in total)
• Salary will commence at €14,000 per annum for a 24 hour working week 
• Full training provided 

Closing Date - 5th April 2019

Please send your CV and cover letter to sinead@communitygames.ie 

It was inspiring to see such a large turnout at our Digital Communications Workshop in Derry on March 2nd.   Stemming from that we've put together this blog on how we grew our page from 1,000 friends to 16,300 fans in just 5 years with a reach of over a million during our May and August Finals!   

When we speak in real life we can see the people in front of us (mostly) so it's very clear from the outset on how to communicate.  Online - it's a different story.  However, the audience in front of you is the most important thing you need to establish before you start posting on social media.  We're talking about Community Games here so more than likely your audience (potential and existing) will be geographically constrained to your locality and the people will be parents, volunteers, young adults, people interested in sport, teachers, other NGBs and clubs and local fan pages. 

​Once you can get your head around who you WANT visiting and engaging with on your page you can make a start with creating and sharing content.  

Everyone loves an occasion!  Whether it's International Women's Day, Mental Health Awareness Week, Seachtain na Gaeilge, Mother's Day, Father's Day - celebrate it and spread the word!

So how do you tailor a post or photo so that you can make your post unique or stand out from the masses?  Use www.canva.com - it's free, easy and most importantly it is cloud based so it stores all your work on one website so you don't have to worry where you saved the image.  You can use Canva to create posters too! And tickets.  All in the right format.   Just go on the site, sign up, watch the tutorial and off you go.  If you are looking to make images transparent another free tool is www.online-image-editor.com 

Use royalty free stock images or gifs - you can find some on canva.com (the pro version has more) and also websites such as www.morguefile.com 
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Here's one we did earlier...

You don't need to write a blow by blow account on how the match was played, this isn't the World Cup.  Stick to the facts and keep it simple.

If you need to share more than what looks good on Facebook the best option is to link to a webpage or blog.  Weebly, Wix, Wordpress, Blogger - there are free versions of all of these.  Have a look at them, play around and very quickly you can do up a website to point people to from your Facebook page.  It's good to have a website  if you are doing up  calendars, rules, event details, results etc. 

At times you may get asked by a Facebook fan or a parent to share a photo or a news item.  Share if it's a good news story and relevant to your Facebook page.
What harm can it do?  You might be the Facebook page admin, but the users are the ones visiting and best to keep everyone happy and engaged. 

"We had so much crack at our latest Community Games pubic sports day!"

See what I mean???  Go over your post, check it for grammar and spelling.  Put it in a Word document first if it's a long post and do a spell check.  Have two people editing your Facebook page and ensure that there is always some kind of moderation and proofing system in place. 

Post regularly.  Be it once a day or 3 times a week.  Put a reminder on your phone.  Even if it's just a simple post reminding people that the Swimming Finals are coming up or you are sharing a healthy eating article for Steps to Health.  Don't be afraid of overposting - remember you have your audience and you know your audience and as long as what you're posting is relevant to them they will come back.  The people who unlike your page or unfollow your posts are probably not going to engage with your Area in real life either.  

Save the passive aggression and the political debates for a visit to the in-laws ;-)  Your facebook page should be free of taboo subjects and controversy.  It should be impartial and non-denominational.  Avoid being negative about a match or a referee or decisions made.  

Yes, you can use emojis!  Use them as often as you like - there are so many to choose from - from swimming to smiley faces, from umbrellas (important in Ireland) to trophies.   
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Use hashtags (not just for Twitter!).  A good tip is that if you are looking to post something and you are struggling for inspiration do a quick search on facebook, with for example #womeninsport in the search bar and you'll come across some content that is worth sharing

Do your research and take clues from other pages.  You can elect public pages to follow to compare with your own.  Spy on them!  See what they are up to and see what works for them and what doesn't.  Take full advantage of your "insights" section on Facebook to see what works for you and what doesn't.  At certain times your audience are all asleep so posting at 3am isn't useful.  Explore and delve into your analytics.  They are in graph and image format and easy to read and digest. 

So...here's the thing.  YES we've done them.  And we still run competitions today.  However, asking people to like and share your post in order to win something is against Facebook rules.   Run competitions where you ask questions and get people to answer in the comments but don't ask them to share your post to be in with a chance of winning. 

Don't invest in prizes for competitions - most people will enter the competition for the prize and unfollow your page a few days later.  They are not your REAL audience (back to point 1) and you don't need them and you've wasted money.  

By all means get a local footballer or athlete to sign a ball or a jersey and give that away as a prize - like that you are keeping it real!

If you have a few bob to spare use it on a Facebook campaign targeting your potential audience (if you are looking for more U8's to enter handwriting in your Area you could target the mums: ie: "34 to 55 year old women living in Ballybofey").  Generally speaking 50 euro gets you 50 new likes.  But Likes aren't all that.  What you want more than anything is engagement - better to have 10 people who engage with your page than 100 people who don't. 

You will find that everyone has an opinion on how to do things on social media and there are of course tried and tested posts that go viral (memes of cats wearing cute outfits are particularly popular). However, you are your own expert.  You know yourself what photos to post, what to share and what to write.  You also know what doesn't work through trial and error. You know that responding to messages promptly and liking your audience's comments has a positive impact on the effectiveness of your post. Have faith in your own ability and don't be afraid to do something a little bit different! 

We pay photographers to take professional photos at each of our Festivals and some of our events like Area Awards etc.  If you look after your Area or County Facebook page, send an email to us and we will send you a link to all of the photos from the last 10 years.  We also have icons developed with our events on them.   We have an online calendar that you can enter your details of events on and then share to Facebook - just click here.

Check-in, Tag and use the @ as much as you can and here's why: 

1. If you are holding a committee meeting and you check-in to the hotel, community hall, school, the venue is quite likely to see this as it will appear in their notifications and they may either like or share your post.  This will help reach and widen your audience in your target area. 
2. When you Tag or @ a page they might take notice of you - probably for the first time.  One way to do this is if you are running a swimming event you could tag the Swimming Club from the town eg:  "Thank you to all the amazing swimmers that came to our Finals today - a special thanks to @ballinasloeswimmingclub for facilitating our event!"
3. You can go BIG when you @ - so let's say for example Tommy Bowe is from your Area, you could post something like "Isn't it inspiring to know that @TommyBowe once took part in Mixed Distance Relay in this Area for Community Games? "  You never know, he might take notice and comment or like?  Again if you don't try, you'll never know!

Please have a look at our Social Media Policy and our Filming and Photography Policies to make sure you are sticking to our guidelines.  In a nutshell: Don't post first and second name of a child with a photo, have parents fill in the consent form before putting up photos of children, don't engage on messenger or on your page with young people under 18.  If in doubt or if asked, take down a post. 

All change at Aldi Community Games 48th AGM in Derry City Hotel from 1st to 2nd March 2019
 
Derry Community Games hosted the Aldi Community Games 48th AGM from the 1st to 2nd March 2019 at the Derry City Hotel.  Over 200 volunteers from all over Ireland were in the City for the 2-day conference to review a very successful year for the Organisation.  Special guests at the Annual Banquet on Saturday 2nd March were John Boyle, Mayor of Derry and Joe McHugh T.D., Minister for Education and Skills.
 
Ahead of the AGM, Jude Feehan announced he would not be seeking re-election this year as General Secretary.  Shirley Maloney was elected General Secretary and speaking on her appointment Shirley said she was honoured to be nominated and was looking forward to taking on the role. 
 
At the AGM, President Gerry Davenport announced that it would be his last year to hold the position of President as he would not be seeking re-election in 2020.  He said he had mixed feelings about stepping down as he had very much enjoyed his time as President but he felt the time was right and he was very pleased to see the direction in which the Organisation is going.
 
Further election results are as follows; Janice Cooper, Derry was re-elected as Honorary Treasurer, Tony Lee, Tuam was re-elected as Deputy President,  Joe Fox, Longford was elected to the position of General Vice President, Bernie Brennan, Donegal was re-elected as PR and Marketing Director, Lisamarie McCooey, Monaghan was re-elected as Youth Director, Tanya Kelly, Sligo was re-elected as Activities Director and Clifford Kelly, Cavan was re-elected as Security Director.
 
John Byrne, Chief Executive Officer said: “We are delighted to be here in the beautiful and historic City of Derry this year for our Annual Conference. 2018 was a busy year for Aldi Community Games as we continued to build our organisation.  It was our first year to stage the National Festival in the University of Limerick and children and volunteers alike were delighted with the new venue.  I would like to take this opportunity to announce that I will be retiring in 2021. At that stage I will have spent 9 years at the helm of Community Games and I feel that this is the right time to make a change.”
 
Speaking at the AGM, Minister Joe McHugh, TD. Minister for Education and Skills said that he believed Aldi Community Games was a very dynamic organisation and he noted with pride that  fellow Donegal man Mark English was a past participant of Aldi Community Games.
 
Aldi Community Games is one of Ireland’s largest voluntary sporting and cultural organisation with over 50 different events and over 160,000 children taking part in annually. 

"It couldn't have happened to a nicer woman!" Said Niall Murphy of Wexford Motors as Breda Ryan got the keys to her new KIA Stonic, sponsored by KIA Motors Ireland.

Breda was absolutely thrilled to have her name pulled out of the drum at the Aldi Community Games National Area, Volunteer and Media Awards after buying a €10 raffle ticket to support her local Community Games Area - Glynn/Barntown, Co. Wexford. 

Breda Murphy who is from Castlebridge collected her stunning 191 Kia Stonic 1.4 K2  in Wexford Car Centre last Tuesday.  

Wexford Car Centre Kia Brand Manager Niall Murphy said “ I’m delighted for her, Breda has been a long-time customer of Wexford Car Centre and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer woman.” 

Gerry Davenport, President of Aldi Community Games said, "I'm thrilled to be here today to help celebrate this fantastic win with Breda.  I'd like to thank KIA Ireland for their support throughout the years in helping create awareness about Community Games and help Areas fund raise.  I look forward to seeing Breda take this beautiful car for its first spin!"

Aldi Community Games in association with the HSE, Health Promotion & Improvement, along with special guest Dublin GAA star James McCarthy, hosted an event on Saturday January 19th. in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel, to recognise the 39 Aldi Community Games Areas who took part in the 2018 ‘Steps to Health’ initiative.
 
‘Steps to Health’ is a quality standard administered by Aldi Community Games in conjunction with the HSE, Health Promotion & Improvement.   It is a community-led health promotion initiative where Aldi Community Games Areas promote healthy active lifestyles in their Communities under the following categories:
 
Nutrition, Mental Health, Sun Safety, Physical Activity, Substance Misuse, Health Promotion Strategy, Youth Empowerment, Health and Safety, Equality and Inclusion and Child Protection.
 
Speaking at the event James McCarthy, 6 times All-Ireland winner, Dublin GAA footballer said “It’s uplifting to see so many Community Games Areas take part in this health promotion initiative.  Community Games is unique in all it has to offer young people in terms of sport and cultural activities and is an ideal antidote to the pressures of technology and social media that young people have nowadays. I’m delighted to support this very worthwhile event”
 
Fergal Fox of the HSE commented, “The Steps to Health initiative recognises the vital role all Community Games volunteers play in encouraging young people to make positive lifestyle choices in all aspects of their lives. The initiative offers an incentive to all areas to adopt a more holistic approach to health promotion by rewarding those areas who promote different aspects of healthier living such as healthy eating, physical activity and mental health among others.”
 
Lisamarie McCooey of Carrickmacross-Corduff Community Games (Steps to Health Gold winner) said, “Our area are delighted we took part in Steps to Health again this year and were surprised to see just how achievable it was as we were already doing so many of the steps.  Steps to Health really made us focus our attention on what is really important for both the children and the volunteers in our organisation, such as physical activity, mental health and equality & inclusion.  It was amazing to see how small simple steps created such big smiles for the children.  It helped place a stronger emphasis on all Community Games has to offer, and took the focus away from the competitive elements.  It's a very worthwhile event to get involved in and we would definitely recommend it to all areas.  We're looking forward now to 2019 to continue with this programme and see what other small changes we can make to further enhance Community Games in our area.”
 
How to engage in ‘Steps to Health’
 
To take part the Area must register on the Community Games website using the online portal. The Area must then submit their entry with supporting information on how they promoted the various elements of ‘Steps to Health’ across the year. Entries are judged by the HSE and Aldi Community Games.
Successful Areas will achieve a Gold, Silver or Bronze standard in ‘Steps to Health’.
 
Once an Area achieves any of the above standards they receive the following -

The Area can display their Steps to Health Standard logo on all promotional activity.

• Each standard contributes significantly towards the points allocated to Areas for the National Area Awards. 
• Each standard gives free Aldi Community Games Area Affiliation for the following year
• Each standard has a monetary incentive associated with it

List of Awardees
Askea - Carlow
Athenry - Galway
Aughrim/Annacurra - Wicklow
Ballaghaderreen - Roscommon
Ballon/Rathoe - Carlow
Ballymahon/Forgney - Longford
Ballynacally/Lissycasey - Clare
Ballyshannon - Donegal
Baltinglass - Wicklow
Boardsmill - Meath
Bohola - Mayo
Bruree/Rockhill - Limerick
Cappagh - Limerick
Carrickmacross/Corduff - Monaghan
Castlebridge/Crossabeg - Wexford
Clonbroney - Longford
Clonea/Rathgormack - Waterford
Cranford - Donegal
Doora Barefield - Clare
Drumcliffe - Sligo
Duagh/Lyre Community Games - Kerry
Duleek - Meath
Dunshaughlin/Culmullen - Meath
Erne Valley – Cavan
Ferbane - Offaly
Lisdoonvarna, Doolin, Kilfenora and Killshanee - Clare
Long Tower  - Derry
Longwood - Meath
Lusk - Dublin
Murroe/Boher - Limerick
Portlaw/Ballyduff - Waterford
Quin/Clooney - Clare
Ratoath/Rathbeggan - Meath
Riverstown - Sligo
Rosses Point - Sligo
Shinrone/Coolderry - Offaly
St Marys - Sligo
St Senans - Limerick
Tulla - Carlow

Community Games Steps to Health Awards Luncheon, The Shamrock Lodge Hotel, Athlone Saturday Jan 19th 2019
 
Aldi Community Games with special guest Dublin GAA star James McCarthy, will host an event on Saturday January 19th at 1.30 p.m. in the shamrock Lodge Hotel, to recognise the 39 Aldi Community Games Areas who took part in the 2018 Aldi Community Games ‘Steps to Health’ HSE initiative.

‘Steps to Health’ is a quality standard administered by Aldi Community Games in conjunction with the HSE, Health Promotion & Improvement.   It is a community-led health promotion initiative where Aldi Community Games Areas  promote healthy active lifestyles in their Communities under the following categories:
Nutrition, Mental Health, Sun Safety, Physical Activity, Substance Misuse, Health Promotion Strategy, Youth Empowerment, Health and Safety, Equality and Inclusion and Child Protection.

Format of the day

• Lunch at 2pm
• Aldi Community Games President Gerry Davenport will welcome everyone.
• A representative from the HSE will address all Awardees and Community Games Volunteers.
• Q&A on the importance of healthy active lives, wellbeing, healthy diet etc. with Dublin All Ireland Winning Footballer James McCarthy.
• Areas who received a standard will be presented with their Certificate by the HSE, Aldi Community Games and James McCarthy.

How to engage in ‘Steps to Health’
To take part the Area must register on here using the online portal. The Area must then submit their entry with supporting information on how they promoted the various elements of ‘Steps to Health’ across the year. Entries are judged by the HSE and Aldi Community Games.

Successful Areas will achieve a Gold, Silver or Bronze standard in ‘Steps to Health’.
Once an Area achieves any of the above standards they receive the following -

• The Area can display their Steps to Health Standard logo on all promotional activity.
• Each standard contributes significantly towards the points allocated to Areas for the National Area Awards. 
• Each standard gives free Aldi Community Games Area Affiliation for the following year
• Each standard has a monetary incentive associated with it

Visit the Community Games Steps to Health webpage for more information

A super night for our Volunteers was celebrated in the Cavan Crystal Hotel at our annual National Area, Volunteer and Media Awards on 2nd December 2018.
 
The 4 Provincial Winners were:
 
Leinster - Ballymahon Forgney Community Games
Munster - Doora Barefield Community Games
Ulster - Carrickmacross Community Games
Connaught - Ballahaderreen Community Games
 
Overall winners on the night were Ballaghaderreen Community Games in Co. Roscommon.
 
Each of the 4 Provincial Winners were also recipients of a Steps to Health Standard and this contributed to their overall score.
 
Youth Nominees
Carlow                                  Caoimhe O'Neill
Cavan                                   Amanda Brady
Clare                                     Mark Nestor
Cork                                      Anna Kellegher
Donegal                               Roisin McGongle
Kerry                                    Ciara Hudson
Laois                                     Eddie Allen
Leitrim                                  Peter Winters
Limerick                               Eleanor O'Brien
Longford                              Ollie Duffy
Mayo                                     Meabh O'Shea
Meath                                   Niall Durkan
Offaly                                    David Gavin
Roscommon                         Omar Jaffar
Tipperary                              Denise Cullagh
Waterford                              Danni Cunningham
Wexford                                Kate Byrne
 
Adult Nominees
Carlow                                  Eddie Corcoran
Cavan                                   Dympna Sheils
Clare                                     Brendan Cusack
Derry                                     Monica Jarvis
Donegal                                Manus O'Donnell
Dublin                                   Margaret Bourke
Galway                                  Kevin Larkin
Kerry                                     Owen Stack
Kildare                                  Tom Cross
Laois                                       Mary Dwyer
Leitrim                                   Joe Giblin
Limerick                                Larry Roche
Longford                               Mark Leonard
Louth                                     Deirdre McTeggart
Mayo                                     Liz Chambers
Meath                                   Mary T Durkan
Monaghan                          Leo Marron
Offaly                                    Carmel Doyle
Roscommon                       Darren Traynor
Sligo                                        John Walsh
Tipperary                              Jim Ryan
Waterford                              Therese Connolly
Wexford                                 Mary McDonald
Wicklow                                Maura Reid
 
Small Area Nominees
Clare                                     Feakle
Donegal                               Clonmanny
Dublin                                   Phibsboro
Kerry                                     Valentia Island
Kildare                                  Confey
Laois                                      Killeshin
Leitrim                                  Lough Allen
Limerick                               Bruree/Rockhill
Longford                              Dromard
Meath                                    Longwood
Roscommon                       Aughrim/Kilmore
Tipperary                             Mullinahone
Wexford                               Kilanerin
 
Large Area Nominees
Carlow                                 Askea
Cavan                                  Erne Valley
Clare                                    Doora/Barefield
Derry                                    Longtower
Donegal                               Ballyshannon
Dublin                                  Lucan
Galway                                 Athenry
Kerry                                     Duagh/Lyre
Kildare                                St Brigids Newbridge
Laois                                     Stradbally
Leitrim                                 Carick-on-Shannon
Limerick                              Caherdavin
Longford                             Ballymahon/Fornegy
Louth                                    Drogheda South
Mayo                                     Breaffy
Meath                                  Ratoath/Rathbeggan
Monaghan                         Carrickmacross
Offaly                                    Ferbane
Roscommon                      Ballaghadereen
Sligo                                       Rosses Point
Tipperary                            St Flannans Bournea
Waterford                           KCK
Wexford                               Castlebridge / Crossabeg
Wicklow                               Aughrim/Annacurra
 
Well done to all our Media Award Winners as well and to Ballaghaderreen Community Games who won a Special Achievement Award for their work with children in the Direct Provision Centre and for being shortlisted for an EU Be Inclusive in Sport Award in Brussels in November.