Presentation pushing the boundaries in fine style
Commitment of students and teachers a
HISTORICALLY, OTHER schools around Wexford were more successful than the Presentation when it came to sports, but with participation strong in general with teenage girls, the Grogan’s Road school’s sporting programme has moved to another level.
It hasn’t happened by accident, as all five of the teachers that we talked to, across five different sporting fields, listed the commitment of the students as a massive factor when delving into why sport has taken a leap in the Presentation in recent years.
There are obviously other reasons, as with soccer and camogie big participation sports for girls in clubs across the county, that helps to feed into the school system and gives students a leg-up when coming into secondary sports.
Parents are obviously a big part of the equation too. Girls are encouraged from a young age to get involved with whatever sport meets their fancy, and again they have that feel for sport, even if they haven’t tried them all when they enter big school.
However, there is one critically important factor, without which none of it would be possible, and that’s the dedication and time the teachers have put into their students and their sport of choice. It’s evidenced below in the Presentation but is widespread across the county.
Right across the board, when talking to the teachers of the Presentation, not one brought up the personal sacrifices involved with training students after school, taking them to competitions around the country at weekends, and organising trips abroad as a group on school holidays.
What does come across from every one of the teachers involved is their joy in the successes of their students on the sporting field. That doesn’t necessarily mean being the best or winning an All-Ireland, that’s down to individual improvements, to growth, it’s down to teams out-performing what anyone thought they were capable of.
Take basketball in the Presentation. In the foreseeable future it’s hardly likely to become the most popular sport in the country, the county, or even the building, but hard work and dedication saw the school reach an All-Ireland semi-final at Junior level and a Senior quarter-final this year.
Deirdre Colfer had been holding up the programme single-handedly until this year when Gillian Stafford, in the Presentation on teaching practice, was able to chip in. Right across the age-ranges, from first years to seniors, there’s a lot to do, but Colfer is energised doing it by the response of the students.
‘We get girls into school who have had no previous contact with basketball,’ Deirdre explained, ‘but they are keen and want to do well at it.
‘I think high-profile players that play both football and basketball help, like Kieran Donaghy and Michael Darragh Macauley, they have raised the profile of basketball as well.
‘I bring them down to watch Waterford Wildcats play once, if not twice, a year if I can, and the players down there are very receptive, they always come over to the girls to say “thanks for coming to support us” and pose for pictures and stuff like that. Some of those are international players so it shows the girls what’s possible for them out there.’
For three evenings a week after school, Colfer has access to the full-size court to train her teams and she’s seeing real commitment across the board, with the first year numbers off the charts.
‘Now we won’t finish out our competition with the current situation, but I never had less than 25 on a Monday evening after school for training, which is very unique.
‘Normally the numbers would dwindle a little bit, but I had two competitive teams in the league this year. One made it to quarter-finals and semi-finals before the competition finished up,’ Colfer said.
As well as trips to Waterford to see the Wildcats play, Colfer is always looking at ways to keep the girls’ interest in basketball high.
She’s under no illusions that for pretty much all her players, it’s not their first sport but she keeps seeking ways of keeping them involved.
She says that the promotion Basketball Ireland are putting into the game now is making a big difference, with streaming of games a great way for her students to keep in touch with the game nationally.
Colfer previously entered her second years as a club team in the South-East league, but midweek journeys to Kilkenny, Carlow or Tipperary are nigh-on-impossible to sustain when the students enter their exam year.
She’s not the only teacher overseeing the entirety of a sporting programme. Interest in equestrian has grown over the last few years, with Maria Kenny putting in countless hours, particularly at weekends, to ensure the Presentation is competing with the rest for the last six years.
Unlike some other sports that have an obvious attraction and an ease of entry, bringing horses down Grogan’s Road and jumping over the railings at the bandstand in St. Peter’s Square is not feasible; maybe a century ago, but not in this day and age.
Instead, Maria keeps an eye on them, checks in with their progress, and is there to advise after a rundown or chat about their latest exploits. She said that ‘all the girls would train themselves, all the girls would either have their own trainer or their parents train them.
‘I would watch their results quite regularly because if they are competing with the Pony Club or with S.J.I., I can see how on form they are or not, and to be fair they tell me straight off, they come up to me and they say, “Miss, look, the horse isn’t jumping well”, or this has happened or that has happened.’
Competing for the school is a different story. They have been able to attract Red Mills and Graphedia as sponsors, meaning they are one of the best-attired teams as well as being one of the most successful.
‘I started getting a few individuals out the first year or two, and then I think I got my first team together maybe the second or third year I was there,’ Maria explained. ‘Now we have up to four teams out, so I’ve about 20 girls on my list that compete regularly.
‘My biggest thing is that it is fun, and every single one of those girls, they’ve never said a bad word. I mean, they’re a seriously competitive bunch of girls and they do everything to try make us proud.’
Winning the Doagh League consistently, winning the big show at Barnadown, they girls have made a habit of success. So much so that their teacher and mentor can’t remember an occasion without it, despite being in competition twice a month.
‘Genuinely, put my hand on my heart, they’ve never came home without a ribbon,’ Kenny beamed. ‘The worst ribbon they’ve ever gotten was third place. There was one show there this year, we had three of the teams in the top six, which was great. So yeah, they love to win!’
Soccer is another that has produced ample winners, but it’s a sport that one might expect to have always been there. Yet the push in the Presentation only happened when Scott Gaynor took things by the scruff of the neck in 2016.
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