Girls team enjoy virtual run to Anfield
Imaginative ways have been thought up and employed to keep young sports people occupied and active in lockdown and at the same time prepare them for a return to play in their particular discipline.
Rock Celtic under-12 girls team undertook and completed ahead of target the challenge to run 355km, the equivalent distance from the club’s headquarters in the village to Anfield.
The selection of Anfield as the point of destination is explained in that most of the girls are Liverpool fans, with other factors that led to the choice not least that the premier division side are poised like the young Rock side to become champions.
The Seasiders won the new Louth seven-a-side girls title last season.
Another persuasive factor is that coach Paul Gaughran, who acted as run co-ordinator is a long time Liverpool supporter.
The run was a way of doing some pre-season fitness work and was put to the young players as a collective challenge which they readily agreed to and set about with relish to fulfil.
Each of the 20 players comprising the panel was set the target to complete 17.75km in seven days, and managed to cover the full distance in five and a half days.
The individual portion was the overall distance divided by the number of runners, and the team element was that each runner needed to complete her allotted length of the journey. Otherwise it would fall on some of the other players to run more to make up the total distance.
It was left with the players with the supervision of their parents how and when they did their part of the journey. Each reported their progress with a daily log kept by coach Paul Gaughran of what point they were on the journey, Dublin for instance, and what was left.
The girls each posted a personal video, which Paul’s daughter Rachel, who is a member of the team and did her share of the journey, impressively correlated and can be seen on the club website.
Deserving of a big pat on the back, the girls received the congratulations of both the club chairman Donal Lynch and StephenKenny, the latter via video link.
They were invited to the club ground to perform a celebratory lap of honour across the pitch, observing social distancing, and to stand apart and hear the chairman express his and the club’s congratulations on a wonderful achievement
The team‘s coaches are Olive Heuston, Mick Fee, Paul Gaughran and Joe Crawley.