by Denis Kelleher

Amongst these lads there may very well be the next Mick Galwey/Moss Keane or even a Conor O’Shea. © Denis Kelleher

Tralee R.F.C has a proud tradition as a Junior club, having been founded in 1882. Youth Officer Ritchie White is assisted by a team of volunteer coaches and with teams in the U8, U10, U12, U13, U14, U16 and U18 age groups there is always something going on.

The U14 team is coached by Ned O'Neill who is assisted by Denis Brasil and myself. We also have help from one or two parents or grandparents on match days, who travel with is in the bus or in cars to help ensure that the players are properly supervised, which is very important as player safety is our top priority. With a squad of 21 we play in the West Munster League together with Abbeyfeale, Charleville, Castleisland, Killarney, Corca Dhuibhne (Dingle) and Killorglin.

Like a lot of volunteers I got involved gradually after my eldest son started playing a few years ago. First I started attending home games then travelled to a few away games and eventually seemed to be at all the games. As I got to know the coaches and the players I became involved in "crowd control" and slowly Ned and Ritchie roped me in. When it emerged that I had played Junior rugby, then I didn't have a chance.

When I was asked to write about my activities as a club volunteer I thought that it would be difficult to fill an article with details of a couple of training sessions and maybe a match or two but as the deadline approached, with nothing written, a pretty untypical schedule of rugby related activities unfolded.

Saturday, November 20th
As my eight year old son was involved in his first U10 game, I cried off U14 training and headed to Abbeyfeale with the U10 and U12 teams and their coaches. With 30 plus players travelling in each age group I again got involved in crowd control and generally helping out in any way I could. The event was a three team mini-blitz, with Tralee, Abbeyfeale and Charleville. Each player got to play in at least part of two games, and three if they wanted. The players on the bench were all "impact subs" and of course all played really well.

Sunday, November 21st
On Sunday morning the U14 had a league match in Castleisland. Due to the rain the previous few days the pitch was pretty waterlogged and just about playable. In what became a battle in the tight because of the conditions Castleisland ran out winners by 13-5, with Tralee's only try scored by No 8 Stephen Murray.

Wednesday, November 24th
Training at 6.30 p.m. Started as usual with a passing drill and some stretches as a warm-up. Then work on some of the areas that caused concern in Sunday's game, followed by what all under age players really want - a practice game. As in all practice games there was an element of stop start as some training points got worked on.

Saturday, November 27th
I skipped training again and headed on Friday night to Dublin with my 14 year old son for the International on Saturday. Enough has been said elsewhere about the game, but I was biting my nails until that great drop goal by ROG at the end. After the game it was straight to the car and the long drive back to Tralee. Thanks to Martin Hoban who stepped in to take training for the U14s as Ned was also away for the weekend.

Sunday, November 28th
We travelled to Chorca Dhuibhne (Dingle) for a league match. There was little for the Tralee players to enjoy other than the magnificent scenery, with the pitch overlooking the Atlantic, as we were soundly beaten 44 -12 by a very big and quick Chorca Dhuibhne side. The Tralee scores both coming from good team efforts and rounded off by Eoin Kelleher (yes that's the son) and Danny McDonogh.

Monday, November 28th
Turned out to be an extremely educational, exhausting and entertaining evening as a group of club coaches attended the first session of an IRFU Foundation Level Coaching Course, held at Castleisland's grounds. David, James and Johnny put a large squad of largely unfit middle aged men through our paces on the all weather pitch for about two hours after an hour of classroom work. It was a great course, presented extremely well and all the people I spoke to afterwards felt it really added to their ability to coach the young players.

Wednesday, December 1st
A quick dash from work to be at the club by 6.30 for training. The session mainly focused on some of the weak areas from the game on Sunday, particularly the tackle, which was most fortunate as I was fresh from David Corkery's session and could put some of the "Key Factors" of the tackle across to the team (see David / Johnny I was listening).

Friday, December 3rd
The Tralee coaching team got together for a Christmas get together at the Mall Tavern where we were treated well by Der O'Sullivan (father of Traleeman John who is currently making a name for himself with Connaught). Unfortunately the entertainment for the evening did not have the ending we all hoped for, but it was an enjoyable evening that the result against Castres did not spoil too much.

Saturday, December 4th
Saturday was a quiet day at training. There had been plans to work on some line-outs and to do some attacking work with the backs but these had to be shelved, with only 11 of the squad in attendance due to illness or other commitments. It did give is more time to work with those who did show up and we worked on passing and the tackle.

Sunday, December 5th
The second of the coaching course sessions was again held in Castleisland. This time James, Catherine and Mark put us through our paces, learning about fitness, how to run a practice session, rucks, mauls, lineouts, scrums and kick-offs. A very well put together course which proved that training can be fun as well as getting the message across. Well done to the Munster Branch and thanks to Castleisland for the use of the facilities.

by Denis Kelleher