The club wishes to extend its deepest condolences to the Doody family on the passing of Celine wife of our late president Moss and mother of our former player Pat. Sympathies also to Regina, Marie and Suzanne and the extended Doody family. May she rest in peace.

Listen to Shane Markhams Live95fm interview here

The club is delighted to confirm we have been awarded the Club Mark One Star award. We are the first club in Limerick, the second in Munster and tenth club in the country to receive the award which is a phenomenal achievement.

The FAI Club Mark One Star means the club is now a Player Development Centre which signifies that Ballingarry AFC has an FAI recognised player development plan, an FAI recognised coaching structure working alongside an FAI Coaching Mentor, has demonstrated best practice in child welfare and safeguarding and has the highest standard in club governance.

We would like to thank our coaching subcommittee for the incredible amount of work they have done in achieving this award and in particular our Head of Academy Shane Markham for the work he has done in the past few years in first achieving the FAI Club Mark award and now going to the next level and achieving the FAI Club Mark One Star for our club. We would also like to thank Barry McGann for his guidance and assistance over the past couple of months.

The club is excited for the future of our academy and to improving our players on and off the field.

As a grassroots club we aim to improve standards both on and off the field. While on the field development is important, it is equally as important to ensure the correct structures are in place behind the scenes. Through achieving the Club Mark Award in 2018 we are demonstrating our commitment to having proper governance and management structures within our club to achieve this. Club Mark helps to ensure that our club is organised in all areas of management.

The next stage of the FAI Club Mark Award is the One Star. This will provide an additional focus and support in all areas of coaching & player development. Ballingarry AFC are one of only 23 clubs who have been successful in the initial application for the Award. This will also help when applying for funding for development.

Our club is run by volunteers who play an invaluable role in the development of football for all in our community. As a club we are committed to ensuring that all our coaches and volunteers have the knowledge to promote football and develop our players.

We have great volunteers in our club. Our activities do not happen by chance, a great number of people put in huge efforts to maintain our current level of activity. Our coaches and volunteers show great dedication, commitment and loyalty to the club. In the future, we hope that we can expand the number of volunteers and coaches. We want to build this in the years ahead.

Ballingarry AFC provides an opportunity for people to get involved in football. The number of participants that get involved and stay involved in a club is determined by many factors. To grow and maintain participation levels, we as a club need to create an open, friendly and safe environment where players can reach their full potential. An effective coaching philosophy in line with the FAI’s Player Development Plan and delivered by our own certified coaches will shape the experience our players will have when playing for Ballingarry AFC.

As part of the application for the FAI One Star Award the club have restructured the Underage Committee to include a coaching subcommittee. This committee will be tasked with supporting player and coaching development in line with the FAI’s Player development Plan.

A coaching and player development plan recognises that the coaches are key to the future development. Coaches are the engine of improvement in the club. The plan will look beyond the strict confines of coaching and include areas such as facilities, protocols and equipment.

A key component is the upskilling of our coaches so that they can maximise their own potential and by extension the potential of the players in our club. The Club will support and encourage participation in coach education. A lot of the courses can now be completed online via Zoom and are age appropriate for the age-group in which you are coaching. Unlike previous Coach Education Courses, a manager/coach may enter at the age they are coaching. We will regularly update this group with upcoming courses.

When restrictions have been reduced and when safe to do so we will have a meeting to introduce the Club Development Plan. We look forward to working side by side in helping the club achieve this standard.

If anyone has any queries or wishes to get in contact please do so. You can contact me directly on the number below.

Thank you all for your continued cooperation.

Shane Markham (086 8181524)

On behalf of the Underage/Coaching Subcommittee.