James Stephens’ juvenile committee have finalised arrangements to stage the second year of their five year hurling initiative The Academy of Summer Games.
This innovative idea, which will link James Stephens’ juvenile under age teams [under 10 and 12[ to the famous Na Piarsaigh GAA Club in Cork for the next five years, is to ensure the future development of talented young hurling players in both clubs.
Major work has been done by both clubs to produce an excellent development structure which is sure to guarantee that all of these fine underage juvenile players will drive forward to become better players in the future.
James Stephens is the envy of most clubs in Ireland with one of the most impressive juvenile structures with over 200 young juveniles from as young as five years old up to under 12 and with over 45 full time juvenile coaches who are fully qualified driving the club teams forward the future bodes well for the famous Village.
This initiative will see Na Piarsaigh making a trip to Larchfield on Saturday, May 16 2009 to play some games of hurling where all the kids will get full games and there will be no subs. Both teams will break for lunch and in the afternoon the Na Piarsaigh kids will go to St Kieran’s College where they will be hosted by the some of the Kilkenny inter-county hurling stars in a fine art skills coaching session.
Late in the summer James Stephens will make a return trip to Na Piarsaigh where likewise they will play a number of friendly games throughout the morning time before learning some tips and tricks from such stars as Sean Óg Ó hAilpín, Ronan Curran and John Gardiner along with many more.
Great credit must go to James Stephens for this innovative idea which will prove a major success in years to come when the development of these kids is clear to see.
