If your child plays Gaelic football or hurling, you don’t need to be a coach yourself to help them build confidence and skill. GAA fan and kids’ coach Peadar shares some straightforward advice on developing your child’s GAA skills, along with free resources you can use at home or alongside their club training.
Keep Practising
Movement and ball manipulation skills are best built early. Getting comfortable moving, balancing and handling a ball at a young age gives children a strong foundation for everything that follows as they grow and take on more advanced skills.
These same basic skills don’t disappear once a child gets older — they’re still used as warm-up elements for developing players and elite inter-county players alike. Little and often is the key; short bursts of practice at home between training sessions can make a real difference.
Good GAA Resources for Home Practice
There are some excellent free and low-cost resources to help you support your child’s GAA development outside of official training.
The Activity Planner
The GAA’s Activity Planner lets you filter activities by age and skill type. Tick “Ball Sense” to find age-appropriate games and drills you can try in the back garden or local park.
The Fun Do Learning Resource Pack
The Fun Do Learning Resource Pack, available through the GAA’s coaching resources, is a brilliant tool for parents and coaches alike. It’s split into separate hurling and football packs and includes over 500 games and skill-building activities for children aged 4 to 12.
The pack includes:
- The ABC Programme
- The Have a Ball Programme
- Sample Sessions
The ABC Programme focuses on movement skills — Agility, Balance, Co-ordination, Running and Jumping. ABC also stands for Acquiring Bilateral Co-ordination, meaning each skill is practised on both the left and right sides of the body. There are three difficulty levels for each skill, giving around 120 exercises in total, so sessions can stay varied and can be adjusted up or down depending on your child’s age and ability. These movement skills are worth revisiting throughout a child’s sporting life, often as warm-up activities even for older, more experienced players.
The Have a Ball Programme builds ball manipulation skills: throwing, catching, passing, kicking and striking, using balls of different sizes, shapes and weights. With three difficulty levels and around 100 exercises in total, there’s plenty of variety to keep practice sessions fresh and engaging.
The Sample Sessions give coaches and parents ready-made session structures, plus blank templates for building your own sessions as your child progresses.
Watch below for more on developing these skills in young players:
Cúl Summer Camps
The GAA’s Cúl Camps run during the summer holidays for boys and girls aged 6 to 13, offering a week of fun, active Gaelic Games sessions. Camps take place in every county across Ireland and are a great way for kids to build skills, meet new friends and stay active over the summer break.
Try This at Home With Your Child
You don’t need a full pitch or proper gear to help your child develop these skills — a bit of imagination goes a long way. Try swapping a football or sliotar for a balloon indoors, and turn everyday moments into playful practice.
The goal is simple — get your child to:
- Move
- Develop co-ordination
- Develop balance
- Have fun!
Keep it light and low-pressure. At this age, enjoyment matters far more than getting every skill perfect.
Frequently Asked Questions
At what age should my child start developing GAA skills?
Basic movement and ball skills can be introduced from a very young age through play. Most structured GAA activities and resources are designed for children from around age 4 upwards, with age-appropriate levels for older children too.
Do I need GAA experience to help my child practise at home?
Not at all. Simple games using a ball (or even a balloon) that encourage movement, balance and co-ordination are enough to make a real difference, and the free GAA resources are designed to be easy for any parent to follow.
Where can I find GAA coaching resources?
The GAA’s own website hosts the Activity Planner and details of the Fun Do Learning Resource Pack, both useful for parents supporting a child’s development outside club training.
Are Cúl Camps only for children already playing GAA?
No — Cúl Camps welcome children aged 6 to 13 regardless of experience, and are a fun, low-pressure introduction to Gaelic Games for beginners as well as more experienced young players.
Related Reading
If you enjoyed this, you might also like our piece on Women in Sport and the Ladies Gaelic Challenge, or browse more of our family sport and activity ideas for other ways to keep active kids engaged.
Save This for Later
Love this idea? Save this article or browse more family activity ideas on MyKidsTime for your next practice session.
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