Future Leaders for Transition Year is a Leadership Programme, which was developed by the GAA and the PDST. The programme aims to give students the opportunity to develop leadership skills within the school. This year’s Transition Years recently held a Future Leaders Event, which Sophie O’Brien reports on here. Well done to all involved in the event and to Sophie on her comprehensive report
Our Event, ‘Rocket Rounders’ took place on Monday, the 30th of November. Our Event idea was to organize a day of Rounders, provide Fruit, and distribute prizes for the winning team, within the TY Year Group. We thought this event would make the TY students happy, as they have not been able to take part in any TY trips yet, due to Covid 19.
We planned the event details for ‘Rocket Rounders’ from the 6th of October to the 20th of November. We had to change the date of the Event 2 times, due to bad weather conditions.
We planned out all our roles and jobs, thoroughly, the event was very successful and a great learning experience.
This is the timetable of the Event Day:
Time Team Pitch
8:55 Set up Equipment
9:35 TY2 A v TY2 B
TY3 A v TY2 B Pitch 1
Pitch 2
10:15 Semi Final
Runners up Semi Final Pitch 1
Pitch 2
10:55 Break
11:10 TY4 A v TY4 B
TY5 A v TY5 B Pitch 1
Pitch 2
11:50 Semi Final
Runners up Semi Final Pitch 1
Pitch 2
12:30 Break
1:20 Final Pitch
2:00 Clean Equipment
2:40 Back to class
Preparation of Event:
On the 6th of October, we were put into pairs and came up with an idea. We developed our ideas more and took down some points on the possible event.
On the 12th of October, we were put into bigger groups to develop our ideas further, and finalise the details.
On the 20th of October, our Future Leaders Committee members were decided upon. Students spoke for around 1 minute on why they should have the role and what their intentions for the role were. Then there was a vote, Mary Hanrahan was elected for the Chair Person, Emma Quinn was elected for the Secretary, Sarah Keogh was elected Treasurer, and I, Sophie O’Brien was elected PRO.
On that week we also decided what event we were going to manage. The class had a vote and Rachel Daly’s idea, of Rounders was chosen. We developed the idea even more and decided on the name, ‘Rocket Rounders’.
On the 3rd of November, the committee chose the roles for the class, we then split up into our groups and went through our roles, and jobs for the event. We promoted ‘Rocket Rounders’ and finalised our roles. We chose to have our event on the 16th of November.
On the 10th of November, we planned our event further and got ready for the Big Day, sadly it was postponed to the 30th of November.
Our Roles:
Event Managers – Rachel Daly and Emer Hynes.
Their role was to ensure the event ran smoothly, time each game and let the referees know when to end each half, ensure that everyone was doing their jobs, answer any queries that players may have and ensure the teams are fair on the day.
Covid Officers – Adele McHugh, Aela Daly, Karlene McGerr and Sinead Hastings.
Their role was to distribute the gloves provided to each member of the Future Leaders Class and all the students involved, sanitise everyone’s hands before putting on the gloves, organising the sanitation of equipment and help the equipment managers to sanitise them, ensure that every student is wearing their masks and obeying the Covid 19 Rules at all times, take note of where everyone was positioned for contact tracing, and provide the equipment managers with sanitising supplies to clean equipment.
Referees – Emma Quinn, Orla Hogan, Cara McInerney and Aoife McMahon.
Their role was to referee the games, ensure everyone is following the rules, and organize positions on the pitch.
First Aid – Emer Phelan and Roisin O’ Mullane.
Their role was to ensure everyone was safe and keeping their distance.
Promoters/Photographers – Aimee Lyne, Saoirse Reidy and Sophie O’Brien.
Their role was to take photos of the players, teams and the Future Leaders Class doing their jobs, organize positions for photos taken, make sure teams are keeping their distance when posing for group photos, make a poster and promoting the event.
Food Managers – Laura Butler, Jemma Leathem, Hannah Doyle and Aisling Costelloe.
Their role was to organise and collect the Fruit from Noel Quinns Fruit and Vegetable Shop and pay him, buy the smoothies, celebrations and the Freddos, organize the table for the Fruit and Chocolate, and make sure everyone gets their prize.
Equipment Officers – Caoilinn McNamara and Rea O’Sullivan.
Their role was to get the equipment from the hall, distribute bibs to the Future Leaders Class, sanitise equipment where necessary, and help Covid Officers to ensure Covid guidelines are being obeyed.
Financial Managers – Sarah Keogh and Amelie Malice
Their role is to collect the €2 from the student and make a checklist of the students, and to take care of the refunds.
Rocket Rounders:
8:55
Food Managers collected the Fruit for our event.
Equipment Officers gathered all the equipment, set up the pitches and gave out all the allocated bibs.
The Covid Officers sanitised the equipment, gathered by the Equipment Managers.
The Financial Managers collected the remaining money and helped set up the Prizes.
The Referees went through the rules and helped set up the equipment.
The Event Managers help set up the pitches, the Fruit stall and organised the teams.
The Photographers had a meeting and planned all the photos and Social Media posts they were going to post.
The First Aid Officers collected all the First Aid boxes and went through some safety rules.
9:35
TY2 and TY3 arrived at the Pitches.
The Covid Officers sanitised the student hands and gave them gloves, they made sure they were wearing their masks and socially distancing.
The Event Managers organised the teams.
The Photographers took photos of the teams socially distanced and wearing mask before they started playing.
The Referees went through the rules of rounders and took score of the matches.
Mary Hanrahan, our Chairperson kept an eye on everyone and made sure the event ran smoothly.
TY2 B and TY3 A won their match so they would face each other in the Semi Final.
10:15
The students played their Semi Finals.
The Referees were refereeing the games and keeping score of the results.
The Event Managers organised the teams for the Semi Finals.
The Covid Officers sanitised all the equipment, made sure the students were socially distancing and wearing their masks.
The Photographers were taking photos of the players and the Future Leaders Class doing their jobs.
The Food Managers organised the students collecting their Fruit and Freddo at Half Time.
TY B won the Semi final and would be going on to face TY4 or TY5 in the Final.
10:55
The Committee had a small meeting on the event so far, while the students went for a snack.
The Covid Officers cleaned the equipment before our break.
11:10
TY4 and TY5 arrived at the pitches.
The Covid Officers sanitised the student hands and gave them gloves, they made sure they were wearing their masks and socially distancing.
The Event Managers organised the teams.
The Photographers took photos of the teams socially distanced and wearing mask before they started playing.
The Referees went through the rules of rounders and took score of the matches.
The Equipment officers made sure the pitch was still set up for the next matches.
TY4 A and TY5 A won their match so they would face each other in the Semi Final
11:50
The students played their Semi Finals.
The Referees were refereeing the games and keeping score of the results.
The Event Managers organised the teams for the Semi Finals.
The Covid Officers sanitised all the equipment, made sure the students were socially distancing and wearing their masks.
The Photographers were taking photos of the players and the Future Leaders Class doing their jobs.
The Food Managers organised the students collecting their Fruit and Freddo at Half Time.
TY4 A won the Semi Final, so TY2 B was going against TY4 A in the Final.
12:30
The Covid Officers cleaned the equipment before our break.
1:10
The Committee had a small meeting on the event so far, while the students went for lunch. The Committee had to decide if they wanted to have the Final match even in the rain, the committee decided to move the Final into the hall.
The whole Future Leaders Class helped out, and brought all the equipment, fruit, freddos, and prizes down to the hall.
The PRO had to inform TY2 and TY4 that the Final was going to be held I the hall.
1:20
The Equipment Managers and Event Managers set up the equipment in the hall, and then the game began.
The Referees, the match and kept score.
The Photographers took photos of both teams and action shots.
The Covid Officers sanitised all the equipment and made sure people were wearing their masks and socially distancing.
2:00
The Referees counting the score.
TY2 Team B won Rocket Rounders overall.
The Food Managers gave out the prizes.
The Committee and the Event Managers gave a ‘Thank You’ speech.
The Photographers took a photo of the winning team.
The Future Leaders Class then had their own game of Rounders.
The Covid Officers sanitised the equipment. They sanitsied everyones hands before leaving and made sure the gloves were disposed in the waste bin.
The Equipment Managers put all the equipment away.
Conclusion:
Rocket Rounders was definitely a learning experience for our Future Leaders class. We all enjoyed planning and having the event, but we made a few mistakes on the way. We will learn from our mistakes, and our next event, in the future will be even better!