Club Member Orla Graham was a lucky winner from the Cul Camp this summer, the prize Orla won after entering a Cul Camp Competition was the prize of a lifetime. The chance to play in Croke Park. Here is her story.
My name is Orla. I joined St Brigids Fun Sunday training in May this year and during August I attended the Cul Camp, which St Brigids organised. I went with my friends Annie, Anna, Ellie and Olivia and we had great fun with our coaches Rooster and Ellen.
Everyone who attended the St Brigids Cul camp was given the opportunity of entering a competition to win a trip to Croke Park to attend a special Cul Camp and receive coaching from some of the GAA’s biggest stars. My dad entered my two brothers and I and in mid September a letter arrived from the GAA to say that I had won a place at the VHI Cul Day Out at Croke Park on 27th September.
When the big day arrived my dad, my uncle and I headed off to Dublin early in the morning. We arrived at Croke Park for registration and there were already lots of children all decked out in their club colours. I wore my St Brigids strip and had my photo taken beside the St Brigids Badge which is in the Antrim section of the ‘Wall of Clubs’ just outside the entrance to the Croke Park museum.
Once registered we were assigned a county to play for and our mentors for the day introduced each of us to the rest of our ‘team’. Each team had 4 girls and 4 boys and our county for the day was Sligo!
We headed down to the Croke Park changing rooms and were given a special Cul camp strip to wear for the day. We got our Sligo strips on and headed off to the tunnel with our mentors. I could hear music and our mentors told us to get in line as we were about to march onto the pitch at Croke Park and the Artane Boys would be leading us out. We marched out and all the parents and friends in the stands started to cheer and take photgraphs – it was just like the All Ireland Final when you watch it on TV. We were all so excited we just could not believe it.
The pitch was split into 3 pitches across and each county played 3 matches. I was in midfield in the first match and our team won. I was a defender and goalkeeper in the other matches and we lost both – but that wasn’t anything to do with me!
After the matches we had our ‘team photos’ taken and as each of our names were called out over the tannoy we stepped forward and were presented with a Cul Camp medal.
Next our coaches took us for lunch and we had chicken and chips. When lunch was finished we all headed off for a tour of the Croke Park Museum. The stuff in the museum was fantastic, we saw the old Sam Maguire Cup, an old Down strip, a hurley from the 1960’s and loads more old stuff. The guide who showed us around also told us alot about the history of the GAA and Croke Park and let us play on the interactive games and activities.
Then we got a tour of Croke Park and got into all the places you cannot get into on match days. We went to the very top of the stands and looked down at the pitch, the view was brilliant.
Finally, it was time to go home and before we left our mentors gave us a goody bag packed full of lots of GAA goodies. My dad and uncle took lots more photos and then we headed home. I was really tired but I had an unbelievable day and will never forget the 1st time I played at Croker!!
