GAELIC SPORTS WORLD Issue 23 – April 10, 2015 | Page 10

Skyline high school since 2009 has played at least one
month of each sport.
Students of all ages and abilities have been able to grasp
the concepts, rules and skills during instruction. Introducing Gaelic Sports has leveled the playing field for
Skyline’s instructors. All players are learning new skills
and new dynamics. Along with learning new hand-eye
/ hand-foot coordination, Gaelic sports increase heart
rate, peer relations as well as add a cultural element to
Skyline’s PE curriculum.
NACB could see that Gaelic sports were gaining interest in schools, but in preparing for the SHAPE America
conference the organization needed to understand how
PE teachers perceive and think about Gaelic sports.
SURVEY FINDS

Tracy Schellberg created a survey to receive feedback
from all the Seattle area schools that were playing Gaelic
sports in their programs. Some questions/answers were
on a scale, while others required more detailed open
ended answers. Teachers were asked questions about
participation levels, the ease of teaching the sports, and

Generic convention image. Image: Seattle Gaels.

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the resources needed to have a successful unit. The survey
also entailed questions that focused on how these sports
meet state and national teaching standards for physical education. One very valuable question simply asked
teachers what they liked best about teaching Gaelic sports
to their students.
The data obtained from this survey was eye-opening.
No examination of this type had ever been done before.
The findings were transmitted to Croke Park where GAA
Games Development Director Pat Daly, presented them
at a Coaching conference in January.
With consultation at all levels NACB’s SHAPE America
event planning team Terry Lynch and Kathlyn Quinn began working on assembling what would become NACB’s
message to PE teachers. This gradually refined into four
key points:
1. Gaelic sports generate high student involvement -- teachers consistently report 85 to
90% involvement.
2. The sports are easy to teach and easy to
learn -- the core skills are already known
to American PE students from other sports
they play.