Young people have grown up comfortable with communication via devices and over 500 secondary school students around the country had an opportunity to live chat with Dublin footballer Bernard Brogan on Friday as part of Lenovo’s marking its second year of partnership with the Lenovo GAA Skills Hubs initiative.
Live video links were set up between Croke Park, St Jarlaths College in Co. Galway, Davis College, Mallow, Co. Cork and Moate Commuity School in Athlone.
The session lasted for two hours and gave students a chance to interact live with Brogan from their classrooms.
Sport is rightly treated as an important element within secondary schools but there is not enough crossover between using it as a tool to help get students involved in other areas of learning.
The annual BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition has grown the number of sporting projects being submitted year on year in recent times and there have been increasing calls to tie physical education to life sciences such as biology so that the cause and effect of movement versus a sedentary life can be taken on board through eager as opposed to pure classroom based understanding.
Now in its second year, the Lenovo GAA Skills Hubs offer the chance for young people aged between 13 to 16 years of age to learn the skills of Gaelic football and hurling from their sporting heroes, in venues across the country from June to August this summer. The Hubs will play host to a number of inter county stars including Bernard Brogan (Dublin football), Karl Lacey (Donegal football), Ellen McCarron (Monaghan Ladies Football) and Carol O Leary (Clare camogie).
“I really enjoyed chatting to the young people from across Ireland today in this innovative new way, said Brogan after the event.
“Within the space of two hours I chatted to over 500 students, all from the one spot here in Croke Park. The session offers a chance for us to inspire young players and through the Skills Hubs give them the opportunity to develop and hone their skills alongside their favourite players.”
