School's in for summer

SUMMER sees thousands upon thousands of children heading off to specialist courses such as tennis, swimming, computers and Irish. This is often very handy for parents - but what of the young customers? How do they remember last year's summer courses, and are they going back again this year?

. Jennifer Ryan (16), from Tipperary, spent part of last summer at Colaiste Connacht in Spiddal, Co Galway, her first visit to Irish college. This summer, she is returning as a cinnire - a senior student with some responsibility for younger pupils.

She, like all the students on her course, lived in the home of a local family, where she was cinnire an ti - a kind of head of house,

The classes improved her vocabulary, her confidence in Irish and her comprehension - which paid off hugely when she went back to school, she says. Jennifer enjoyed the work mornings were taken up with classes with lots of emphasis on speaking Irish, discussing subjects such as "diasporacht!" Afternoons were for sports and other activities, and evenings for things such as karaoke in Irish and plays written and produced by each house.

There was a good range of standards in Irish, she says, and each house could have girls or boys from fifth or sixth class up to fifth year. Jennifer had no complaints about the accommodation.

It was, Jennifer says, a wonderful course. She found the regime at Colaiste Connacht open-minded, and enjoyed the co-operative way the course was run.

. Contact. Sean O Neachtain at 091-83146 for course details,

. Ashley Kindness is 12, and in the summer of 1995 he learned to sail at a course in Surfdock in the Grand Canal Basin in Ringsend, Dublin. The course was a week long, with boys and girls. Most were about his own age and they learned kayaking, windsurfing and dingy sailing. It was cool, he says. Not as much fun as surfing, another of his hobbies, but it certainly gave him confidence in a boat and he says he would be happy to get back in a Topper and sail now.

"We did a variety of stuff, but the most fun was Toppers and a treasure hunt at the end of the course where you had to sail round and read clues that led you all round the place," he says. Another highlight was capsizing other people's boats - perhaps not a recognised element of the course. He was confident about safety standards. "If you fell out of the boat [not difficult in a Topper, a particularly shallow dingy and your crew sailed off without you, the safety boat would come and pick you up," he explained.

And again, the course received the ultimate summer course stamp of approval - Ashley wanted to go back this year.

. Contact: SurfdocK at 01-6683945

. Eoghan O'Sullivan, also 11, spent some of last summer at the Bolster Tennis Camp in Kilkenny, near where he lives.

He was certainly busy, with up to five hours on the tennis court each day. Different courts and different coaches provided plenty of variety and he very much enjoyed himself.

His day started at 9.30 a.m. and finished at 8.30 p.m. Eoghan did not live in, although others on the course did. The regime consisted of a couple of hours' coaching in the morning, lunch, then more tennis, followed by football or some other sport before tea and a video. He found it quite tiring, but that certainly hasn't put him off. He's going again this year, having kept up his tennis during the winter.

"I thought it was good. They were really nice," he says. "It was like a holiday - very enjoyable."

. Contact: Bolster Tennis Camp at 056-65143.

. Kristo Dawson, from Longford, who is 16, took a short but idyllic course last year, learning to fish with Noel Tool in of the Spiddal Angling School in Galway. The two-day course was a birthday present from his mother, and he stayed overnight at a local B & B. The first day was spent "going down to the river in Spiddal to give you a rod and see what you knew. He told me what I was doing wrong.

The second day was spent learning fishing craft, such as how to make a line up and how to put a fly on, which Kristo found very interesting. "He pushes you hard to get it right," he remarks.

"The whole place is just beautiful," he says. This is what made the course so memorable, he believes.

Kristo hasn't had much chance to use his fishing skills since then, but he "was planning to head off on Lough Sheelin this summer to try them out at last.

. Contact: Spiddal Angling School at 091-83510

. Adam Maguire from Artane, who is 11, went on a tennis course last year with Parks Tennis Ireland, (PTI) which provides tennis coaching to children in cities and towns throughout the island who might not normally get a chance to play. Adam first discovered tennis at his local courts in Rockfield, when he was seven, and he is back on a PTI course there this year.

He has discovered a talent and plays quite a bit during the summer with his friends. He also trains during the winter, at his school, St Anne's, getting special coaching.

He has made friends through tennis, he says - particularly in his special coaching classes.

. Contact: Dublin Parks Tennis Ireland at 01-8338711

. Kate Johnson, from Dublin city, who is 11, found her vocation on her summer course last year. "Before, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to be a ballet dancer. Now I know I do," she says.

Kate's summer course was a week at Shawbrook Residential Ballet School in Co Longford. "I thought it was brilliant," she says. And she put her name down for two courses this summer.

"It was a boarding place and there were 20 boarders and three or four from Longford who didn't live in," she explains. She enjoyed ballet and contemporary dance, and the courses also feature jazz, choreography and theatre skills.

One of the best things she did, she says, was making up her own dance with a group, competing for a place in a show at the end of the course. Kate's group was runner-up and so they got to perform.

She didn't mind living in last year, even though she had not much enjoyed staying over at friends' houses before. She made a "new best friend". She describes the accommodation as "brilliant and modern," and says the teachers were very nice.

She didn't know any of the girls when she went there first "but we got to know each other and we all became friends". "I've done other camps and sports camps, but I have never enjoyed myself so much," Kate says.