GAA president Christy Cooney has unveiled plans for a GAA national hurling and camogie development centre at Waterford Institute of Technology, saying it will prove a major benefit in helping the expansion and promotion of hurling and camogie.
The centre will be located at the WIT sports campus at Carriganore. It will include elite fitness suites and laboratories as well as indoor and outdoor pitches when it is completed at the end of the year on foot of an investment of over €18 million.
“I believe this centre will mean great things for the progress and future of our national games and facilitate in delivering on the objectives and aims of the national hurling development plan which was recently launched,” Mr Cooney said.
WIT president Dr Ruaidhrí Neavyn welcomed the decision of the GAA to locate the centre in Waterford, saying the institute’s GAA club was no stranger to success having won eight Fitzgibbon Cups since 1992 and the Ashbourne Cup for camogie four years in a row.
President of the Camogie Association Joan O’Flynn said the more that was understood about camogie players as female athletes, the easier it would be to improve on fitness, playing and coaching.
She looked forward to the centre providing new insights into these issues. “Camogie’s inclusion in this visionary project is a very welcome sign of an increasingly more inclusive sports culture and we look forward to contributing to, as well as benefiting from, its technical knowledge and support.”