Castletroy Hockey Club has opened its doors to the public, bringing a new Sports Club into Limerick.
Limerick’s Newest Hockey Club is based out of the University of Limerick, just beyond the Munster Rugby High-Performance centre and is looking for members to join.
Speaking to Sporting Limerick, Club Chairman Michael Houghton reflected on the club’s early days, and how they got from there to launch day:
Hockey in Limerick has been at capacity for a long time, and there’s been massive waiting list, particularly for the girl’s section. I’d actually been involved with Limerick Hockey club for a few years. But there wasn’t such a drive to grow the UL section, they do actually have a section of the club, which is specifically based in UL on a Saturday. But I wanted, for example, I’ve got three sons. So I wanted my son to go to play on the UL side of the pitch.
“We actually managed to get to the 70 or 80 members just solely through Facebook and a little bit of media coverage and word of mouth. So it’s been great to sort of have a club go from the ground up and actually see that see that progress.”
The Club has received some great reaction and support in the last two weeks and has gained plenty of interest. The Club’s focus initially is to cater for Kids up to Under 14 and provide Primary School Boys and Girls with a platform to learn the game from an early age:
“The great thing about hockey, particularly for kids, and a little bit of an alternative sport to hurling, because you’ve still got all the stick work. But you don’t have the contact aspect. You don’t have to wear a helmet. So a lot of kids will come in and pick up hockey because they don’t like getting hit in the hurling. They don’t like wearing the helmet, and they see hockey as great alternative because the 3d skills in hockey now have become more sort of common in the game”.
“Everybody’s been extremely supportive and it’s been great to see that develop. Even from the club’s point of view, 90% of the kids are playing hockey for the first time. So it’s introducing kids to a new sport, and it’s been fantastic
For more information on Castletroy Hockey Club, check out www.castletroyhockeyclub.ie
Listen to the full interview with Sporting Limerick below
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