Chairperson’s Address
I want to welcome you all to our Annual General Meeting
covering the years 2020 and 2021. Little did we think that when we were
honouring our five international athletes in September 2019 that we would be
stopped in our tracks in March 2020 with Covid.
The time since has been challenging to everyone but
particularly for sporting organisations but I have to say our coaches are to be
congratulated with the way they have managed our new way of coaching – pods of
15, masks, hand sanitizer is our new language and I am glad to say that they
embraced the new regulations and restrictions with enthusiasm.
We made a call for more help and thankfully we got it.
Our new, and old, coaches helped in every way and it was a fantastic effort by
so many to run our club in line with Government restrictions. I don’t want to
single out any one person as everybody worked so hard in new tasks.
I want to offer my condolences to anyone who suffered a bereavement since our last AGM, especially the Doran, Mostyn and O’Brien families. Mary Mostyn gave years of service to Carrick-on-Shannon Athletic Club and to local Community Games and was a great friend to us all and to our athletes.
What can I say about Michael O’Brien - little did I know
when I went down to the Sports Complex with my daughter Claire in October 1988,
33 years ago, that I would still be here in 2021.
The first person to meet me at the door was this man
called Michael O’Brien – I didn’t know anyone in the club, I didn’t know
anything about athletics and this man said that my child was too young. But, he
added, give an hour on a Tuesday evening and Claire could stay. That hour
became weeks which became months and then years and I am still here!
Michael taught me everything that I know - from
encouraging me to go to meetings, getting me to go on courses – he must have
seen something in me. Over the years, Michael got me to take an officials’
course in starting, I became an assistant starter for many a year under the two
Michaels, Michael O’Brien & Michael O’Hart, before progressing to become a
starter for Connacht and National.
But Michael was more than a coach and an official - he
became a great friend of our family and a great friend of my late husband
Peter. One year, Michael was sick and unable to attend the National Community
Games Finals in his customary role as starter. But Michael, as you all know,
couldn’t see the job not being done and asked one of us to do the starts in his
place and Peter said he would. That’s how much Michael meant to us.
Michael coached my three sons Aidan, Brian & Gerard
in High Jump and each, under his tutelage, went on to win medals at national
level. Claire went on to run for her county, at Connacht and in National
Community Games and, as the years went on, myself and my family became more and
more involved in athletics.
To the many people he touched through our sport, he
wasn’t Michael, he was Mr O’Brien and with Mr O’Brien came a level of authority
but also a fairness and a passion for what he did. And I really do believe I
wouldn’t be as good as I am today without all the nurturing Michael gave me. I
would like to offer Rose and all the O’Brien family our heartfelt sympathy on
their great loss, we will never forget Michael.
In terms of our athletes’ performances over the past two years, I will leave all that to John’s Secretary’s report, which I am sure you have all read and which details the many fantastic performances of our athletes over the last two years. I do want to thank the athletes, who make our club what it is, for all their efforts at whatever age and discipline they compete in and I hope that we can continue to support them in 2022.
I’d like to thank my fellow officers and committee
members for all their hard work, especially during Covid. The new coaches who
have come on board over the last two years has left me very positive for the
future of the club. We are always looking for new blood to come in and drive
the club forward and it is great to see some former athletes taking on roles –
these people are the future of our club.
One of those is Siobhan Murtagh, a former juvenile &
schools international and multiple national medal winner, who is giving back to
the club and has helped modernise the way we communicate with our members and
their parents through WhatsApp. I want to thank Siobhan for all her hard work and
she has been a blessing for this club, bringing new life to the club.
One man I need to talk about is John Connolly. He looks
after all our administration in the club and gives so much of his time to the
athletes, especially in the post primary groups. People just don’t have the
time to give nowadays but John has given his so freely, for so many years.
A special word of thanks to our Treasurer Jenny McCabe
for keeping our club in a good financial state of affairs over the years. Jenny
is stepping down tonight and I want to wish her all the best as she gets a
deserved break from this job.
I also want to thank Siobhan Whelan for all her work with
the club down through the years. She hung up her javelin in 2019 but I cannot
let this meeting go without thanking her for all that she did for the club down
through the years.
I want to thank Adrian Jackson and Carrick-on-Shannon
Community School for the use of the top field and Catriona Ni Conmara for the
use of the ground at Gaelscoil Liatroma.
I would also like to congratulate Professor Ciaran
O’Cathain on the new era in Athlone under the auspices of the Technological
University of the Shannon: Midlands. One of our small community of starters,
Ciaran has done immense work for the sport of athletics be it through his role
as the former President of Athletics Ireland or developing fantastic new
facilities such as the indoor and outdoor tracks in Athlone. He has always been
a great friend of Carrick-on-Shannon AC and I want to wish him well for the
future.
In conclusion, 2020 will be remembered as our Covid 19
year. I am very proud of the Carrick AC family who faced all the challenges of
reopening post-lockdown and I want to thank everyone for their efforts.
As you all know I am stepping down from this role but I
am not leaving this club – I love it too much. While I leave the role of
chairperson, I am not going away - it is hard to put an old dog down. I am
always going to be there for help and encouragement and offer whatever
knowledge I have to our coaches and athletes.
Mary O’Donnell
Chairperson
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