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Vol.2 No.3 June 1999 Welcome! Welcome to the June edition of Na Fianna newsletter for 1999. Within these pages, we hope to keep you well-informed as to the activities of our exciting local Ladies Gaelic Football Club as well as bringing you North American Gaelic League news, anecdotes, a little bit of this, a little bit of that and whatever else we may find of interest during the year. Na Fianna Team information can be found on our website-the website contains the games schedule, results, pictures from social events as well as photos from last years Colorado tournament & the North American Championships in Washington DC.You can visit our website at by Clicking Here. Na Fianna are also featured on Cox Cable's online magazine, San Diego Insider! Look for us in their San Diego recreation group listing. Click Here to go to their website. Practise Weekly practise is scheduled at Robb Field in Ocean Beach every Sunday morning (rain or shine!) at 10am.In addition, the club will meet on Wednesday nights at 6pm for fitness training at Kearny Mesa Recreational Center-on the corner of Mesa College Drive and Armstrong. In the coming months, we will be organizing many social fun events, so stay tuned and don't miss anything! And we're always looking for new members so remember - Bring a Friend! If you need any further information about team training, contact coach Tony O'Boyle at (619) 624-0330 or Conor Smith at (619) 280-1425. Membership and Registration Annual club membership is $30. Some of you ladies still need to get your membership dues for 1999 to Shannon Norman. All team players must be registered with the GAA in order to play, so if you are not registered you will not be eligible to play any competitive games for the club. As the first game of the season is not too far away, we would urge all those not registered to get their dues to Shannon A.S.A.P. Of course, you do not have to be a player to qualify for membership - supporters are invited to register with us also! Insurance Team players are required to have medical insurance, as Gaelic football is very much a contact sport and injuries, small and large, are inevitable. Na Fianna can provide details for a reasonable insurance policy that covers you on and off the field. We urge all players to take advantage of this policy, particularly if you do not have medical insurance of your own, as Na Fianna cannot be held responsible for any injuries sustained while participating in club activities. For further information, please contact Tracy Rivera at (619) 464-4261 days or (619) 464-2150 evenings. Fixtures Sunday June 13th: Na Fianna will play ab exhibition game against Durty Nellies from Orange County at Clay Field here in San Diego. Throw in is at 1:00pm Saturday June 19th and Sunday Jube 20th:The team will travel to the Irish Fair in Santa Anita to participate in a Gaelic Football Tournament, held as part of the weekend activities. Teams from Orange County, San Jose and San Francisco are also participating in the event, so it should be a great opportunity to see some fine football in action Sunday June 27th: Na Fianna play their first league game of 1999! Once again their opponents will be the Durty Nellies and the game will be played in Orange County. Throw in is at 1:00pm. This year the two teams will play 4 league games in all against each other. The team having the best record following the league games will have home advantage for the championship game, so score differences for each game will be important. T Shirts 1999 T-Shirts have been printed and can be purchased for $15-contact any of the board members for details. BanquetThe annual G.A.A. banquet was held on Saturday May 22nd at the Admiral Baker Club and, by all accounts a great time was had by all. The Pat Foley Memorial Cup, sponsored by Francis Kilgallon, was presented to the team in honour of capturing the Southern California Championship in their inaugural year. Each of the 1998 team was also presented with a trphy in honor of the occasion. In addition the team presented coach Tony O'Boyle with a momento in appreciation for all his hard work and dedication in 1998. Several additional presentations were made to team members and sponsors.Shannon Norman and Jenny Lunn were recognised for all their efforts in getting Na Fianna off the ground in 1998. Tracey Rivera was named Club Person of the year for 1998 and Kathy McGee and Pamela McArdle shared the honor of MVP for the year. The board expressed sincere thanks and appreciation to their sponsors, in particular the Ould Sod Pub, The Down Under bar, The Field pub and restaurant and finally Edie Ramsdell. Hoolie at Hooleys The team held a very succesful fundraiser at Hooley's on Jamacha Rd on Sunday , June 6th. The event was held ont he patio, music was by Brian Baines and Liduid refreshment in the form of Guinness was freely flowing. The team would like to thank Craig McDonald and the management and staff of Holey's for their support in this event Upcoming Events Garage Sale, Saturday June 12th, 8.00am The team will hold a garage sale on Madera Rosa Way in Tierrasanta-bring your stuff to sell! Anything that is not sold will be brought to the swap meet at a later date. Volunteers will be needed to help out at the swap meet-contact Debbie Wurth or Tracy Rivera for details. Focus On This section of the newsletter will introduce you to some of our team members from time to time. This month we feature Helen McGee-Glenister, Tracey Rivera and one of our coaches, Conor Smith Helen McGee : was born, bred and buttered in Ballshannon, Co Donegal and came to San Diego 7 years ago to find fame fortune, an a husband!! Helen spent several years in London prior to coming to the US and was secretary of the Holloway Gaels Gaelic Football club while she lived there. She was also a member of Aodh Rua GFC in Ballyshannon and is currently secretary of Na Fianna. Helen works for a biotech compnay in San Diego as a legal secretary. Helen plays as a forward for Na Fianna-her sister, Kathy also plays for the team.. Tracey Rivera : was born and raised in San Diego, she grew up in Alpine. Tracey played soccer for 15 years and came across Gaelic Football last year when she picked up a flyer looking for new players in a sports shop. Since then she has played as a forward for Na Fianna.Tracey has 2 kids, Daniel 6 and Katelyn 4, who both play soccer and who come along to Gaelic Football practise to help retrieve balls their mother sends wide!!! Tracey graduated from the University of Phoenix and plans on opening her own state Farm Insurance Agency in San Diego hopefully withing the next year. Tracey's cousin, Julie Teel also plays for N Fianna Conor Smith : helps coach Na Fianna ladies and plays for Clan na Gael GFC in San Diego. Conor hails from Skerries, Co. Dublin. His local club was the Skerries Harps which he played for from the tender age of 6 till he was a ripe old 20 year old. He says the peak of his career was when his club team won the Dublin Minor(U-18) League and Chamoionship in 1989. Conor went to College at Dundalk RTC where he studied Science. He moved to San Diego in 1995 after having spent a year in Boston. He says he moved to sunny California because the weather was 'too bloody cold' in the winter there. He decided on San Diego by looking at the USA Today weather page, finding a place where the color was red, not blue, and heading that general direction.Conor works for a UNIX computer company in Kearny Mesa. Newsletter Archive: |  |
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