DC Gaels American born football and camogie players at the NBC4 Health Expo (l to r) Caitlin Blanford, Mary Beth Ginder, Courtney Blanford, Christine Thorton, and Maureen Dorsett (Photo courtesy of Washington DC Gaels).
The hard efforts by the mostly All American club, the Washington D.C. Gaels in promoting Gaelic sports in the D.C. region, seem to be paying off as their participation in last January’s NBC4 Health and Fitness Expo has reaped rich reward.
The club, which does not depend on Irish summer immigrants for its existence, is very pro-active as regards recruitement and prefers to recruit athletes from colleges, schools, gyms, and universities rather than folks sitting on bar stools. Their ‘Guerrilla Hurling’ in downtown D.C. back in February caught the city by surprise and has Washington folk still talking !
The D.C. Gaels had a great showing at the NBC 4 Health & Fitness Expo on January 16th and 17th at the Washington Convention Center. Over 85,000 people attended the ‘Expo where D.C. Gaels players shared their expertise about the sports of Gaelic football, hurling and camogie.
As a direct result of the ‘Expo, the D.C. Gaels will now be collaborating with Gonzaga High School, the Miss DC International pageant, and a local YMCA branch to spread the love of Gaelic games in the community. And, on the recruitment front at the NBC event, over 50 people signed up to attend the Gaels spring field days and to get fit through Gaelic sports.
The D.C. Gaels hope to make their participation in the Washington D.C. NBC 4 Health & Fitness Expo a yearly event and to continue to endorse Gaelic sports as a fun fitness option.
The D.C. Gaels compete in the Mid Atlantic Division of the North American GAA and has teams in mens and ladies football, camogie and hurling and have won national titles in all four codes over the past two years. Recently, the all American camogie team went to the National Finals in Chicago and came away with the C level Camogie championship.
