The night every girl on the panel finds her own swing
Find Your Swing
- Camogie
- U10
- 60 min
- 10–24 girls
- 2 coaches
- Effort 2/5
- Quarter pitch
- striking
- fundamentals
- grip
- fun-games
Kit: Hurleys sized right (top of the handle to her wrist bone), helmets on for every ball, first-touch sliotars one each plus spares, 24 cones, 8 bibs (2 colours)
Traffic on the Green
Setup: 25×25m square, ball each, helmets on before the first touch. Mentors on opposite corners playing traffic wardens.
How it works: Everyone dribbles their ball around the square with little taps of the bas, minding the traffic. Calls run the game: STOP — bas flat on the ball, frozen. ROUNDABOUT — turn away from the nearest girl and dribble the other way. BEEP BEEP — overtake somebody, safely and wide. PARKING — find an empty cone anywhere on the edge and park the ball beside it, first ones parked pick the next call. Keep the calls coming every twenty seconds so nobody settles.
What to say
- “Tell them: 'ball a boot's length in front — close enough to mind, far enough to see the traffic.'”
- “Tell them: 'little taps, not big hits — you're driving it, not scaring it.'”
- “Tell them: 'heads up at every call — the game is played above the ball.'”
Easier
Walking pace, bigger square, ball can be nudged by hand for the newest girls.
Harder
Weak-hand-on-top taps for one round; shrink the square every minute so the traffic thickens.
Toss & Swing School
Setup: Pairs, 10m apart, one soft ball per pair, all striking down the same channel with three big steps between pairs. Mentors walk behind the striking line, never in front.
How it works: The strike from the hand, built one piece at a time. Piece one, the grip check: strong hand shakes hands with the top, helper hand below, top hand locked. Piece two, THE TOSS, and it gets its own game before anyone swings: toss the ball flat off the open palm at arm's length, belly-button height, and catch it again — ten perfect tosses, no hurley. Piece three: toss, let it drop, and catch the swing UNDERNEATH it with a slow-motion shadow swing, no ball flying yet. Piece four, all together: toss, step toward your partner, turn the shoulder, swing through, finish pointing at her. Count strikes that reach your partner without a second bounce — pairs race their own best, not each other, and swap collector jobs so the balls come home.
The technique, step by step
- Grip check — strong hand on top, locked.
- Toss flat from the open palm, arm's length, belly-button height. Ten catches before any swing.
- Shadow swing under the dropping ball, slow motion.
- Toss, step, turn the shoulder, swing through, finish at your target.
Common mistakes
- Throwing the toss sky-high — everything after it falls apart; replay the toss game, ten flat catches.
- Top hand sliding off mid-swing — back to the handshake, squeeze, and slow the swing down.
What to say
- “Tell them: 'the toss is the boss — flat, at arm's length, belly-button height, every time.'”
- “Tell them: 'step and turn your shoulder before you swing — the swing is the last thing, not the first.'”
- “Tell them: 'finish pointing at your partner — the ball follows your finish.'”
Easier
Kneel-and-strike off the grass first; partner moves to 6m; every strike from a fresh toss-and-catch first.
Harder
STEPR: partner holds a hoop up as a target; strike on the move after two walking steps; best pairs try one weak-side toss each just for the laugh.
Gates & Goals
Setup: Pods of three at a striking spot, each pod facing a fan of three cone gates — near gate 6m, middle 8m, far 10m, each a different cone colour. One striker, one fetcher, one scorekeeper per pod, jobs rotate every three strikes.
How it works: Call your gate, then strike for it. Near gate one point, middle two, far three — but only the gate you CALLED counts, so the brave call big and the clever call sure. Three strikes each, rotate jobs, keep pod totals. Round two: the strike must come after two walking steps, so the toss happens on the move. Round three, the jackpot: any girl may call 'both hands' and try her weak-side grip at the near gate for five points — mentors make an enormous fuss of every attempt, hit or miss.
What to say
- “Tell them: 'call it, mean it — a called shot is a braver shot.'”
- “Tell them: 'same smooth swing for the far gate — distance comes from timing, not temper.'”
- “Tell them: 'fetchers watch the flight — you're learning even when you're not swinging.'”
Easier
Gates pulled two steps closer and widened; strikes off the grass allowed all round.
Harder
STEPR: scorekeeper holds a five-second countdown for each strike; far gate narrows; called-gate misses give one point to the fetcher to sharpen the calling.
Strike & Score
Setup: 30×25m pitches, 4v4 in bibs, big cone goals (4m) at each end, spare balls with a mentor at each end line for instant restarts.
How it works: Small game where only striking scores. Carry, hand-pass and dribble all you like, but a score must be STRUCK through the cone goal — a strike from the hand is worth two, a ground strike worth one. No goalkeepers, no standing in the goal. Every dead ball is replaced by the mentors in seconds so nobody waits. Halfway through, add the bonus: a score where the toss, step and swing all happen without a fumble gets a 'clean swing' shout from the mentor and doubles. Let them play — save the coaching for the girl jogging back after her shot.
What to say
- “Tell them: 'take your second — a settled swing beats a panicked swat.'”
- “Tell them: 'pass to the girl in space — she has time to toss and swing.'”
- “Tell them: 'missed one? The next ball is already coming — go get it.'”
Easier
Wider goals; any strike counts equal; 5v3 with the five always attacking for a team that needs joy.
Harder
STEPR: strikes from the hand only; goals shrink to 3m; two passes minimum before a shot so the ball finds the free girl.
Ask the players: Between games, ask the resting four: whose swing looked like the drill? Name it out loud — being caught doing it right is the whole culture.
Shake It Out & Shout It Out
Setup: Helmets off, hurleys down in a row, circle at the centre of the square with the mentors in it.
How it works: Shake the wrists and arms like wet dogs, then slow stretches: wrists gently pulled back, shoulders across the chest, calves, one long reach for the sky. Then each pod shouts out its best moment of the night — one sentence each, loud enough for the pitch to hear. Balls counted into the bag as they leave the circle.
What to say
- “Tell them: 'wrists first tonight — they did every toss and every swing.'”
- “Every pod's shout gets applause — full stop, no exceptions.”
- “Finish with: 'show me one air-swing with a locked top hand' — twenty perfect swings is the last thing ye see.”
Ask the players: Ask: what does the toss have to look like for the swing to work? Flat, arm's length, belly-button height — when the whole circle chants it back, the night stuck.
Next week builds on this: Striking on the move — the toss happens at a jog, and the gates start moving too.
PitchPlans coaching team
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