FROM IRISH dancers in electric pink tutus to sweaty, sporty teenagers, this year’s HSE Community Games finals offered the usual bustling mix of high-energy performances, stiff competition and giggling camaraderie.
The corridors of Athlone Institute of Technology rang out with choirs, solo singers and comedy sketch actors rehearsing in no-longer quiet corners, and teams of young people from all over Ireland huddled and hugged to find out who had won a coveted All-Ireland medal in events as varied as handball and handwriting.
Glorious sunshine and thrilling finishes attracted some of the biggest athletics audiences ever, and Community Games president Gerard Davenport was delighted with increasingly high standards, particularly among cross-country, arts and choir events.
“It’s a great competition but it’s not all about winning. They’re making a great weekend of it,” he said. “We cater for everyone, we give them a chance to participate,” he said, adding that “a very, very strong youth committee” gives those too old to compete a chance to stay involved in entertainments and organising.
Formerly of the Football Association of Ireland, John Byrne, who was appointed chief executive this year, was impressed by “the whole range of activities, the whole effort that’s put in by an absolutely massive cohort of incredible volunteers”.
Development of the child in a holistic fashion is the core of what he described as “an amazing organisation.”