Gaelic football is a popular Irish team sport. However, it is not an easy sport to learn. Meet a group of 14-year-old entrepreneurs from Castleisland, County Kerry in Ireland: Muireann Walsh, Ciara Cronin, Megan Dennehy, Clodagh Coffey, Aine Murphy, and Lauren O' Connor. With their collaboration, they were able to create Gaelic Touch.
Gaelic football is like a cross between soccer and rugby. It is a distinctly Irish field invasion game played with a round football which can be caught, kicked, and hand passed, but they can't travel with the ball for more than four steps—players have to bounce it on the ground or drop the ball onto their foot and kick it back into their hand, which, in the game, is called soloing.
When thinking of new projects for an enterprise competition, the team had an urge to create a product that was related to sports. They were inspired by the Complete Camann, a hurling aid that won last year's Student Enterprise Programme. The six entrepreneurs were able to think of Gaelic Touch, a Gaelic
football training aid. It consists of a sock that fits over the player's cleats, which introduces all the kicking styles in Gaelic football.
After thinking of their business, they quickly got started on creating their prototype. The Gaelic football training aid has four parts that represent the different kicking styles. This includes the punt, the solo, the slice, and the hook.
The Gaelic Touch team was able to win third place in their school county finals last year. After more research and designing, they were able to win first place in their school county finals this year, and came in second in the Kerry student final.
Click here to view their Instagram.