So what is this Indy Invitational thing anyway?

We are now less than two weeks away from the 2022 Indy Invitational, and as we get closer to that date I thought this was a great opportunity to share a little bit more about what the Invitational is for folks who may not be familiar.

A Quick History Lesson

The Indy Invitational is an annual tournament that the Indy GAA has held for over 15 years now, typically on the second weekend of June. For the last 10 years we’ve held the event at World Sports Park, a purpose-built facility for Gaelic sports as well as cricket, rugby, Aussie rules football, and lacrosse.

Fun fact, in 2014, our first year at the park, then-mayor Greg Ballard attended the event and officially declared it “Indianapolis GAA Day”.

The event also started as a hurling only competition but has grown with the club to now offer competitions in Camogie, both Ladies and Gentlemen’s Gaelic football, and even youth matches, making it one of the largest USGAA competitions outside of Nationals.

Over the years the event has become a favorite among clubs in the midwest, and has also attracted competition from Denver, Washington DC, Atlanta, Greenville, Nashville, and even Canada!

How You Can Participate/Help

We need you, YES YOU, to help make the 2022 event a success, and there are three main ways you can do this – COMPETE, VOLUNTEER, or SPECTATE!

How can I Compete?

A tournament is nothing without competitors, so we welcome ALL of our members, of all abilities and experience levels to come and play. Whether that’s with an Indy GAA team, or as a fill-in player for any travel teams who may be short a player or two — If you show up, you will be on a team! A list of teams and brackets will be posted soon so you can get a taste of the competition. Fill out this form to let us know you’ll be there.

Volunteers Needed!

This event would not be possible without the time and effort of VOLUNTEERS. Numerous members as well as their family members and friends have stepped up over the years to make this event happen, and this year is no different. We need folks willing to act as task runners, keep score, judge lines and goals, run registration and information tables, and even just greet people and welcome them to our city. If you or someone you know is interested in volunteering please fill out this form.

Come and Watch

What’s the best way to ensure the success and growth of this tournament and the great Gaelic games? Introducing them to new people! I encourage you to share details about the event with your friends and family, and have them come out and watch. We will have beer provided by our tournament sponsor Bier Brewery, as well as food trucks. There will also be viewing tents to help keep spectators cool and shaded. Admission is free!

If you have any questions leading up to the event please let us know, and we look forward to seeing you on the pitch on June 18th!


June Updates

Football Nationals Practice Changing Day and Location

After feedback regarding player availability we are moving Gaelic football practice for Nationals to Tuesday evenings at 7:30pm at O’Bannon Soccer Fields.

Premier Night – June 10

The first Premier Night of the season will be next Friday, June 10th at 7pm at Kuntz Memorial Soccer Stadium.

Indy Invitational – June 18

It’s back! The 2022 Indy Invitational will be held Saturday, June 18th at World Sports Park in Indianapolis.

We’ll have beer provided by Bier Brewery as well as food truck(s) with Afters being held in downtown Indy at Kilroy’s on Georgia Street.

We welcome not only competing teams but also all fans, friends, and family members to attend. Spectators get in free.

We are also still in search of volunteers, so please fill out or share this form if you or any friends/family members might be interested in helping!

Indy GAA Gives Back

There is a new opportunity for us to give back to our community as a club! Every Sunday there will be a bin near the Mug Club cooler/shed where you can place a donation. At the end of the month the club will donate the items to a local charity. 

In June, we will collect pet supplies and personal care items in July.  If you have a local charity that is important to you that could benefit from these items please contact Claire Lane.

If you prefer you can also use Venmo. Every cent will be passed along, just send it to @claire-lane-2 with “GAA” in the comments.

Indy GAA Evening at Victory Field – July 23

Join us for an evening at the ballpark!

Be one of the first 2,500 fans through the Victory Field gates and receive a comic. Plus, the Indians will wear Thanos specialty jerseys that will be auctioned off during the game, with all proceeds benefiting Indianapolis Indians Charities.

  • Game Date: Saturday, July 23
  • Game Time: 7:05PM
  • Gates Open: 6:00PM
  • Opponent: St. Paul Saints

Wanted: Player Profiles

we hope you’ve noticed the player profiles on our social media accounts over the last few weeks featuring some of our female players. These were created as a recruitment tool to encourage more ladies to join our club. 

We’d like to go ahead and open things up to highlight all of our membership. If you’d like to be considered for a profile feature, please tell us about yourself and why you love Indy GAA. New players, seasoned pros, coaches, Americans, Irish born, always injured — we want to showcase the diversity in our club! Fill out there form here →

Indy GAA Gives Back

There is a new opportunity for us to give back to our community as a club! Every Sunday there will be a bin near the Mug Club cooler/shed where you can place a donation. At the end of the month the club will donate the items to a local charity.

In June, we will collect pet supplies and personal care items in July.  If you have a local charity that is important to you that could benefit from these items please contact Claire Lane.

Indy GAA Evening at Victory Field – July 23

Join us for an evening at the ballpark!

Be one of the first 2,500 fans through the Victory Field gates and receive a comic. Plus, the Indians will wear Thanos specialty jerseys that will be auctioned off during the game, with all proceeds benefiting Indianapolis Indians Charities.

  • Game Date: Saturday, July 23
  • Game Time: 7:05PM
  • Gates Open: 6:00PM
  • Opponent: St. Paul Saints

Event Reminders for the Week of 4/17

Good morning folks! This week is packed with a number of great club events so I wanted to take a quick moment to remind everyone of what’s happening.

Wednesday, April 20th – Practice – Broad Ripple Park

Now that we’ve (hopefully) got the last snow of the spring out of the way let’s cross out fingers for a nice practice this week at Broad Ripple Park. Training starts at 6:30pm with Gaelic Football first, followed by Hurling.

Friday, April 22nd – Indy GAA Ladies Social – Bier Brewery on 65th St.

Let’s get together for an evening of fun before pub league games begin. Meet some current players and learn about Gaelic games & our club. If you have questions please email Claire Lane. The event starts at 7pm.

Saturday, April 23rd – Jersey Release Party – Books & Brews Mothership

Get a chance to meet up with your teammates before your first week of matches and see this year’s jerseys while supporting one of our great sponsors. The event starts at 4:30pm and the venue is family friendly. Also if you can’t make it don’t worry, you can grab your jersey from your captains on game day.

Sunday, April 24th – Pub League Week 1 – Eugene Burns Fields

After 2 years without Indy GAA Pub League matches in April we are back! Games will be at 10am, 11am, and 12pm. If you’re interested in Mug Club, talk to Brian Mathes.

March Club Update

I hope you are doing well and are gearing up for a great Indy GAA season. The board and our committees have been working hard to get everything ready for when we all hit the pitch for Pub League in April. The fields have been reserved, our teams have been picked, and the jerseys have been designed and are being produced at O’Neills. It’s already March and we’ll be getting started with practices soon so I wanted to give a quick update on events scheduled for the season.

Thank You Jersey Committee!

Before getting into the updates I want to thank the members who helped with the jersey designs this year. Woody White and his crew did a great job putting together the jerseys and working with the captains and sponsors to make sure everyone agreed on the final designs. They put in a lot of time and effort to make sure we’ll look good on the pitch this season. Next time you see Woody White, Kelsey Alcorn, Joel Dale, Jessica Rhodes, Chris Burrows, Brett Mayoney, and Travis Ryan be sure to tell them thank you for their work on the jerseys. We are working to redesign the travel jerseys as well so if you have any thoughts/ideas/proposals you would like to share jump on the #jersey-design channel on Slack or send them to Woody.

Member Relations Officer Vacancy

Our membership relations officer position is vacant and we are in search of interested members who are willing and able to take over the position. The role of the Membership Relations Officer is to be a point of contact for all of our members, to introduce new members to the club, and keep all of our members engaged in the club’s activities/efforts. The new membership relations officer’s term would start as soon as possible and would end on December 31, 2023. If you are interested in this position to help our club and our members please contact the board at board@indygaa.com.

Special O’Neills Apparel Order

This year we are doing a special O’Neills Apparel Order in conjunction with our jersey order so that our members can purchase new Indy GAA jerseys, shorts, windcheaters, etc. so you can update your kitbag/wardrobe.

Visit the Club Hub site here →

USGAA Registration

If you haven’t registered with the USGAA already you will also be required to register for the USGAA before our season starts and/or you play in any tournaments. More information on that process and requirement can be found here. Please be on the lookout for details with more information on the registration requirements when we get closer to the deadline.

Upcoming Travel Tournaments

We’ve already been invited to play in multiple tournaments coming up this year. There are a few coming up in the next few months:

For more information on the travel tournaments check out the Upcoming Tournament section on the sidebar of the website and the #travelfootball and #travelhurling channels on Slack.

We are looking for a travel competition commissioner to help keep track of the tournaments and interested members who will help set up teams and work on travel plans/details. If you are interested please contact the board at board@indygaa.com.

Practices

We are hoping to get back into action with practices in March this year. This year we are planning to start practices the first Wednesday after St. Patrick’s Day, March 23rd. This will heavily depend on the weather but please mark your calendar so you’re ready to get started this March.

Pub League

The teams have been picked and this year we’re back to eight hurling teams and four football teams. The schedules are posted on our website. This year our Pub League is scheduled to start on April 24th and run through August 7th. This will allow for enough weekends to host full hurling and football seasons from April 24th – July 24th with playoffs for football at the end of June and early July and hurling playoffs at the end of July and early August.

Premier Nights

We are planning to host Premier Nights at Kuntz stadium throughout the season again this year. These are fun nights with good competition and a great opportunity for family members and/or friends to see our games for a cheap Friday night event/activity. Details on our Premier Nights will be provided when we get closer to the season.

Indy Invitational

Planning for the greatest Gaelic Invitational in North America has already started. The date for the Indy Invitational is scheduled for June 18th at the World Sports Park. You will not want to miss this event or its after party so make sure to mark your calendar now.

This event is the best way to showcase our club and it takes a lot of effort to host it so we will need as many volunteers as we can get to set up the fields, run the games, keep everything running smoothly, and tear down. If you are interested in helping please contact our Events Chair, Danny Jorgenson, to let him know and he will add you to his list.

Nationals

This year the USGAA National finals are being hosted in Chicago from August 19th – 21st and we want to make our presence known and bring home some hardware. Please mark your calendar whether you plan to play or be a superfan for the weekend.

We want to send competitive panels to play and win as many trophies as we can take home this year. To get ready, our coaches have set up additional practices throughout the season for more intense practices for players interested in participating in Nationals. We are planning to start hosting these practices in May and more details will be provided when we get closer to the season.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is back on this year!! It will be held on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, on the Mile Square in downtown Indy and we are registered to participate. Please join the club in walking in the parade so we can showcase our great club and sports to all of the parade’s spectators. Bring your gear and wear your jersey because we’ll demonstrate the skills of our sports while walking the parade route. After the parade we’ll take pictures with the group downtown, have a short puck/kick around and then head off for afters. St. Patrick’s Day is always a great time to enjoy our friends in the club, make new friends, recruit new members, kick off our season, and of course celebrate the patron Saint of Ireland. For more info check out the calendar entry or join the #lets-talk-about-events-baby channel in Slack.

March Madness Tournament Challenge

Do you like basketball? Do you like prizes? Join the club’s tournament challenge for your chance to win a free 2023 membership or a gift card to one of our lovely sponsors.

Join the Tournament Challenge here →