Tag: USGAA

by Kyle Keesling

Nationals Callout and Practices

As we plan ahead to the 2023 USGAA Nationals in Denver this year, we’ve started holding dedicated nationals-focused practices, which are in addition to our traditional Wednesday practices.

  • Hurling & Camogie – Tuesdays
  • Gaelic Football – Thursdays

These practices will be held at Eugene Burns Fields and as always, keep an eye on our calendar in the event things change.

As we get further into the season we’ll start to hone in on the makeup of our travel teams, but until then these practices are open to anyone interested in potentially making the trip.

In the meantime we ask that you complete this form to help us get a better idea of how many folks can make the trip, and how many teams we should register.

Tournament Participation Form
by Kyle Keesling

Fall Update

What a Weekend!

This year’s USGAA Nationals was one for the books. All codes won their first round of matches, and we had three out of five codes reach Championship Sunday, including our first-ever Ladies’ Gaelic football panel! 

I’m extremely proud of all that were involved. Whether you were on the pitch, in the stands, or organizing from the sidelines you should be very proud of our accomplishments, and the way that we showed the rest of the country what it means to be a part of the Indy GAA.

Thanks to Brittney-Elizabeth Photography we also have an extensive photo library documenting the weekend. Photos are available for purchase if you would like to own a copy for personal uses, they also make a great gift! Please contact Brittney directly for details.

🌎 Global Fest – this Saturday

Think global and fest local at Global Fest 2022 presented by Good Living Indy. Join us to share traditions, honor heritage and learn about cultures through food, music, art and play.

The club will have a booth from noon until 5:30pm to teach people about the great Gaelic games. If you are interested in volunteering please contact Chris Burrows.

📋 End of Year Survey & Award Nominations

Our end-of-year survey is now live. We’ve combined the survey with our annual awards nominations to make it an easy, all-in-one place for you to leave your feedback while it’s still fresh in your mind.

Please note that award nominations will only be live through September 30th, so don’t wait, get it done now!

☘️ Irish Fest – September 23-24

Indy Irish Fest will be held next Friday and Saturday at Garfield Park. We’ll be there as usual to help and hope to see you there! 

We ask any members who are interested in helping out in the booth to please complete this form.

⏱ Fall League has Begun!

Fall League will be on Sundays at Eugene Burns from September 11 – October 30, 9:30-11:30am.

General skill work will be practiced from 9:30-10:15. Matches will start at 10:30 and 11:30. Teams will be picked on the day with those that attend. Please bring a dark and a light shirt for teams. 

We will alternate which sport plays first.  Football will go first on ODD numbered dates and hurling will go first on EVEN numbered dates. Skill work will follow this same schedule.

🏆 Fall Tournaments

There are a number of travel tournaments coming up that we want to be sure you’re aware of. We currently have members interested in attending:

  • Midwest Tournament – Madison, WI – Saturday, September, 17th
  • Al O’Leary Tournament – Akron, OH – Saturday, October 1st

If you are interested in playing please contact Jeremy Pugh or join our travel channels in Slack.

Indoor League

Mark your calendars, Indoor League will run November 15 – January 10th for Hurling/Camogie and January 17 – March 7 for Gaelic Football.

More details coming soon!

by Rachel Keesling

2022 USGAA Registration Instructions

As we begin to ramp up for the 2022 season we also have to take care of all of the clerical work that goes with it. Part of that is not only registering with our club, but also with the USGAA.

You MUST be registered with the USGAA in order to play in our Pub League and/or any other sanctioned games or tournaments. This requirement and deadline is not something determined by our club, but rather at the national level. The fees associated with this registration help the USGAA organize tournaments, develop and promote the games in the US, as well as fund the insurance policy that protects all players, including you, on the pitch.

We cannot emphasize enough how important this is! If you are not registered, you WILL NOT be able to play.

The deadline for returning players to complete your USGAA Registration is April 30th – NO EXCEPTIONS!

Step-by-Step Registration Instructions

  • Choose 2022 Heartland Division – Register Now
  • Log In 
    • If you have registered in the past, your info should already be in the system
      • Your user name is your email 
        • If you are new, you’ll need to create an account 
    • If you don’t remember your password try Indygaa!9, but you also many need to just use the password reset
  • Choose Someone to register
    • Your name and DOB should be here if your account already exists
    • If it is not there, click “Someone else…” to enter that information
  • Click Add Registration for Selected person
  • Select ‘Indianapolis Camogie $42’ or ‘Indianapolis Hurling and Gaelic Football $63’
    • DO NOT CHOOSE ‘Indianapolis Social Membership $11’ or ‘Indianapolis USGAA Club Fees $105’
  • Scroll to bottom and click continue to registrant info
    • If you played last year, all of your info should be in there 
  • Select Resident Player – Homegrown (Unless you’re visiting us from Ireland)
  • Last 4 digits of drivers license 
  • State where ID was issued 
  • Country of birth
  • Division and team category
  • Division? Heartland
  • Primary sport?
    • Ladies Camogie, Ladies football, Mens hurling, or Mens football
  • What team are you registering for?
    • Indy GAA Camogie/Hurling/Football – write what applies to you
  • At which grade are you registering? (If you aren’t sure, just select Junior)
    • Junior, Intermediate, Senior, or N/A
  • Are you a dual code player? (Do you play two sports? IE hurling/football or camogie/football)
  • What other team do you play for? If not dual, put NA, otherwise put Indy GAA
  • At what grade are you registering? Junior, Intermediate, Senior, or N/A (select N/A if not dual code)
  • Continue to registrar participant 
  • Payment 
  • Enter billing info (if not entered)
  • Then enter credit card data 
  • Confirm registration 
  • Payment should be complete 
Visit the USGAA Registration Site

Still have questions? Refer to the registration guide provided by the USGAA, post in the #usgaaregistration channel in our Slack, or contact me for help!

by Andretta Erickson

2022 Nationals Call Out Meeting this Sunday

Chicago Nationals 2022 will be held August 19-21.  Stop what you’re doing and add it to your IOS/Android calendars, circle the dates on your 2022 GAA stars pin-up calendar, and set-up your out-of-office reply!

The stars have certainly aligned for us. Nationals in Chicago is as close as we get geographically to play our games on a national stage.  Therefore, as we come out of a two-year official club hiatus from Nationals participation, we are looking to descend upon Chicago in full force.  We’re talking hurling, camogie, football, friends and family.

We will have a call-out meeting on Oct. 17th @ 1pm at Eugene Burns to briefly set the stage for all things Nationals Chicago 2022.  Please attend!

Serious business to be had in our preparations; habits to form.  Last time we displayed our talents in Chicago, we pulled a double-championship in hurling and football.  This is the year of the triple, or why not a quadruple?!

We hope to see you on Oct 17th to help us begin anew in our quest for cups.  A youth clinic will also be going on at this time, please consider bringing candy to hand out for trunk-or-treat at the end of the clinic.

 “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”

Aristotle

by Kyle Keesling

Week 7 Has Been Postponed

After much deliberation on the board and consultation with team captains we’ve decided to postpone this weekend’s matches to next weekend.

This decision was made due to the fact that we have enough members traveling to the USGAA Nationals this weekend that nearly every team will be unable to fill a full roster.

We still welcome any folks that are still in town to come out to the fields for a stick-toss/scrimmage.

What does this mean for the schedule?

Luckily not too much! The schedule was created this year with a built-in make up week on September 19th. This was originally going to be used as a rain day or as an extra week of practice for teams prior to the playoffs, which start the following week, on September 26th.

All matches have simply slid by one week, allowing us to still complete the league on time. All calendars and team matchups have been updated to reflect the new dates and you can look below for the next scheduled matches.

Week 7 Match-ups

DateTeamsTime/ResultsVenue
Connor's
Dugan Wyatt & Czernik
Guinness
Jeptha Creed
Bier
Hotel Tango
Tappers
Daredevil Brewing
Hope Plumbing
Skyline

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please reach out to us, board@indygaa.com

by Rachel Keesling

2021 USGAA Registration Instructions

As we begin to ramp up for the 2021 season we also have to take care of all of the clerical work that goes with it. Part of that is not only registering with our club, but also with the USGAA. As we voted on at the 2019 AGM, all members are responsible for registering themselves with the USGAA and paying the fees associated with that.

You MUST be registered with the USGAA in order to play in our Pub League and/or any other sanctioned games or tournaments. This requirement and deadline is not something determined by our club, but rather at the national level. The fees associated with this registration help the USGAA organize tournaments, develop and promote the games in the US, as well as fund the insurance policy that protects all players, including you, on the pitch. We know that this deadline may seem early in comparison to the restart of our own club’s activities, this is in part why we have decided to hold off charging any Indy GAA club dues for the time being.

We cannot emphasize enough how important this is! If you are not registered, you WILL NOT be able to play. I will be calling on the 2020 team captains to help me get this done and ensure that you and your teammates are properly registered.

The deadline for returning players to complete your USGAA Registration is April 30th – NO EXCEPTIONS!

Step-by-Step Registration Instructions

  • Choose 2021 Heartland Division – Register Now
  • Log In 
    • If you have registered in the past, your info should already be in the system
      • Your user name is your email 
        • If you are new, you’ll need to create an account 
    • If you don’t remember your password try Indygaa!9, but you also many need to just use the password reset
  • Choose Someone to register
    • Your name and DOB should be here if your account already exists
    • If it is not there, click “Someone else…” to enter that information
  • Click Add Registration for Selected person
  • Select ‘Indianapolis Camogie $42’ or ‘Indianapolis Hurling and Gaelic Football $63’
    • DO NOT CHOOSE ‘Indianapolis Social Membership $11’ or ‘Indianapolis USGAA Club Fees $105’
  • Scroll to bottom and click continue to registrant info
    • If you played last year, all of your info should be in there 
  • Select Resident Player – Homegrown (Unless you’re visiting us from Ireland)
  • Last 4 digits of drivers license 
  • State where ID was issued 
  • Country of birth
  • Division and team category
  • Division? Heartland
  • Primary sport?
    • Ladies Camogie, Ladies football, Mens hurling, or Mens football
  • What team are you registering for?
    • Indy GAA Camogie/Hurling/Football – write what applies to you
  • At which grade are you registering? (If you aren’t sure, just select Junior)
    • Junior, Intermediate, Senior, or N/A
  • Are you a dual code player? (Do you play two sports? IE hurling/football or camogie/football)
  • What other team do you play for? If not dual, put NA, otherwise put Indy GAA
  • At what grade are you registering? Junior, Intermediate, Senior, or N/A (select N/A if not dual code)
  • Continue to registrar participant 
  • Payment 
  • Enter billing info (if not entered)
  • Then enter credit card data 
  • Confirm registration 
  • Payment should be complete 
Visit the USGAA Registration Site

Still have questions? Refer to the registration guide provided by the USGAA, post in the #usgaaregistration channel in our Slack, or contact me for help!

by David Littlejohn

☘️ Spring Update

🦠 The Latest Regarding COVID

I hope your 2021 is off to as good of a start as it can be given the current situation.  Hopefully this year we’ll be able to gather and play again, but we are still in a holding pattern as we wait for things to get better.  If this were a normal season we would have already had our draft events, our second round of indoor would be complete and we’d be gearing up for St. Patrick’s Day. 

Unfortunately COVID is hanging around into 2021, but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  So far this year our board has been able to hold two meetings to discuss plans for the upcoming year.  At this point we still don’t know when health professionals will recommend that it is safe to play contact sports, but we will keep a very close eye on their recommendations and guidance and we’ll do our best to keep the Club informed of any updates and/or plans for our events and season. 

📋 2021 League Registration

Josh Lane has created potential schedules with varying start dates so we can hit the ground running when the time comes.  We’ve submitted our COVID plan to the Marion County Health Department in order to reserve the fields at Eugene Burns. 

Our main goal is to keep our members and their families safe and healthy which is why we will not host games if there are still restrictions that recommend against it.  With that in mind, our board has also chosen to focus on our local events and season this year and as part of that adjustment we will not be hosting our invitational.

Not knowing when we will be able to start our season makes it a little tricky to ask our members to register for the season.  To help us get a better understanding of who all is interested in playing this year we are asking members to register here at no cost (for now).  When we are able to play we will ask for all members to pay before playing our first games. 

This week, the USGAA has also announced that they will be requiring registration, including the same fee structure as in past years ($63 males/$42 females). Be on the lookout for an email from Rachel soon on how to complete that process.

Having this early registration helps us plan for the upcoming season.  We hope that all of our members will return to play but we understand that each person has their own level of comfort regarding this situation and may choose to put more time between the pandemic and playing.

🏆 February Skills Challenge

Last month we launched our virtual challenge program and are working to continue it to encourage our members to stay active and engaged.  February’s Frigid Digits Challenge has wrapped up and Hope Plumbing won the first round of hurling and Bier Brewery took the win for football. 

We are planning to continue the virtual challenge program and would like to see all of our members submit their challenge videos.  If you have any thoughts or ideas on challenges or how we can improve this program please feel free to send them to the board.

Stay tuned as we will be announcing the March challenge soon.

✏️ March Board Meeting

This month’s board meeting will be held next week, on Wednesday, March 10th at 7:30pm. If you care to join us you can use this meeting link. If you have any issues joining the call please contact Kyle.

📰 Member News & Updates

A by-no-means-exhaustive list of things that have happened over the preceding months. If I missed something big of yours, forgive me and please don’t take it personally, I barely know what’s going on outside of the four walls of my house these days 😆.
If you have updates/news to share with the club about yourself or a fellow member please email pro@indygaa.com to have it included in a future update. – Kyle

  • Aaron Wilder received his MA in English, word on the street is he’s also one helluva bread baker…
  • Break out the tweed and leather-bound books, Chris Bungard was promoted from Associate to Full Professor at Butler University
  • Brogan Sheedy became engaged to this fiancée Erin
  • Mike Monaghan and family welcomed their second child Jackson Patrick
  • Reid Smith and family welcomed their daughter Harper Jo
  • Phil Bar…something and family welcomed their second son Clayton
  • Andretta Erickson, after many rounds of fostering cats with Indy Humane, finally found her forever-cat Ledger, beginning her slow descension to crazy cat lady status
by Kyle Keesling

2020 Pub League Registration is Open

Registration is now live for the 2020 Indy GAA Pub League. We are excited to get things going early this year, but there are a couple of changes to the way registration works this year.

If you attended the AGM back in November you are likely already aware of these changes, but for those that could not make it, or just need a refresher, here’s what’s new.

Registration Process

The first change is that you will be required to register and pay dues with both the Indy GAA (like you normally do) as well as with the USGAA, our club’s national governing body.

In year’s past the club Secretary (thanks Susan!) has taken care of USGAA registration on our members’ behalf, and the club has absorbed the cost of the additional dues, but as the club grows, and the national dues fees increase, we’ve found that process to be unsustainable.

How to Register with the Indy GAA

Registering for the 2020 Indy GAA pub league couldn’t be easier:

  1. Visit the registration page
  2. Fill out the form
    1. It should be pre-populated if you were registered last year, just double check that you’re logged in and that the information is still correct
  3. Follow the redirect to PayPal and pay your $150 dues

How to Register with the USGAA

Information on how to register with the USGAA for 2020 is still forthcoming, but the fees will be:

  • Females – $40, with an additional $2 credit card fee
  • Males – $60, with an additional $3 credit card fee

We will be sure to pass on additional details regarding this process as soon as we receive them.

Registration Deadline

The second change is that there will be a hard deadline to register, with no exceptions. That deadline will Wednesday, February 5th. 

This deadline was picked to give us enough time to plan for the drafts, secure the proper number of pub league sponsors, order jerseys so that they will be available in time for the league to start, among other responsibilities. The league drafts will be held on:

  • Hurling Draft – Monday, February 10th
  • Gaelic Football Draft – Monday, February 17th.

All members must be paid in full to both the Indy GAA and USGAA prior to stepping on the pub league fields on April 19th. If you do not register by the deadline, you are NOT ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY ON-FIELD ACTIVITIES FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. 

The only caveat to the registration deadline is that new members who have never been associated with any other USGAA-affiliated club have until August to register with the USGAA.

Important Dates

  • Wednesday, February 5th – Pub League Registration Deadline
  • Monday, February 10th – Hurling Pub League Draft
  • Monday, February 17th – Gaelic Football Pub League Draft
  • Friday, April 17th – USGAA Registration Deadline
  • Sunday, April 19th – First Day of Hurling Pub League
  • Thursday, April 23rd – First Day of Gaelic Football Pub League

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please email registration@indygaa.com.

Register for the 2020 Pub League and Pay Your Dues →