What the heck is Gaelic Football?

When I was little I could never decide what sport I wanted to play. I bounced back and forth between soccer and basketball. I remember crying and being torn about which tournament to attend over the weekend. Do I go to my AAU Basketball tournament in New Jersey, or do I travel to Maryland with my soccer team? Is there a way I can do both? - Oh and trust me...I tried! In the spring, I remember going to Lacrosse practice right after school, and then rushing 45 minutes away in traffic to my travel team soccer practice, and then heading an hour and a half out to basketball (or another soccer practice for another team.) In the fall it was school soccer and then club soccer, and in the winter it was basketball and indoor soccer. Talk about running myself tired. Thank god my parents were so supportive of me in my sports endeavors.

Anyway, the point of bringing this all up is that I NEVER could decide what sport I liked best. I liked them all! I eventually played soccer in college, but I always missed all the other sports I gave up.

Just when I thought there was no answer to the "favorite sport" question, I found the answer. I have been in Taiwan for about 2 months, and spent the majority of my first month sending millions of emails out searching for a soccer team I could play with. I thought it would be a great way to meet new people, and play some soccer while I was at it. Unfortunately, everything turned up empty. There were no soccer teams on the internet.

Right when I was about to give up, I found something about a sport called Gaelic Football. Having no idea what it was, or if it even allowed women, I sent an email off asking whether they had room for one more player.

A month later, I found myself standing on a field in Korea at the 2011 Asian Gaelic Games representing Taiwan as a member of the Taiwan Celts.

Here is a picture of our club after the men won their first Asian Gaelic Games Plate!

What is Gaelic Football?

So, there is a field (pitch) with two H shaped goals. To move the ball each player can take 4 steps and then he/she must either bounce the ball OR solo it (which is basically a single juggle off the foot while running). They cannot do two bounces in a row, but can do as many solos as they like. To pass, a player must either volley with the foot to someone on their team who then catches it OR they must hand pass, which is like a volley ball serve. You cannot throw the ball. If the ball drops on the ground, a player can dribble it like a soccer ball, and even pass it like one, but remember that anyone can bend down and pick it up. Hands are allowed. If a player falls, they cannot touch the ball while they are on the ground. Instead, they need to get up and then pick the ball up. There is no tackling, but a player can play defense and steal the ball by punching it out of another players hands with one hand. I think the defense you play in Gaelic is very similar to the defense you play in basketball. There is little contact. The way you position yourself on the field is very similar to both lacrosse and soccer.

A team scores when a player from their team scores a goal when shooting at the goalie, OR when they kick a field goal. A goal is 3 points, and a field goal is 1 point. When there is a foul there is a free punt, and if you are close enough to the goal you can either shoot or go for a field goal. When the ball is out, there are no throw in's, and the ball is punted in play.

Ok, so I only went to one practice before the Asian Gaelic Games in Korea, but after the 1st game I understood it a little more. I was clumsy on the field, and very out of shape, but I had so much fun playing for Taiwan.

Our first game we beat the Seoul Gaels. The second game we played Singapore, and also beat them. Our third game we played Japan, and beat them as well. Our last game was a draw (tie) and then the next day we lost to a team in the quarter finals. Even though we lost, I think we did pretty well considering we have barely played together! This was the first time the women's team had a full team to compete with. Very exciting!

Our guys team won their division for the first time in Taiwan Celts history!! That was probably the highlight of the trip...and watching and cheering them on was so much fun!

I am so lucky to have met so many awesome people and new friends, and I cannot wait for the 2012 games!!!

Cheering on the guys while they played in the finals!

The guys in action.

Champions!!

We went out for a club dinner to a restaurant, and I battled a ball of noodles.

This weekend reminded of the reasons I loved being an athlete in high school and college. I forgot what it was like to travel with team mates and bond on and off the field. That is how friends are made, and memories are never forgotten!! Thank you to the Taiwan Celts for taking me in last minute and letting me be a part of such a wonderful organization!!!!!

Happy Birthday Winnie the Pooh!

A voice we all know, and a belly we all love. Winnie the Pooh is a character that has played a big part in most youngsters lives...mine included.


Everyone knows Winnie the Pooh, and this month he turns 85! What a perfect focus for a lesson and an opportunity for some fun arts and crafts for my 7th graders.

In class, we read an article about Winnie the Pooh and A.A. Milne. I taught the kids the vocabulary the lesson centered around, we played games, and then I had them sing Happy Birthday to Winnie the Pooh, which was quite entertaining! Since they have exams this coming week, I thought I would give them homework that was a little more "fun" than usual. Their assignment was to make birthday cards for Winnie the Pooh in English. Inside they had to use some of our vocabulary words.

I figured since I am was having so much luck with the stickers as motivation, that I would make this into a contest. At first, they weren't sure about the word conTEST because all they heard was TEST. Realizing this as soon as I heard their groans and saw their faces, I quickly picked up a piece of chalk and wrote on the board: Contest = Game. Cheers erupted!

I explained to them how it would work. Of course I had the help of a class translator (there is usually at least one student in each class that is able to translate for me!). They would each make a card, and I would select 10 cards for them to vote on. Then, they would choose which one would receive 1st place; one would receive 2nd place; and one would receive 3rd place.

The prizes were as follows:
1st place: a homework pass and three stickers
2nd place: two stickers
3rd place: one sticker

I am happy to share some of the cards...along with one that just really impressed me. One girl created a pop-up card, and it was pretty amazing! Although it didn't win 1st prize, I thought it was the best!


Here are some more of the cards!


And finally, some of the winners!!

An Angry Bird, a few stickers, and some home-made homework passes

It has been about a month and a half...and they are FINALLY starting to speak!

If you have read my blogs before, you will know I am talking about my students. My 7th grade classes were (and still are) painfully quiet, unless of course I am playing charades with them and acting like a complete fool. In that case they are rolling on the floor laughing. Hey, that's something isn't it?

The weeks have passed, and I have to stop a second and give myself a pat on the back. I have been killing myself trying to think of ways to get the students to participate in class, and I think I have started to find it. I wish I knew that all it took was an angry bird, a few stickers and homemade homework passes!

The second week of school I was in Ximen, which is a market where they sell almost everything. I found a little red Angry Bird, and immediately realized THAT was what I needed in my classroom.

I throw the Angry Bird to the students who have their hands raised. It helped a little bit with their willingness to participate, but I wasn't happy yet. There was something else I needed to do...so I went back to the drawing board. I walked through the stationary store by my house one night, hoping to find an idea from something I saw. Right as I thought it was hopeless, I saw the stickers. BINGO!

I bought about 9,000 little smiley face stickers; half of them are blue and the other half are pink. Whenever a student does their homework (which is all the time) they get a blue sticker. This is a way to get the kids who are shy started with some stickers. Then throughout class, I write down the names of the students who raise their hand and participate on the board. Each student has to participate more than once (but sometimes I bend the rules for the shyer ones!)

Each class usually ends with a game, like BINGO or something. The winner(s) receive an additional sticker. So, in reality a student could potentially get 3 stickers a day. I tell them that for the first round, they have to get 10 stickers to get a homework pass. When I announced the homework pass, they were like, "WOW!" and literally could not believe I would actually allow them to not do their homework!

Okay...so maybe I have something here.


Was I right or what? My class went from 1 or 2 kids raising their hands, to kids jumping out of their seat for me to call on them and throw them the Angry Bird. I actually have to pick kids, and that part is hard. Take a look at this!

Is my job done yet...ABSOLUTELY NOT. I still see kids without their hands up, but I have to say the ones that do have their hands up certainly seem to REALLY want to be called on! At least I know it is not fake! I am pretty excited.

A few thoughts on this whole process:

1) When I first started rewarding the stickers at the beginning of class as I did homework checks, I realized that it took quite a bit of time. I forgot for a moment that I have about 55 kids in one class. I have since then, started giving the kids a game or exercise that they can do while I complete the homework check - maybe a word search or a word scramble. I am also teaching them how to crack coded messages, which they L-O-V-E.

2) I think I may actually stop using the stickers, and find myself a stamp. It would be a lot faster. I waste a lot of precious time peeling off the stickers and putting them onto the students' index cards. However, that will be a while because I did buy around 9,000 stickers!

So...I am getting there! My kids are starting to open up and participate, and I couldn't be happier.