 So it's time to talk athletics on the score this week and I'm delighted to say to join a meet to talk about the return and getting back involved in sport again is Dermot McGranahan and he of course is regional development officer for the northwest with athletics. Arnand Dermot, it's good to see you and good to talk to you again. Hi Aisin, yeah, good to see you, it's been a while and it's good to get back, you know, hopefully we'll get the shoe in the road this time, you know. Well literally you guys are back on track this week, so you're a couple of days in since the return and very much welcome Dermot. Yeah absolutely, Aisin, it's been a long time since Christmas, you know and obviously we're back now, we started on Monday there so looking good. The feedback from the club so far has been huge, you know, it's been all positive, you know, we're obviously a bit of fear of wanting to be lost out in a wee bit of engagement really, but I think looking and listening to everybody that's been huge to Manford and everybody's back and obviously working together and good engagement over the last two days, you know. Yeah so then how do you go about organising and running activities now at the minute this week because there's a lot of things that you have to implement, isn't that correct Dermot? Yeah absolutely, things have changed I would say and it's going to be changed for a while, I think the normal has sort of changed, but you know coaches and all aspects of sport adapt very quickly, you know and I think you know obviously we have the pods of 15 that we've got to try and work as best we can, you know obviously everybody's circumstances are different so the pods are key, but the big question a lot of people are asking is how many pods are there? So that all depends on your circumstances really, I think it's a case, everybody's case scenario is different, you know, take for instance, you know you have Big Area in Lerner County, you have Big Area in Finvally, you know where like the legs of Finvally last day had 300 people, Ross's AC on Monday night I think at over 200, same as Lerner County, same as Lifford's, but you know the big story of possibly with the legs of Olympian who turned the wee bit out of Glen Swally out there and you know I just seen a few pictures of that in McCarrapar, you know so whatever comes, whatever suits, the big one is obviously the Covid screening, obviously the back and track, the app for the screening more so than anything else into the tracing, so that's the new things that's been brought on there in the Covid questionnaire so that your circumstances is good and health-wise, you know, so yeah certainly the role of a coach has changed somewhat compared to what it was two or three years ago then, Dermot, there's a lot more involved in it now and there's a lot more you have to learn about. Absolutely, a bit of a lesson as I said, I've seen people adapt very quickly, the kids understand, you know, the big one obviously is, you know, getting protocols in place from day one and I think, you know, what's the county board and the new organisation and everything else, we were ahead of the game, you know, and things is the protocols are in place and there should be no fear whatsoever, we are back on track and as I said, to reassure parents, to reassure coaches, that clubs are doing their best and has all the protocols in place. Dermot, obviously you were organising and implementing virtual challenges and creating different virtual events for right across the county and the great thing about this was athletics, Arnhem and Dublin, Seymour Duesges and Donny Gall were at them that decided to run it nationally. Absolutely, yeah, I'll tell you what, we have a new committee now in Donny Gall chaired by Michael Galvin from the other county, doing great work and the big one is he's keeping the meetings nice and short, which is important, but doing massive work, the likes of Mark Connelly driven out of affairs, Pat the Galvin senior competition, Michael Low doing a massive, massive job in coaching development. That's not the only one, it's a real good strong committee, obviously through my own role as RDO, pushing out, working with Michael, working with the whole team, working with the county board, rolling out challenges throughout the year and even before Christmas, you know, and as you say, I've seen athletics out in, has contacted myself and others to try and get it rolled out throughout the country, so we had a big, massive engagement before Christmas in the Cross Country Challenge, we ended up, we had over 5,000 athletes competed in the Cross Country Challenge and the new one this year we've done in February there, which was a six-week challenge covering, you know, more of a run, jump and throw sort of thing, you know, and it's been massive as well and big engagement done at all. So, you know, as I say, we're ahead of the game up here, we're leading the role out here and having no qualms, through all that, I think we're going to increase some numbers, you know, a lot of people talking about decreasing numbers, but I think we're going to answer numbers from it, you know. Yeah, a lot of sports athletes are concerned about the drop-off and I was chatting to a guy this week who was discussing the age group off from 16 to 18, and that sport and sessions and everything was all organised for them and all they did, they showed up, so it was very hard for a youngster of that age to do something on their own. So, but you're sort of saying now that with all these youngsters who have been involved in lockdown and have possibly struggled that they're quite eager to get back again, and you're going to see numbers grow rather than depleted numbers coming back? Yeah, that's for sure. Like from what I'm seeing, what I'm hearing, especially really, what a lot of people don't understand, the coach's role, no matter what sport you're involved in, actually, is huge, you know. No matter what sport it is, you know, especially through athletics, the engagement that coaches rolled out and fired out to the parents of home, who the parents had to go with in and take their kids for that session or whatever, maybe on the road, maybe in the grass, maybe in the woods or whatever, but they have more or less seen now what what we do as coaches, we do other clubs no matter what sport, you know. They've seen the positive feedback from their athletes and we've seen the positive feedback from parents, but the engagement has been huge, and I think that, you know, no matter where we're at here with us, the mental health and physical health that parents see is what we've been doing, and they have no problem getting them back in it again. That's amazing the feedback we've been getting from parents, more SN, we realize what you should have done now, what you should have been doing all along. That's been a tough job, but we're so glad to see you back. I thought I was talking to someone else this week as well. It suggested that athletics now on the return can prove hugely beneficial, not just for athletics, but for those involved in other sports as well. Yes, the big message I would put now is not to be panicking. Kids have been off for a long time, no matter what sport it is, natural fitness is always going to be there, but the big thing is the message I would try to everybody, all clubs, all sport, no matter what it is, especially athletics, will be the case that we've known the actual competition right through the end of August, or the middle of August, sorry, we have regionals coming through in July, but our county championships and one thing or another is not until, we're going to get six or eight weeks of training, so not to be panicking, but yes, for other sports, obviously, no matter what sport you have to play, you have to be able to run. So I would say gradually, gradually, get your athletes fit, get them back in, get nice and easy, get them back relaxed, because the standard of fitness has gone way, way down, so I would say get the fun environment going first, to get your numbers back, and as I say, get it back nice and easy and back in track as easily as possible, you know. Yeah, and there's well there about national competitions coming up later in the year, German, obviously, they are a huge target for those who are very, very committed to athletics and want to do well representing their club, and indeed the county too, but we're all hoping that things will be sorted out maybe a wee bit better come that stage. Are you confident that you will have nationals later in the year? Yeah, well, I know we talked last year about this, actually, but you know, the big thing is that we haven't placed this year, obviously it has to do with figures, really. If we can get our figures, we hear the magic words of level three or level two, you know, we here in Donegal are more or less set up for like one of the initiatives that Mark Connelly set up as triangular meets, you know, which we can, if we can get, we're allowed to have participation or competition with 200 people, you know, these trying meets is going to be huge locally. County championships then obviously level two, we're looking, we're looking obviously 400 people for those, obviously regional championships is penciled in for July, and yes, the national championships are on the first three weekends for juveniles around the first three weeks of August, so they are penciled in. Obviously, it's to do with this rollout of the vaccines and wanting another, and that's going to be key, actually, you know. Yeah, just finally then, as you with these dates and levels to come back in where you can implement your strategy and get competitions back again, and by the way you're talking about how the Donegal board are working at the moment, is it fair to say then that Donegal are in a very, very solid position going forward when all this action is set to come back? Yeah, absolutely. And the likes of, you know, I can't say enough about the likes of Michael Logo from Rassus, the coaches forums that he's doing every two weeks, you know, bringing on the ground coaches, juvenile coaches and getting them ahead of the game, having discussion about training ideas, sharing ideas. Listen, it's not happening anywhere else, it's through my areas and I'm trying to do that. You know, then the other ones, club captains, senior club captains, putting a presentation together at the minute, trying to help the senior clubs together, maybe this rollout of county championship, making it more, making it a better environment, county level and prestigious to compete, you know, at the end of the AGA and you're competing for your county, let's do the same for athletics, and that's what's happening here at the minute, and I have no qualms about it, that our sport is getting stronger and stronger, you know, and that's all down to the people that's working on the ground. At the end of the day, we're all working together. The likes of Patsy there is who's been promoting the sport of athletics for years and years and years. There's so many other people doing it now and it's great to see, you know. It's never good to talk to you and good to see you as well, and the best of luck and your continued success in developing athletics in the Northwest and obviously back on the track now. Hopefully we'll get these dates back soon and levels as well to see real serious competition taking place. Thanks. Yeah, actually just one more, actually, just on that, just on the junior element of it, you know, just catching up on that. We find that obviously our juniors and our under-23s and our drop-off has reached huge importance to us, and those are the athletes that's missed out for the last couple of years, you know. It's coming on to that across roads and college and one thing or another. So what we're trying to do, obviously with the rollout and multi-null, we're actually looking for a few exemptions for people who are looking for standards for European competition, because the European youth is on this year, so our youth has just been cancelled. The juniors and the under-23s, ones in Estonia and the other ones in Norway. So that's what we're trying to do as well, actually, trying maybe to get a few exemptions so that people can travel to Northern Ireland or to England or whatever for trying to create a standard, you know. Okay. Thanks, Jeremy. Thanks, Aishin. Thank you.