The growth of the Indianapolis Gaelic Athletic Association depends on the advancement of Gaelic sports (Hurling, Camogie, and Gaelic football) by the youth in the Indianapolis area. Throughout the club's existence, we have sought to include programs for kids of all ages.

Mission
The Indianapolis Gaelic Athletic Association - Youth Division seeks to develop skills and interest in Gaelic Sports among young players. College aged students 18 years or older are included in our adult league, training and playing alongside skilled, experienced players. These players are coached to develop their individual talents as players. Kids under 18 years of age train separately, according to age, interest and skill level. With younger players, our focus is more on cultivating interest, basic skills and knowledge.

Youth events
The club periodically organizes events for interested kids and young adults that comprise of a bit of training followed by a display of skills or quick game. Generally, these events occur alongside our league matches or home tournaments. Upcoming events are listed on our calendar. For any questions about opportunities for youth and Under-18 involvement, please contact us at youth@indyhurling.com. Youth players should bring a completed Youth Registration Packet to each year's first event.

Youth history
The strongest youth program to date was the creation of a hurling league built of two talented teams: North Central and Cathedral high schools. The two schools trained during their season, then competed at our annual fall tournament. The North Central/Indy U18 Hurling Club competed in Chicago at the Continental Youth Championships ( http://www.cycgaa.org/ ) at Gaelic Park in 2008. The team lost both of their matches, but all of the players left the pitch knowing that they had played two exciting matches before hundreds of spectators.

While several of these players are now participating at the collegiate level and/or as current members of our club, we currently do not have programs set up at these local schools. Our short-term goal for this year is to reintroduce the sport of hurling to young athletes in the area with a longer term goal of developing programs at multiple schools. We plan to do this through some basic skills drills and teaching the rules and object of the game. As we progress over the next year we plan to increase the number of youths exposed to Gaelic sports and concurrently increase the level of skill and introduce small scale competition.