A trip to visit extended family in Ireland was the first time Lucy Prendeville learned about Irish sports.
“I have Irish parents, and I had never heard of Irish sports in my life,” Prendeville said. “They immigrated here, and I was born in America. I had gone to visit my family in Ireland in 1999, and they had suggested I start playing hurling, and I didn’t know what they were talking about.”
Upon returning to the United States, Prendeville did some research and joined the Gaelic Athletic Association in Washington, D.C. However, after a few years of commuting to D.C. for the GAA there, she and her husband decided that Baltimore needed a group of its own.
The Prendevilles, together with Feilim Mac Gabhann and Lucy Gibson, founded the Baltimore Gaelic Athletic Association in 2003, and the group is celebrating 20 years of competing in Irish sports in the Baltimore area this year.
At the group’s inception, members played Gaelic football games against each other. Over time, the association introduced more sports, and those teams began competing in regional competitions. Baltimore is part of the Mid-Atlantic Division.
The association features games for everyone, with Gaelic football played by both men and women, hurling played by men, and camogie by women.
Twenty years after being established, the Baltimore GAA is still going strong, with plans to hold an end-of-season dinner to celebrate the milestone.
Prendeville says the GAA keeps up its membership by using social media and having its current members spread the word about the association to other people. That’s how Krysten Menks got involved in March 2022.
“I joined because one of my old coworkers was going around the office trying to get people to join the team,” Menks said. “I was looking for something new to do, so I decided to show up to practice one weekend, and I’ve been hooked ever since.”
A member of University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Division I rowing team in college, Menks had a background in athletics but never played field sports before joining the Baltimore GAA.
Menks said she is a little bit Irish but does not usually identify as Irish. She plays Gaelic football and hurling, which were new to her before she started participating in the sports. She says Youtube helped her learn the rules of each game.
The growth of the Baltimore GAA, and Irish sports in general, can be attributed in part to the association’s openness and willingness to share their sports with everyone, regardless of background.
“It’s super accepting of everyone, which is really cool,” Menks said. “I think that’s also the great part of it…. They just want to spread their love for the sport, and that’s why the GAA sports have been growing so much. They just want to teach people about these really cool sports that not everybody knows about.”
Since joining the Baltimore GAA, Menks said she has played football and camogie in almost every match in which the association has participated.
“I always do both sports, so I’ve always done all the football and the camogie games, which can prove to be a lot sometimes, but it’s a good challenge,” Menks said.
Part of the Baltimore GAA’s future plans includes creating a youth program, Prendeville said
“We’re really focused on recruiting and bringing out new people to add to our family,” she said. “Launching a youth program as well, which will be in a pilot phase this year. We’ve done a couple of clinics for kids, but really trying to hold three or four weeks of, ‘You can bring your kid out, you can try it.’”
Prendeville said prospective members interested in joining the Baltimore GAA can reach out on social media, through Instagram or Twitter.
